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Week old 13" 2015 rMBP not charging sometimes

B

BriOS

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 23, 2014
80
2
This is the second time this week since I got this new rMBP, where I have plugged in the magsafe2 charger and the light never comes on. I unplugged it and replugged it in a few times, also tried another outlet. And both the laptop and adapter ports are clean....brandnew really. So I decided to try cleaning both sides with alcohol and a q-tip. Seems to have worked, but why? Is this common for the newer magsafe 2 chargers to do this. Once I got it working, I also did an SMC reset and I saw the power light on the charger end cycle right after showing it worked. Its charging now, but this is the second time this week. I hate going to apple, and would like to get as much info as possible before I do. Furthermore I won't even consider this a problem still until it happens again. Im assuming some sort of microscopic junk got into the adapter or port on the macbook and was causing it to not see the charger. But again this is a week old and I haven't used it for more than a few hours.

Also side question, is it better to use the extension cable too seeing as how it had the ground pin over just the standard adapter?

Side question 2, is that extension cable worth anything? I have a brand-new extra one I don't need.

Brian
 
BriOS said:
This is the second time this week since I got this new rMBP, where I have plugged in the magsafe2 charger and the light never comes on. I unplugged it and replugged it in a few times, also tried another outlet. And both the laptop and adapter ports are clean....brandnew really. So I decided to try cleaning both sides with alcohol and a q-tip. Seems to have worked, but why? Is this common for the newer magsafe 2 chargers to do this. Once I got it working, I also did an SMC reset and I saw the power light on the charger end cycle right after showing it worked. Its charging now, but this is the second time this week. I hate going to apple, and would like to get as much info as possible before I do. Furthermore I won't even consider this a problem still until it happens again. Im assuming some sort of microscopic junk got into the adapter or port on the macbook and was causing it to not see the charger. But again this is a week old and I haven't used it for more than a few hours.

Also side question, is it better to use the extension cable too seeing as how it had the ground pin over just the standard adapter?

Side question 2, is that extension cable worth anything? I have a brand-new extra one I don't need.

Brian
Click to expand...

I would exchange it out. It might give you trouble later when you can't return it.

And look on eBay
 
I've had this happen a few times. I only have to unplug and replug once though.

It's a pain when I'm trying to get "clamshell" mode.
 
Yeah I don't mind it that much. I was mainly wondering if it was just a "thing". You know like a quirk that just happens. My new rMBP is perfect otherwise.
 
BriOS said:
Yeah I don't mind it that much. I was mainly wondering if it was just a "thing". You know like a quirk that just happens. My new rMBP is perfect otherwise.
Click to expand...

same. If it becomes a real issue, I would get it replaced. You always have the first year to decide if you want to extend AC.
 
One thing to note is that this has already been returned once so I would be return and exchanging for a second computer. And when I did the last exchange, the apple store guy said that they would not do another exchange, even being in the 14 day period. They would want to send it out for service. I thought that was bogus.
 
Mine does that (Late 2013) every once in a while. Sometimes it will come on a few minutes after I plug it in. Other times, I just replug and it'll work. I don't know if it's a hardware issue really, or just something in the firmware. None of my other Macs ever did this. But it's pretty random. Maybe once every couple weeks it'll do it a few times then be fine.
 
BriOS said:
This is the second time this week since I got this new rMBP, where I have plugged in the magsafe2 charger and the light never comes on. I unplugged it and replugged it in a few times, also tried another outlet. And both the laptop and adapter ports are clean....brandnew really. So I decided to try cleaning both sides with alcohol and a q-tip. Seems to have worked, but why? Is this common for the newer magsafe 2 chargers to do this. Once I got it working, I also did an SMC reset and I saw the power light on the charger end cycle right after showing it worked. Its charging now, but this is the second time this week. I hate going to apple, and would like to get as much info as possible before I do. Furthermore I won't even consider this a problem still until it happens again. Im assuming some sort of microscopic junk got into the adapter or port on the macbook and was causing it to not see the charger. But again this is a week old and I haven't used it for more than a few hours.

Also side question, is it better to use the extension cable too seeing as how it had the ground pin over just the standard adapter?

Side question 2, is that extension cable worth anything? I have a brand-new extra one I don't need.

Brian
Click to expand...

Question to the OP - You mentioned the LED not coming on, but is the computer actually charging? What does the menu bar battery drop-down say?

I've had this issue on one of my chargers. Alarmed me at first until I saw from the menu bar that it was charging so I never gave it much thought. Light or no light it charged every time.

At least on mine it's something specific with the plug because if I turn it around it lights up every time, and it only happens to that particular charger.
 
Cvx5832 said:
Question to the OP - You mentioned the LED not coming on, but is the computer actually charging? What does the menu bar battery drop-down say?

I've had this issue on one of my chargers. Alarmed me at first until I saw from the menu bar that it was charging so I never gave it much thought. Light or no light it charged every time.

At least on mine it's something specific with the plug because if I turn it around it lights up every time, and it only happens to that particular charger.
Click to expand...

The IC that turns the light on is inside the magsafe plug itself and is powered (along with the LEDs) from the centre pin. It's the voltage on that pin that determines what colour the light is.

Check the centre pin to see if it's damaged or pushed in too far.

You can read about how it works here:
http://www.righto.com/2013/06/teardown-and-exploration-of-magsafe.html
 
BriOS said:
One thing to note is that this has already been returned once so I would be return and exchanging for a second computer. And when I did the last exchange, the apple store guy said that they would not do another exchange, even being in the 14 day period. They would want to send it out for service. I thought that was bogus.
Click to expand...

I would have gone Godzilla on him if he pulled that nonsense with me.
 
BriOS said:
...And when I did the last exchange, the apple store guy said that they would not do another exchange, even being in the 14 day period...
Click to expand...

That's a "red flag" for that store, as far as I'm concerned, if you truly are within the 14 day return period. If it were me, and the circumstances were the same, I would return it for a refund and go to a different store or order one online. When returning it, I would make sure to tell the manager why too ... Not so much the issue with the laptop as much as the issue I had with what that salesperson (or Genius) said.
 
Cvx5832 said:
Question to the OP - You mentioned the LED not coming on, but is the computer actually charging? What does the menu bar battery drop-down say?

I've had this issue on one of my chargers. Alarmed me at first until I saw from the menu bar that it was charging so I never gave it much thought. Light or no light it charged every time.

At least on mine it's something specific with the plug because if I turn it around it lights up every time, and it only happens to that particular charger.
Click to expand...

To answer your question, I did not look. The laptop was off and the lid closed. I had just finished playing around online with it, and the battery was down to 2%. So I did a full shutdown and took it into the kitchen to charge it on the counter away from little hands(my kids). I plugged it into the wall first, then into the laptop. Nothing. I tried it again, nothing. Then I flipped it 180 and still nothing. Tried another outlet and nothing again. Removed the extension cable from the power brick, and again nothing. So I cleaned both sides with a q-tip and alcohol and then it worked. But again week old, shouldn't have been dirty in any way. Never been out of the house with it.
 
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