MacBook Air 13” A1466 won’t boot after sitting dead for a while

[eicca]

“Ran when parked” as they say. Dug it out of storage, cleaned it up, can’t get it to start.

Charger does turn orange, fan does start spinning, CPU gets warm, but no chime and no display.

Got the battery out of it now and tried holding down the power button to drain the caps, but same results. Won’t start.

SMC reset does cause the charger light to go green and back to orange, so it is getting keyboard input.

No sign of water inside. The internals aren’t really even that dirty.

Any other tricks? Hate to see this thrown away when it’s in great condition.

No money to order replacement parts right now unfortunately.

 

[ferrarr]

Do you have another Mac you could connect it to? Do you know the Model year?

See this;

All Apple MacBook Air Specs (2008-Current): EveryMac.com

Tech specs for all Apple MacBook Air from the original to the latest (2008-Current). Dates sold, processor type, memory info, storage details, configuration options and more.

everymac.com

and this;

MacBook Air 13" Repair Help: Learn How to Fix It Yourself.

Repair guides, support, and troubleshooting information for MacBook Air models with 13-inch displays.

www.ifixit.com

 

[eicca]

I don’t know the model year. I have a 2011 MBP 13” that still works. What would I do?

It acts like it’s running. The fan spins, the CPU and SSD get hot, but no chime and no display via TB-HDMI adapter.

It acts like a bad display connection because the fan remains running when I close the lid.

Gotta dig out my old Apple Cinema Display and see if I get a signal on that.

EDIT: No signal to the Apple external display either.

 

[pm-r]

Any other tricks? Hate to see this thrown away when it’s in great condition.

I would be suspicious that its PRAM battery may be dead or close to it. Maybe we're checking?



- Patrick
=======

 

[eicca]

I would be suspicious that its PRAM battery may be dead or close to it. Maybe we're checking?



- Patrick
=======

I’ve got the logic board out of it now; there isn’t a PRAM battery.

 

[pm-r]

I’ve got the logic board out of it now; there isn’t a PRAM battery.

Sorry, my mistake, I wasn't sure if it used one or not.

Apparently that uses the main battery:

There is no PRAM battery in this series. The LiOn battery has a special tap to supply a trickle voltage to hold the settings.

PRAM replacement - or other issue? - MacBook Air 13" Early 2015

Hey there, my MacBook Air 2015 is facing following issues: (1) Wrong time and date when booting (2) (Currently) not booting at all, fails after login, progress at around 1/3 I think the PRAM (or some other modul?) is causing the time and date to be wrong. MBA started to not boot AT ALL after...

www.ifixit.com

- Patrick
=======

 

[eicca]

Sorry, my mistake, I wasn't sure if it used one or not.

Apparently that uses the main battery:

PRAM replacement - or other issue? - MacBook Air 13" Early 2015

Hey there, my MacBook Air 2015 is facing following issues: (1) Wrong time and date when booting (2) (Currently) not booting at all, fails after login, progress at around 1/3 I think the PRAM (or some other modul?) is causing the time and date to be wrong. MBA started to not boot AT ALL after...

www.ifixit.com

- Patrick
=======

That makes sense.

 

[Rod]

Sounds like you need a new battery but that's a bit of an investment if it's not the problem, especially as we don't know how old it is.
We can find that out from the serial number on the bottom.

There are numerous other problems that could be a contributing cause, charging circuit shot, leading to flat battery, battery left flat for extended time may not be chargeable.
Faulty GPU, or screen, ect ect.

 

[eicca]

Sounds like you need a new battery but that's a bit of an investment if it's not the problem, especially as we dont know how old it is.
We can find that out from the serial number on the bottom.

I tried removing the battery but it still won’t chime. It does spin the fan and the SSD and CPU get hot with no battery in it but that’s all it does, with or without the battery.

It also tries to power up immediately when the power adapter is plugged in, regardless if the battery is installed or not.

The battery does seem to have power in it because it’ll “power up” without the wall charger.

 

[eicca]

Update: the power adapter isn’t warming up. Doesn’t seem like it’s delivering much juice. Been charging for about 20 minutes now and no heat anywhere.

I wonder if it’s stuck in a low-voltage state cuz the adapter isn’t up to the job anymore.

 

[ferrarr]

I don’t know the model year. I have a 2011 MBP 13” that still works. What would I do?

You would need a cable from the MBP Thunderbolt 1(2) port to a port on the MBA.

What ports are on the MBA?

 

[eicca]

You would need a cable from the MBP Thunderbolt 1(2) port to a port on the MBA.

What ports are on the MBA?

It’s got a Thunderbolt. Turns out it is a 2015.

I’m suspecting a logic board issue though. Found a few other internet posts of people with similar symptoms. One found their charging/power control IC had gone bad.

I found a 2017 with a broken display for sale near me for cheap. Might pick it up and pillage the logic board. Thing is, it has a Spanish-layout keyboard. Would that logic board still work with my standard English keyboard?

 

[ferrarr]

Would that logic board still work with my standard English keyboard?

I really wouldn't know.

 

[pm-r]

Would that logic board still work with my standard English keyboard?

Google's AI Overview says yes:

Learn more
Yes, it is possible to switch between Spanish and English keyboard layouts on a 2017 MacBook Pro, even if the keyboard is physically Spanish-layout. You can add multiple keyboard layouts through macOS settings and then switch between them using a keyboard shortcut or by selecting from the input menu.

Google Search

I do not know how trustworthy their information actually is in practice. Maybe do further checking.




- Patrick
=======

 

[eicca]

Google's AI Overview says yes:

Google Search

I do not know how trustworthy their information actually is in practice. Maybe do further checking.




- Patrick
=======

What I love is how Google’s AI may or may not return complete BS, but the search itself is so useless I can’t even find the info to verify for myself.

 

[pm-r]

or may not return complete BS, but the search itself is so useless I can’t even find the info to verify for myself.

If you don't like or trust it or its results or have trouble with it, why not use a different search engine and maybe try several different search engines?




- Patrick
=======

 

[eicca]

If you don't like or trust it or its results or have trouble with it, why not use a different search engine and maybe try several different search engines?




- Patrick
=======

Cuz I’m also too dumb to realize I can do that.

 

[Rod]

What I love is how Google’s AI may or may not return complete BS, but the search itself is so useless I can’t even find the info to verify for myself.

I don't and wouldn't use Google anything (my personal choice) but I have found Brave Browser's AI search (Leo) to be quite helpful and all references are listed and linked. It also includes a little disclaimer at the bottom of results stating, "AI-generated answer. Please verify critical facts."

 

[Slydude]

What I love is how Google’s AI may or may not return complete BS, but the search itself is so useless I can’t even find the info to verify for myself.

If you are doing the search on your Mac you can usually get to the sources rather easily.

The first summary paragraph of the AI overview usually has a small "link" symbol like the one in the post creation window that says insert link. Clicking that link brings up snapshots of the pages that were used in the summary. Click one of the pages to be taken there.

Below the main paragraph may be a button that shays "Show More" which brings up more detail such as the individual steps needed to complete a task. Many of these steps also have the link symbol to take you to the original page that was the source of the step/information.

Because you can get to the relevant pages you can judge the accuracy of the information a little better. DuckDuckGo does something similar if that's your search engine of choice though it seems to put links to the information just below the summary. It doesn't seem to show "snapshots" of the relevant page though just the main site logo. Clicking the site logo seems to take you to the relevant page.

Hope that answers your question.