Magnetic debris stuck in the magsafe power adaptor port on Macbook Pro
I searched and could not find any good advice on what to do if a magnetic particle is stuck in the magsafe power port. The Apple manual gives advice to use a cotton swab but this is futile for a magnetic or metal particle as they are held tightly in by the magnetic attraction of the power port.
Interestingly, I see very little reference to this occurring for folks. For me it happened on both my older MacBook and my new one - 2-3 times on my older - this is the first on my 2010 model. Of course, I don't just perch my laptop on a desk and idolize it - I use it everywhere!
I tried to "fight fire with fire" by using a strong magnet but even that was not strong enough to coax out the bit of metal.
I finally found a good solution. I "sharpened" an old corner of a credit card using scissors so it had a slightly sharp edge (on an inside corner where I had cut the card in 4) - not too sharp so its easily bent as from what i find, you need a lot of force to pry the magnetic debris out. I had tried the credit card w/o sharpening but you need to "dig under" the debris and pop it out. Once I had my new CC fragment tool in hand - I was able to move the magnetic particle to the side, pry under it and pop it out.
On my older macbook, the solution was not so elegant - I used a small flathead screewdriver - I don’t recommend that! It scratches up the inside of the magsafe power port - though it was still functional.
Interestingly, I see very little reference to this occurring for folks. For me it happened on both my older MacBook and my new one - 2-3 times on my older - this is the first on my 2010 model. Of course, I don't just perch my laptop on a desk and idolize it - I use it everywhere!
I tried to "fight fire with fire" by using a strong magnet but even that was not strong enough to coax out the bit of metal.
I finally found a good solution. I "sharpened" an old corner of a credit card using scissors so it had a slightly sharp edge (on an inside corner where I had cut the card in 4) - not too sharp so its easily bent as from what i find, you need a lot of force to pry the magnetic debris out. I had tried the credit card w/o sharpening but you need to "dig under" the debris and pop it out. Once I had my new CC fragment tool in hand - I was able to move the magnetic particle to the side, pry under it and pop it out.
On my older macbook, the solution was not so elegant - I used a small flathead screewdriver - I don’t recommend that! It scratches up the inside of the magsafe power port - though it was still functional.
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.4), iPhone 3G w/2.0.1
