MacBook Air 11 inch bricked

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Level 1

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MacBook Air 11 inch bricked

Hi,

Only 2 weeks after my one-year warranty expired my Macbook Air (2011) gave up on me (this happened last saturday) and I haven't taken Apple Care for this notebook.

It was booted but I wasn't doing anything with it when I suddenly heard a fizzling noise (coming from somewhere around the left-upper corner of the keyboard. About half a second later the screen went black and I can not power it up anymore. There was also a faint smell of "something" melted.

When I push the power-on button the notebook does nothing anymore, no spinning fans, no white led blinking at the front, nothing happening on the screen, (although the MagSafe connector does still light up green when attached). I've tried the reset with "Shift-Option-Control-Power" button and I've held the power-button down for 10 seconds ... but nothing helps.

I'd like to add that it was a very warm day, the warmest we've had this year (a little under 100F, 38C) so the problem may likely be the related to this although I was inside where it was probably a little cooler.

Broadly speaking IMO there can only be 3 possible culprits for this malbehaviour :

1) battery

2) logic board

3) IO Board

I'm hopeing to narrow this down to 1 with the help of the community, but for that I need a couple of questions answered that are impossible for me to answer without opening the Air (and breaking the Warranty that I don't have since 2 weeks :-).

So first question :

Would I be able to supply power directly to the system if the it was just the battery that was dead or could a dead battery impede this?

Could a broken Logic Board explain a completely bricked notebook? I would expect more life out of the notebook if 'something' on the Logic Board was fried but I don't get any beeps, etc.

And a more general question : could this be caused by a broken IO Board, this seems to be the most logical explanation as a fizzling noise does not seem to point to a Battery but to 'some electronics'.

If I can't narrow this down to one single component I'll take it in to a Genius Bar , but I think the bill they'll come up with will be too rich for me and would force me into a non-Apple iLife.

kind regards,

Benny

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Aug 21, 2012 12:51 AM

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Answer 1

carl wolf

Level 6

14,631 points

Aug 21, 2012 1:31 AM in response to kleykenb

Since your MBA does not have a warranty, it makes absolutely no sense that you're worried about voiding the warranty. The naswrs to all of yuor questions is "yes": you can supply power using the power adapter, the main logic board can cause a computer not to work, and a defective power board can cause the problems you noted. Again, I do not understand your reticence to make use of the Genius.

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Answer 2

kleykenb Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 21, 2012 6:00 AM in response to kleykenb

To conclude this topic :

It took me a while but I eventually managed to repair the Macbook Air.

Turned out that it was not just the battery that was broken but also the logic board.

It became clear very quickly that the battery was broken once I got the screwdriver needed to open the Air : some of the battery cells were swollen up!

One important tip if you are going to replace your own Air's battery : look for the partnummers that are on the parts themeselves and make sure that you don't get an 'alternvative' part. Many sites claim that there are 2 alternatives for the A1370 (the macbookair 2011) : the part A1375 battery and the A1406 battery.

Turns out that the A1375 is no good for an Macbook Air 2011 so make sure to look on the battery in yoru system and don't believe sites if they want to sell you a battery with a different partnummer (even if they claim it's an alternative).

best regards,

Benny

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Answer 3

kleykenb Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 21, 2012 2:12 AM in response to carl wolf

Hi,

I'm just being a bit cautious : that notebook essentially contains the blueprint of my life.

I've first ordered the necessary screw-drivers to open the Air so I can at the very least take the SSD out.

It's simply a security measure because I will not know who will handle it, where it will be send off or how long it will be gone.

But while I'm going to open it I might as well test to see if I can better pin-point what's wrong. Who knows, it may be a simple , inexpensive repair. Maybe I'll find a bloated battery or see a melted spot on one of the boards ...

If it's the Logic Board then I'm not going to have it repaired.

kind regards,

Benny

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Answer 4

kleykenb Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 21, 2012 2:13 AM in response to carl wolf

Thanks for your reply, it was very informative.

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