Won't start up; charger blinking orange

It could just be your system management controller. Try resetting it using the following procedure:

Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

Note: Portable computers that have a battery you should not remove on your own include MacBook Pro (Early 2009) and later, all models of MacBook Air, and MacBook (Late 2009).

1. Shut down the computer.
2. Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.
3. On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
4. Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
5. Press the power button to turn on the computer.
   Note: The LED on the MagSafe power adapter may change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.

This was found here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

If that doesn't give any love it may actually be a battery problem. The part may just have been defective. Manufacturig isn't perfect, especially when you introduce things like Humans and Fridays. 🙂 That is why we have warranties.

Hopefully the SMC reset helps!

=Josh

Had the same problem with my MacBook Pro 13" (Late 2011), switching adapters didn't work, SMC reset didn't work and I was just about to quit trying and take it to the shop when out of frustration I've unplugged the battery connector and plugged it right back in and that FIXED IT!!

(note: do not remove the battery since that will void the warranty, just remove the connector)

I had the same problem with my MacBook Pro 17" (Early 2011).

Started to convert a file, all of a sudden the fans start working overtime, next minute, my Mac crashes. The Magsafe Power Charger started to blinking a very vague orange. Looked at the forums and tried to reset the SMC, but that didn't work. So I took the advice of (dbartul) and opened up my MacBook and disconnected the Battery Connector, then plugged it back in. And...voila!!! FIXED.

Don't know why there was a problem? All I know is my MBP works fine now. Thanks (dbartul).🙂

(note: DO NOT REMOVE the Battery as this will VOID your WARRANT. Just remove the connector)

There might be a problem with your battery in the computer. What do the battery level lights show on the side of the computer?

It would also be wise to visually inspect the magsafe receptacle on your computer and see that it's not damaged or plugged up with some foreign object or debris. This could be preventing one of the pogo-pins from making proper contact to enable charging.

=Josh

dbartul wrote:

Had the same problem with my MacBook Pro 13" (Late 2011), switching adapters didn't work, SMC reset didn't work and I was just about to quit trying and take it to the shop when out of frustration I've unplugged the battery connector and plugged it right back in and that FIXED IT!!

(note: do not remove the battery since that will void the warranty, just remove the connector)

Thanks dbartul, it was loose, maybe with all the moovement everyday, but anyways it woks for me!

Okay, just like the posts at the start of this thread, I went directly for the battery connector.

I Opened, unscrewed, the bottom cover of my late 2012 MBP.

Located the battery connector using images from google.

Disconnected the battery connector.

A few seconds later, reconnected it.

Connected the charger to check if the green light comes on.

After seeing the charger green light is on, I screwed back the bottom cover.

Just finished this and the MBP is working fine.

Good luck.

This happened to me also. I'm going to summarize what I saw elsewhere and what worked for me, for the benefit of humanity.

The symptoms I saw were that my macbook pro completely shut off. Importantly, this happened suddenly as I disconnected my iPhone while updating to iOS 8.0.2, but I was using a third-party USB cord. The laptop's power button no longer yielded any response at all. When I plugged in the power cord, the LED was extremely faint and blinking between green-ish and orange-ish. I could even hear a little actuator clicking inside the power cord when the LED switched color.

A lot of people suggested that simply leaving your macbook pro unplugged for 30 hours would drain the battery. Then upon trying again, the thing would work. I tried this and it did not work for me.

Then I found several other people saying that the same symptoms occurred after they had plugged in their iPhone via third party USB cable. The fix from this crowd did work: open up the bottom of your macbook pro and disconnect the battery from the logic board for ~15 minutes. There's only one connector (a ribbon plug fed into with a row of little black wires) between the big black battery and anything else, so this shouldn't be too tough to find.

Anyway, this worked for me and I hope it works for you!

It will make it easier to help you w/ your problem to know know more information about your computer; size, exact year built, RAM installed and OS you're running. Any history prior to your incident would also be helpful.

If the battery is removable you could try:

Try a hard reset. Disconnect the battery (open the bottom and pull the connector off. Use your fingernails.) and power adapter. Press the power button for 1 minute. Let the computer sit for 5 minutes, Reconnect and try to start up.

No? - Go through the same procedure and try to start without the battery connected.

The addendum to this would be to try a known good battery.

This would be for a "no start" scenario but basically it's the SMC reset w/ a battery you can remove.

Did what dbartul suggested to open macbook pro remove battery and put it back.

At the same time i notice too much dust on the fan so i cleaned it up as well using Ifixit guide.

Thanks again.

The same thing happened to me, macbook pro 13 mid 2012 completely dead, no battery level lights and a flashing magsafe adapter. Couldn't get online to read this forum so ended up at the Apple store.

The genius told me the same fix as here, disconnect the battery and reconnect it. This resets something.

He then went on to say it was a known firmware fault and that an update was available. He ran the update EFI Firmware 2.9, but despite it installing and rebooting, the same update is continuously there when I check for updates. I have installed it about 10 times now and it is still there. Downloaded it directly from the support site, still no joy. Anyone know how to install this so it shows up as installed?

This morning the same problem happened again. Okay, I now know how to get the machine running again but this does not appear to have fixed it for good.

Both times this has happened I have just plugged in my iPad Mini, which I am told draws a lot of power. I am wondering if it is connected (no pun intended) in same way to the fault.

The problem is not the magsafe, tried a different one and then the Apple store exchanged it for a new one. It might however be the battery itself.

Can anyone shed some more light on this subject and perhaps provide a permanent fix?

Has anyone else had this happen more than once?

macasas-c said: "Both times this has happened I have just plugged in my iPad Mini, which I am told draws a lot of power. I am wondering if it is connected (no pun intended) in same way to the fault."

This happened to me while I was testing the various Lightning USB cables with my iPhone 5s to see which would work (Apple, in iOS7, has a test upon plugging in that rejects most un-certified cables). My MacBookPro8,3 (early 2011) died while I was testing. dbartul's (THANKS!) tip brought it back but I didn't associate the cable testing with having caused it until a saw your post.

Not remembering which cable I was testing when it went dead, I started testing them again. When I got to the bad cable, my Mac instantly went dead! So I did the battery disconnect. This time it didn't seem to work. Oh cr#p!. Tried again. No go. I disconnected the battery a 3rd time and, thinking maybe I'd forgotten a step I got on my other computer to review but didn't find anything. Went back, re-connected the battery and immediately connected the charger. Success!! I'm not sure if it was the extra time the battery was disconnected or the fact that the charger was connected immediately (or maybe some other factor), but the bottom line is don't give up if it doesn't work the first time.

Also, as I found out the first time, the clock gets reset to some time in 2000. Depending on what programs are going to restart (Safari being a prime example) on startup, many will not be happy with this! So the second time I logged into the Guest account and reset the clock before logging into my regular account.

Finally, plugging in a iPad Mini shouldn't cause a problem; my iPad charges just fine. Maybe it's your cable? Is it an Apple cable? Searching discussions.apple shows others have had problems with charging cables "killing" their MBPs. Or maybe there's a problem with your Mini.

Thank you for posting this answer, fixed my problem too. Battery was completely empty, after disconnecting (the connector on my MBP is also a little different, but on the same place, had to push it with a screwdriver towards the battery to make the pins come loose of the connector on the motherboad) it worked. I could not get it out (so first try did nothing because the disconnection was not fully disconnected, you really have to see the pins.

This happened to me also. I'm going to summarize what I saw elsewhere and what worked for me, for the benefit of humanity.

The symptoms I saw were that my macbook pro completely shut off. Importantly, this happened suddenly as I disconnected my iPhone while updating to iOS 8.0.2, but I was using a third-party USB cord. The laptop's power button no longer yielded any response at all. When I plugged in the power cord, the LED was extremely faint and blinking between green-ish and orange-ish. I could even hear a little actuator clicking inside the power cord when the LED switched color.

A lot of people suggested that simply leaving your macbook pro unplugged for 30 hours would drain the battery. Then upon trying again, the thing would work. I tried this and it did not work for me.

Then I found several other people saying that the same symptoms occurred after they had plugged in their iPhone via third party USB cable. The fix from this crowd did work: open up the bottom of your macbook pro and disconnect the battery from the logic board for ~15 minutes. There's only one connector (a ribbon plug fed into with a row of little black wires) between the big black battery and anything else, so this shouldn't be too tough to find.

Anyway, this worked for me and I hope it works for you!

Yep, unplug the battery connector and it works, here is a like to iFix it if you don't know where the battery connector is, I had the same issue with my 13 inch Macbook Pro Unibody Mid 2012, thanks for that tip dbartul 🙂

I had the issue, macbook pro suddenly dead, battery check lights dead, won't start up, and the megasafe charge had a dim green light. I was veru worry, i google and found this post. I opn the back, unplug the connector of the battery , plug it back and SOLVED, and Macbook back to life. Open the back is easy , and so to find the connector, but for any who fill scare to do it , ifixit have great guides.

here is teh Link to the guide for the battery connector.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Early+2011+Battery+Repl acement/5116

THANKS a lot for your help to sort the problem

F.