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My MacBook Air (2013) won't turn on

This morning I was using it, and it was working fine. I came home this evening, plugged my MacBook into the MagSafe power adapter and went to power it on - and nothing happened. It is responding to the power adapter (ie lights up green initially and the orange) but I cannot get it to respond. At one stage I did hear a brief chime as if it was rebooting, but it cut off again.


I have tried everything I can find online - holding down the power button, holding down power, option and command, etc but nothing is working. I have only owned this laptop for a couple of months and I cannot think of anything that would have damaged it. As I say, it as working this morning.


I am desperate for help as I am currently abroad and not near an Apple Store and my laptop is essential for the work I am doing so any help would be greatly appreciated.

MacBook Air

Posted on Aug 9, 2013 12:17 PM

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117 replies

Aug 1, 2014 12:49 PM in response to davidfromlyons

I have the same issue as most of you, with an extra 'twist' - my Magsafe doesn't show any light when plugged in (neither orange nor green). My Macbook Air worked just fine in the morning, I even closed it with it's battery fully charged, and when I wanted to use it in the evening I couldn't turn it on. I don't have an Apple Service Center near by, and I have tried EVERYTHING on it (except to open it up and remove the battery.. I'm not sure I know how to do that well) ... nothing seems to work. And the fact that the Magsafe lid doesn't work worries me a lot... Any ideas?

Sep 20, 2014 7:15 PM in response to Camdenlily

Thanks everyone for their responses! I don't have a Macbook Air 2013, but I have a 2008 Macbook Pro 15 in" that I have taken absolute great care of, including maxing out RAM and installing a 500gb ssd/moving original 750 gb apple hd to the optical bay. I mainly just use this computer to watch movies on, so at night I just shut the lid when I'm done with the movie to put it in sleep mode instead of "shutting down". Every day when I need to use it i just wake the computer up by opening the lid and pressing the trackpad.

However, about a week ago, I tried to wake it up and it just would not wake up. I tried SMC resetting all sorts of ways. I opened up the computer and cleaned the fans (which I admit were very dusty). The LED light would indicate it was fully charged, and then sometimes it would be amber and charging, but it wouldn't power on.


I even tried the shake like a mad person and alas, no sign of life, fans would not even make a sound. I began ordering hard drive enclosures to prepare my new move to a new computer.


So then after hearing about how some people "cook" their mother board, I figured I would try that with my own twist. My computer (no protective case on) was resting in a tote bag on my backseat floor vertically standing up, sort of leaning diagonally. It was pretty hot outside today, so I thought, *hey I'm not going to put my mother board in the oven, but let me see if leaving it in the car for a few hours will help bring it back to life.* I left it in the car, went about my day, then 5:40pm I took out my computer, did a control-option-p-r just for the heck of it, plugged in the the magsafe charger, pressed the power button, then 2 seconds later, the white screen, then my login screen I always see when my computer has woken up from sleep!!!! I couldn't believe it!!!


Now I'm afraid to turn it off, and will do a harddrive clone/time machine/complete back up of every single probably on multiple drives!!! But if you feel like you have no hope -- try leaving it in your car on a warm day for a few hours and see if it works (AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION OF COURSE!). Good luck!

Oct 28, 2014 8:41 AM in response to Camdenlily

Another troubleshooting step for those stuck with an MBA that won't power on. Open the lid, face the keyboard and screen down so you're looking at the seam where the lid and body connect *but from the back* (keyboard not visible), and do short burst of air in a harmonic-like fashion between that gap in the seam. What you're doing is reversing the air flow and cleaning out dust/stuff that may be blocking the fan or other components/sensors from working. No promises but it worked for me!

Oct 29, 2014 10:12 AM in response to perrysan

A more clear explanation:


Another troubleshooting step for those stuck with an MBA that won't power on. Open the lid, face the keyboard and screen down so you're looking at the seam where the lid and body connect *but from the back* (keyboard not visible), and do short bursts of air in/out in a harmonica-like fashion between the small gap in the seam between screen and keyboard/bottom of the MBA. Obviously try not to expectorate while doing this - as dry a mouth as possible. While doing this reach your hand around and press the power button every seconds. Hopefully you'll hear the "gong" that tells you the MBA is booting.


I believe this works because it reverses the normal direction of air flow and cleans out dust/stuff that may be blocking the fan or other components/sensors from working.

Dec 4, 2014 6:41 AM in response to hunterengle35

Unbelievable. Our 14 month old MBA just wouldn't boot recently. This machine has never been dropped, never even been out of the house, but was (of course) out of warranty. We didn't see this thread in time. Apple is charging us $280 to replace the logic board. All of this for a bad solder joint? And clearly a problem we are not alone in...


The quality of Apple products is really becoming ridiculous. Bad phones after 18 months, and now this? With the premium we pay for their products I'm disgusted. And angry. And now out cash at the holidays, too. (End of vent.)

Mar 2, 2015 2:08 PM in response to Camdenlily

I Have tried all above solutions with my MacBook Air 2013, which won't turn on. I opened up the back and saw that when I press the power button the fan tries to spin a few times but stops, it does this everytime I press the power button. Does this mean a new fan is required? I've tried helping it along manually but that doesn't work.

My MacBook Air (2013) won't turn on

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