My MacBook Air (2013) won't turn on

The cooling solution doesn't work consistently. This happens to me quite regularly now. It's really annoying. I end up just waiting and eventually it comes back on. Apple *** is going on and how do I fix it? Seems like it's too common a problem. This was the best computer I've ever owned until this started happening. I'm close to abandoning apple products completely.

Like jkatme, I have found my MacBook Air to be far and away the best computer I have ever owned. BUT when I want to use my computer I expect to be able to use it NOW. I should not have to shake it like crazy, blow it with a hair-dryer or do anything else apart from opening the cover. This power-up problem appears to be widespread and, frankly, is quite unacceptable. I would imagine that Apple are aware of it (though some acknowledgement from them would be nice).

As a related question and a matter of interest, does the MacBook Air actually contain a SMS (Sudden Motion Sensor)?

Just interested.

Thanks

Adair

Completely works on MacBook Air 13-inc Early 2015!!! Thank you.

I took it to a repair shop. It was the battery. Cells were dying. Maybe thats why the shaking thing works for people.

Wow, my 2012 pro was dead to the world this morning. After many button combinations leaving me no computer I came across your post and Wow!

THe good shake worked first time. Thank you Mjolnir4Life for sharing this daring fix three years ago!

Perhaps this is just a coincidence, but my problem happened while I was staying in a house in an area with very high humidity and no AC. By the way, it has been almost 2 years (knock on wood) and my MacBook Air has not had a recurrence of this issue.

Unfortunetly I have the similiar problem with my MBA. Good to know that I am not alone, though no solution on my side yet.

I had my MBA since Oct 2013, all was good; since few weeks it started to shut down itself and needed to turn it on again (and it always worked). The day before yesterday the Mac shut down itself, and power button did not work to turn it on. i tried again few hours later - there were few "beeps" and then silence. Tried again - no beeps anymore.. Yesterday brought my work laptop home and did online search for solutions, including this thread. Unfortunately different keys combinations and shaking did not bring it to life...

I live now in Liberia (Africa! and there is no Apple store, Apple geniuses, Apple authorised repair stores etc anywhere around... Apple seems not to provide any kind of help if you are in this part of the world...

I read somewhere that it might be problem with RAM and to try to open the back lid of the MBA, to take RAM out and back... I haven't opened any computer before... Hmmmm.

I too have had the same experience with an newly-purchased secondhand 2012 vintage 13" MacBook Air. Lovely machine but on several occasions it has 'died' but revived after a good shaking.

The supposition is that the reawakening is something to do with jiggling up the Sudden Motion Sensor. However does the Mac Air post 2010, when internal hard drives were replaced by SSDs, have such a thing? According to Apple "The Sudden Motion Sensor is designed to detect unusually strong vibrations, sudden changes in position, and accelerated movement. If the sensor detects any of these, it instantly parks the hard drive heads to help reduce the risk of damage to the hard drive in case of impact."

After the last and most severe episode I phone Apple's helpline and was talked through resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) followed by resetting the NVRAM. Since then it's behaved, but it's less than 24 hours so fingers are still crossed. The Apple phone help is very good.

After working fine for a couple of days it has happened again after the computer had been asleep all night. This time holding down the power button, shaking the machine and pulling out my hair had no effect. Later in the day I checked again and heard the cooling fan going full belt. The mains cable was plugged in - indicator light was green. I disconnected from the mains and held down the power button and after 15 seconds or so the computer restarted.

Where to go from here - apart from the Genius Bar?

Genius Bar looked at it - had been functioning normally for about 4 days. Confirmed that this model doesn't have an SMS, so if shaking is actually helping that's for some other reason. Only suggestion was that it might be a logic board problem - £400 to replace. I don't think so! Took it home again.

Vendor tells me that he's never had this problem - I think I believe him. It seems to have occurred when the computer has been asleep for a long time (e.g. overnight) so maybe a simple solution is to power off at the end of the day. Startup is so quick that that's not going to be a nuisance.

Tried an OS reinstall (10.11) but that didn't help. Returned to seller.

It would be really nice to know what the problem was.

You are a life saver man. It worked like a charm. I'm back!! Thanks

My 2013 is still doing it almost 3 years later. This has always been a not waking up thing, not a going to sleep while in use thing. It began almost right out of the box with Mavericks. I went online then and found other complaints and zero solutions. It's really galling when Apple Care says they've never heard of that problem - it's impossible that they haven't heard.

So I upgraded to El Capitan - same thing. It will go days or months without a problem, and then return to its usual black screen with no apparent reason - can't power the thing down, I've laid on the power button for 15 minutes with no result. I've never even actually put it to sleep with the drop-down command; in Preferences I've set it to never go to sleep, I've set it to go to sleep after a certain number of minutes, every possible permutation of those commands. Tried every combination of keys I can think of.

Get this - had the motherboard replaced twice. The battery was replaced. No change. It can't be relied on to work when I want it to - like we want to stream a movie and the pizza's getting cold as I try to make the dang thing wake up.

Over the years I keep searching for answers, and Apple has never even acknowledged there's a problem as far as I know. The only thing I haven't done it shake it - but like one poster said it has a solid-state drive, not a spinning wheel.

It happens if it's been asleep for a long time with the lid open or closed; or just if I close it to take it into the next room, it won't come back - or it will. IOW, it wakes up when it feels like it. No pattern to it except that it seems really dead. And then it will just come back on after 5 minutes or 5 hours as if to say "I've been here all the time, where have you been?"

I never know when it will happen next, I feel like I should set it to never sleep and never have the display go off, but that probably wouldn't work either because the next time I close it...it won't wake up.

It's still under Apple Care - can I exchange it for a new one? Probably not. Not that the new ones will work any better.

Hi, I've had the same problems many times over. Three times I had to leave my Macbook Air in order to get it fix. This problem started just two months after I purchased this laptop. Each time Apple had to fix it and reinstall the OS. For $900 I expected more. This is the last Apple product I will ever purchase. It may say Apple on the products but they are still made in China under slave wages and conditions.

Shake me up, baby. That worked! Very similar to "percussion therapy" that many people try with computers naturally. they give it a whack! In this case an "Etch-a-Sketch" style shaking...though right side up. Love it. Thanks!