MacBook Air Won't Boot Up - Continuous Beeping

Question

Level 1

2 points

MacBook Air Won't Boot Up - Continuous Beeping

Hi

I was on YouTube last night and before the link had opened, the laptop froze completely. I held down the power button to switch it off, but when I tried to turn it back on, I just get a black screen and beeps, every 5 seconds, continually. I've seen the link that tends to get sent round for this problem to indicate what the beep means, but this just beeps until I hold the power button off again. It's not beeping in blocks of 3 or whatever, just a very constant beep every 5 seconds or so.

The fan starts up as soon as I turn it on, but we don't move beyond a blank screen and this beeping. Any ideas? No RAM has been installed, no new programs, nothing different from how it is usually used. I've left it on now for 10 minutes, and it is still beeping away.

I've tried resetting the SMC, to little avail.

Thanks for any help in advance.

Jon

MacBook Air (Mid 2009)

Posted on Aug 13, 2013 2:14 AM

Reply

Answer 1

mende1

Level 10

93,538 points

Aug 13, 2013 2:15 AM in response to Jon Lawrence

Beeps indicate a hardware problem > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2538 In your case, it means that RAM is damaged.

As the MacBook Air has got the RAM soldered, you can't replace it, so you can't do anything with your Mac apart from replacing the logic board. Take it to an Apple Store or reseller, but as this will be a very expensive repair (more than half of the cost of the MacBook Air), I recommend you to buy another PC or Mac

Reply

Answer 2

LhonLhon

Level 1

0 points

Nov 27, 2013 5:28 PM in response to Jon Lawrence

Hi Jon Lawrence! Did you managed to fix your macbook? Im experiencing same problem right now.

Please let me know...Thanks!

Reply

Answer 3

Dec 20, 2013 4:01 AM in response to Jon Lawrence

Hello All. I experienced the same just two days ago. I just realized that it has an on board RAM. There is any other component / action that we could consider before RAM?

Thanks!

Reply

Answer 4

ChayD

Level 1

0 points

Feb 4, 2015 10:59 AM in response to Jon Lawrence

This could be due to cracked solder balls on the memory chips. This is usually due to a combination of thermal cycling and the use of lead-free solder, which is more brittle than the previously used leaded solder. As the machine heats up and cools down, thermal expansion and contraction of components puts stress on these connections, eventually breaking them. This can happen over a period of years, and was the primary cause of failure of a lot of the earlier model xboxes (although in this case, it was due to the machines having inadequate cooling). In the case of Macbooks, it could be that these are being used in an environment where the cooling vents were being obstructed (i.e. sitting on one's lap), or possibly where the heatsink/fan had become clogged with dust.

Reply