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arrivingalive

Q: Magsafe Red Flash

I've had my macbook for about 5 weeks now and im really enjoying it, but about a week ago my AC adapter started playing up.

Now when i plug it into my Macbook, instead of instantly turning amber to charge/green to power, it just faintly flashes red and does not charge.

However the charger cannot be broken, because if i leave the macbook turned off with the red flashing charger plugged in, eventually (several HOURS later) it will flick onto amber and begin to charge.

I dont live anywhere near to an apple store, can anyone shed some light??
thankyou.

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Oct 17, 2006 8:00 AM

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Q: Magsafe Red Flash

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  • by thecompkid,

    thecompkid thecompkid Oct 17, 2006 12:59 PM in response to arrivingalive
    Level 2 (240 points)
    Oct 17, 2006 12:59 PM in response to arrivingalive
    I would call applecare right away. You really do not want to be messing around with a potentially defective power adapter. It could be a fire hazard, an electrocution hazard, or it could just fry the insides of your macbook with a very disturbing buzz.

    I have to say, though, the concept of the power adapter blinking RED interests me greatly, like waking up to the sound of a fire/burglar alarm. If what you're saying is true, than obviously Apple put this safety feature in for a reason. I'm personally curious as to why you would leave your computer plugged into a BLINKING RED power adapter for SEVERAL HOURS just to see what happens. You disturb me, arrivingalive, and greatly so.
  • by arrivingalive,

    arrivingalive arrivingalive Oct 18, 2006 8:35 AM in response to thecompkid
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 18, 2006 8:35 AM in response to thecompkid
    i just thought if it was a saftey feature then surely the owner manual would list it. All the other posts about faulty adapters etc dont mention a red light, usually just stays amber or green and dont 'warn' the user. Anyone one else experienced this/know why the red light is there?? cheers
  • by Michael Tirta,Solvedanswer

    Michael Tirta Michael Tirta Oct 18, 2006 10:09 AM in response to arrivingalive
    Level 5 (7,650 points)
    Oct 18, 2006 10:09 AM in response to arrivingalive
    Mine is flashing red for a couple second before it turn to amber and start charging the battery, and I assume that period of time and red flashing is when the power adapter try to get connection and communicating with PMU and estimating the battery juiced for whether it should turn to amber and charge it or turn green if the battery is fully charged.

    But if yours took hours for it, maybe you got faulty power adapter of faulty communication between adapter and PMU, try reset PMU before you turn that macbook and or poweradapter to apple store.

    Good Luck.
  • by arrivingalive,

    arrivingalive arrivingalive Oct 19, 2006 4:10 AM in response to Michael Tirta
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 19, 2006 4:10 AM in response to Michael Tirta
    thankyou very much!!! i decided to do a PMU reset and my plug turned green instantly after the restart! I'll have to see if the problem occurs again as its the first run since the restart but thank you! my faith in mac has been restored.