HT201585: Determining battery cycle count for Mac notebooks

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tsh1964
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Q: Magsafe lit green, but macbook air disch

I have a Macbook Air late 2010. Battery on 876 cycles reading "Service Battery". Sometimes the laptop draws power from the battery, not the a/c supply, although the magsafe is attached and lit green. Any ideas why? I have done SMC and PRAM resets. Although the battery is currently recharging, there have been times when the laptop has completely discharged the battery and shut down with no warnings, and I have been taken by surprise because I see the magsafe is illuminated, so assume I am running off the power adaptor rather than the battery.

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7.5), Late 2010 13"

Posted on Mar 21, 2016 7:26 AM

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tsh1964

Q: Magsafe lit green, but macbook air disch

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  • by Allen A,

    Allen A Allen A Mar 22, 2016 12:20 PM in response to tsh1964
    Community Specialists
    Mar 22, 2016 12:20 PM in response to tsh1964

    Hi tsh1964,

     

     

    The article linked below details a number of steps that can help stabilize your MagSafe charger's ability to provide power to your MacBook Air.

    Apple Portables: Troubleshooting MagSafe adapters
    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203207

     

     

    All my best.

  • by Davidnayzar,

    Davidnayzar Davidnayzar Mar 22, 2016 9:40 PM in response to tsh1964
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 22, 2016 9:40 PM in response to tsh1964

    THink no further nor waste time doing research. Your battery life span is over and need a new one. Get on eBay and buy one for $35 with some tools and replace it. If you don't know how to do it, there are a lot of forums or instructions all over the net better than Apple support forum that you keep

    getting the response as " SMC/VRAM reset" and go to genius bar only for any issue.

    Trust me and you won't spend $120 but $35 to $45.

    Try macrumorforum and you will get info from people like us and you will see the real world.

  • by tsh1964,

    tsh1964 tsh1964 Mar 23, 2016 9:31 AM in response to Davidnayzar
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 23, 2016 9:31 AM in response to Davidnayzar

    I think you might be right David. I'm just bemused by a laptop that would drain the battery even though the power adapter was attached. Why would it give precedence to battery power over a/c power. It makes it looks like a fault with the computer.

  • by tsh1964,

    tsh1964 tsh1964 Mar 23, 2016 9:32 AM in response to Allen A
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 23, 2016 9:32 AM in response to Allen A

    Hi Allen.  Thanks for replying. I'm pretty sure it's not a magsafe problem. I have three. They all act the same way.

  • by Allen A,

    Allen A Allen A Mar 23, 2016 10:23 AM in response to tsh1964
    Community Specialists
    Mar 23, 2016 10:23 AM in response to tsh1964

    tsh1964,

     

    Thank you for using the Apple Support Community. Due to the nature of your issue or question you may find more information by using another one of Apple's support resources - https://getsupport.apple.com/GetproductgroupList.action.

     

     

    All my best.

  • by Davidnayzar,

    Davidnayzar Davidnayzar Mar 23, 2016 7:00 PM in response to tsh1964
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 23, 2016 7:00 PM in response to tsh1964

    As I said before, a simple solution is already there but if you insist you want to waste your time and trying to get the battery on its way out to work, it will not happen. No matter what you try or whom you talk to; the device will not work without a new battery if the device did not have liquid damaged or suffered some power surge (mostly happened for the one used the clone adapters.

    From technical view of the issue is  when you were running off AC power, the ISL should disable battery power and charge it. If the battery drains, it means the resistor R7021 and R7022 might be damaged or shorted to ground. If so, the machine should not boot and you will have quarter fan spin.Those two resistors are the reverse current protection and current sensors for the machine. It is a simple way to explain and to get the detail explained will take about two pages.