MacBook Magsafe Charging, But No Light?

January 2nd, 2007

AppleGee, I wonder if 2007 means all my Apple peripherals start failing on me. First my keyboard’s “return” key died, now there’s something up with the Magsafe charger that came with my Macbook. Basically, I plug it into the MacBook and the light, which is usually amber or green, doesn’t turn on at all.

It could be something up with the connector pins (as in this Apple help page) but I’m not seeing anything amiss when I look at the adapter or the port on the MacBook.

Anyhow, I’m right now on 28% battery charge and when that goes, I might be in a hard place.

Update: Well, actually, it looks like the charger is charging the MacBook battery and enabling it to run off of an outlet, but what’s amiss is the amber light isn’t turning on. I get a green light just fine. So the power adapter is working properly - just not lighting up to indicate it’s charing the MacBook. Still, I’m a bit worried it’s going to fail on me.

[tags]Apple, MacBook, Magsafe[/tags]

Disclosure: I own a tiny amount of Apple stock.

9 comments!

  1. comment Gravatar tunequest - January 2nd, 2007

    After a run-in with one of my cats, my PowerBook’s non-mag charger does the same thing. It takes precarious positioning to actually glow, but it usually charges without problem. Of course, YMMV.

  2. comment Gravatar Webomatica - January 2nd, 2007

    Hmmm, well seeings how a replacement adapter is 80 bucks, I’m going to stick with this non-lighting variety until it really dies or explodes (obviously I’m hoping for the former).

    You make me wonder if one of our cats did something to it. I have seen one of them nibbling at the end of the cord from time to time…!

  3. comment Gravatar executionette - January 12th, 2007

    I plug my charger into my laptop and no light goes on AND it doesn’t charge.
    I’m at 15% battery life and as long as it stays plugged into the wall ….The % stays the same. It doesn’t go up or down. Looks like I’ll be stuck to the wall until I gather up some money to buy a new charger. So gay

  4. comment Gravatar webomatica - January 12th, 2007

    Them’s the breaks. With my old iBook I think I went through three chargers… the first two died because the wire frayed right before the plug.

  5. comment Gravatar generaladam - January 17th, 2007

    Hmmm, the same thing just happened to me today. Went to the apple help site and tried their suggestions but nothing worked. I’m at 86% battery and right now if it stays plugged in it remains at 86%. This could be a problem as I have to take it to school everyday. So if its just the adapter it be no problem for me to get a new one, but I’m worried that it might be the charging unit on the computer itself… Again same symptoms as above though, no light when plugged in adapter seems to be ok on the outside no visible prong damage or melting. I guess I’ll just take it to the mac shop and post what they say here incase it might help anyone else. But any suggestions from folks online would be appreciated as well.

  6. comment Gravatar generaladam - January 17th, 2007

    Good News, it turns out I didn’t have to go to the apple shop at all, heres what worked for me atleast. Try putting the Mac OS CD 1 in and rebooting your computer, while its starting up, (after the sound) press D, and it will run a hardware diagnostic test which seems to have magically solved the problem of the adapter, good luck.

  7. comment Gravatar Webomatica - January 17th, 2007

    gerneraladam - gee, that’s an interesting fix - I’ll have to try that! Thanks for posting your information so others can benefit.

  8. comment Gravatar floatingbones - January 25th, 2007

    Generaladam: did you run the short or the long form of the diagnostics?

    –phil

  9. comment Gravatar Stephen Walsh - July 15th, 2007

    I ran the long one and it seems to have fixed the problem for now. I don’t know how long it will last. I did a clean install of the system a couple of weeks ago, but still had the some problem. Hopefully this will work. Thanks.

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