Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

[xalu]

Hi,

I am looking for a little help figuring out exactly how to find the problem for this Macbook Air 2008 core 2 duo 1.6Ghz 2gb 13 inch laptop I just bought off ebay. The seller described it as needing a hard drive, but otherwise worked great. That doesnt seem the case now, and I would rather fix it if I can then return it. Maybe work out a partial refund since I already invested money in it (besides the unit itself).

The issue:
So when I got it the battery was completely dead. I bought a charger for it and tried starting it. It was doing a startup loop. It would try to start, screen went grey for a few seconds, then it would power down and attempt to start up but just fail. I figured it might need a decent charge to start (which seemed far fetched but ok whatever). I charged it and the charger went from amber to green so I thought well at least its charging!. I tried to start it. This time it seemed to be working. It got to the apple logo for the first time.. then shut off and repeated what it was doing the night before.

I tried a few things. I tried with the charger and no battery. I tried with charger and battery. I tried without the broken hard drive (no hd), then with the new hd (that I pulled from my old ipod).. and same thing basically. If I reset the power by removing all power sources and pressing the power button so it clears, then it would start up like the first time where it would get to the grey screen and shut down. While running only on the battery it got to the logo/
folder with `?`. I even had it stay like that for an extended period of time (an hour or so), but if I moved the computer just a smidge it would shut off.

I am 90% sure its the logic board but I want to be 100% sure before I return it. If its a bad component I am not opposed to replacing them on the board.

Does anyone have any experience with this type of issue with a macbook? Or any advice on how to nail down where the failure is occurring. I feel like its something that could be loose, or have a bad connections, but I cant find anything so far.

Thanks for any help you might have to offer

[dellxps15]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

check voltage on secondary main fuse if it's stable (around 8.5 volt) before power it on and after you power it on and while loading os, and see when it shut down if it go too low.

[xalu]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

Thanks Dell,

I think I found the fuses. They are on the top of the board near the power connectors with the green tops and R020? Which one is the secondary (the one closer to the battery)?

[dellxps15]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

yes the one near battery is the secondary

[xalu]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

Okay. The voltage came out to around 8.3, Here is a look at what I had while trying to start up. (Note: the meter I am using is not perfectly calibrated so its about .1 higher than it says below)
8.19
8.08
7.86
7.81
7.86
7.81
7.86
7.86
7.86
7.86
7.76
7.92
7.92
7.97
7.97
7.92
7.92
7.97
7.97
7.76
7.76
7.76
7.70
7.70
7.81
7.76
7.76
7.76
7.76
7.81
7.70
7.81
7.76
7.76
7.76
7.76
7.86
7.70
7.76
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.76
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.76
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.76
7.76
7.70
7.76
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.81
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.65
7.76
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.65
7.76
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.70
7.65
7.76
7.70
7.65
7.70
7.65
7.70
7.65
7.70
7.65
7.70
7.65
7.70
7.76
7.65
7.65
7.65
7.65
7.65
7.65
7.76
7.65
7.65
7.65
7.65
7.70
7.65
7.70
7.65
7.65
7.65
7.65
7.70
7.65
7.65
7.65
7.70
7.65
7.65
7.65
7.65
7.65
7.65
7.65
7.60
7.60
7.65
7.65
7.70
7.65
7.60
7.65
7.65
7.70
7.65
7.70
7.65
7.65
7.60
7.65
7.70
7.65
7.65
7.65
7.60
7.65
7.65
7.70
7.60
7.49
7.65
7.65
7.6

This eventually just shut off it seemed to be due to moving it around but not sure. Seems if I leave it still it shuts off sometimes, sometimes not (mostly does). Then when it does stay on (gets to ? folder) if I move it then it will shut down.

The above was with just the battery. When I plugged it in this is all I got.
8.19
8.24
back and forth between those two

[dellxps15]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

voltage are ok. thermal paste is ok ?

start macbook in verbose mode and record log file and see when it shut down.

[dj_ricoh]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

Hi,

I am looking for a little help figuring out exactly how to find the problem for this Macbook Air 2008 core 2 duo 1.6Ghz 2gb 13 inch laptop I just bought off ebay. The seller described it as needing a hard drive, but otherwise worked great. That doesnt seem the case now, and I would rather fix it if I can then return it. Maybe work out a partial refund since I already invested money in it (besides the unit itself).

The issue:
So when I got it the battery was completely dead. I bought a charger for it and tried starting it. It was doing a startup loop. It would try to start, screen went grey for a few seconds, then it would power down and attempt to start up but just fail. I figured it might need a decent charge to start (which seemed far fetched but ok whatever). I charged it and the charger went from amber to green so I thought well at least its charging!. I tried to start it. This time it seemed to be working. It got to the apple logo for the first time.. then shut off and repeated what it was doing the night before.

I tried a few things. I tried with the charger and no battery. I tried with charger and battery. I tried without the broken hard drive (no hd), then with the new hd (that I pulled from my old ipod).. and same thing basically. If I reset the power by removing all power sources and pressing the power button so it clears, then it would start up like the first time where it would get to the grey screen and shut down. While running only on the battery it got to the logo/
folder with `?`. I even had it stay like that for an extended period of time (an hour or so), but if I moved the computer just a smidge it would shut off.

I am 90% sure its the logic board but I want to be 100% sure before I return it. If its a bad component I am not opposed to replacing them on the board.

Does anyone have any experience with this type of issue with a macbook? Or any advice on how to nail down where the failure is occurring. I feel like its something that could be loose, or have a bad connections, but I cant find anything so far.

Thanks for any help you might have to offer

mine works like this!

if I keep it normal the ventilator goes NUTS

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

mine works like this!

You've got a leaky heatpipe.

[dj_ricoh]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

You've got a leaky heatpipe.

what? o.O

i wanted to cook the board!

[xalu]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

Well I tried reapplying the thermal paste and now it wont start at all when I push the power button. There is voltage across the fuse. Did I fry something?

[newtothis]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

Reseat any cables and make sure you haven't missed any

[xalu]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

Reseat any cables and make sure you haven't missed any

Thanks, Gave it a whirl but didnt work.

I am worried that the Artic cleaner I was using might have gotten on the board and shorted something. I thought I got it all off and I let it sit for a good 30 minutes (probably more) after finishing up.

[dellxps15]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

mine works like this!

if I keep it normal the ventilator goes NUTS

if you touch the heatpipe, is it very warm or just cold? if cold reapply thermal paste. if still cold, change heatpipe.

if i remember good some macbookhave 2 wire on heatsink to check temperature.... but they are under the board, so you have to remove it....

Well I tried reapplying the thermal paste and now it wont start at all when I push the power button. There is voltage across the fuse. Did I fry something?

try do a smc reset. (hold power botton for 10 sec without battery and ac).

[xalu]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

if you touch the heatpipe, is it very warm or just cold? if cold reapply thermal paste. if still cold, change heatpipe.

if i remember good some macbookhave 2 wire on heatsink to check temperature.... but they are under the board, so you have to remove it....



try do a smc reset. (hold power button for 10 sec without battery and ac).

Nope. Didnt do anything. Thanks for all the help though. Really appreciate it. The battery is charging (it went from amber to green). I tried holding it down several times with no power plugged battery in and tried it..then repeated a couple of times.

I took off the heatsink to see if anything was wet or looked wrong and it all looks ok. tripple checked connections. At a loss. I seemed to have gone backwards
Anything else I can try?

[xalu]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

Ok so I found a video with someone testing the logic board on their desk while its outside the MBA. When he plugged it in the board just powered on. I just tried this and my board powered on as well.

So its somewhere between the power button and ?

[xalu]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

First off thanks for the help. So I figured it out. Turns out the heat shield has been causing the problem all along. I cant figure out whats causing this to happen but I did figure out how to fix it.

Basically, once I realized the board worked outside of the case w/ nothing attached. I put it back in the case once screw ( and one connector) at a time and then tested to see if it would start.

When I redid the thermal paste it looked like someone may have already done it. There was a lot of paste present. Also, the screws showed signs of being played with. So I am not sure what was happening...if the paste was bad, or if they had a shaking short that would cause the issues I saw. Maybe it was just the thermal paste.

Now I just need to install a new hard drive and I am finished.

Thanks again.

[dj_ricoh]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

First off thanks for the help. So I figured it out. Turns out the heat shield has been causing the problem all along. I cant figure out whats causing this to happen but I did figure out how to fix it.

Basically, once I realized the board worked outside of the case w/ nothing attached. I put it back in the case once screw ( and one connector) at a time and then tested to see if it would start.

When I redid the thermal paste it looked like someone may have already done it. There was a lot of paste present. Also, the screws showed signs of being played with. So I am not sure what was happening...if the paste was bad, or if they had a shaking short that would cause the issues I saw. Maybe it was just the thermal paste.

Now I just need to install a new hard drive and I am finished.

Thanks again.

OMG gray paste?

maybe it was that crappy old silver BASE thermal compound.

you remember AMD Duron and P3?

whoooo whoooo

[dellxps15]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

First off thanks for the help. So I figured it out. Turns out the heat shield has been causing the problem all along. I cant figure out whats causing this to happen but I did figure out how to fix it.

Basically, once I realized the board worked outside of the case w/ nothing attached. I put it back in the case once screw ( and one connector) at a time and then tested to see if it would start.

When I redid the thermal paste it looked like someone may have already done it. There was a lot of paste present. Also, the screws showed signs of being played with. So I am not sure what was happening...if the paste was bad, or if they had a shaking short that would cause the issues I saw. Maybe it was just the thermal paste.

Now I just need to install a new hard drive and I am finished.

Thanks again.

well maybe it was put badly. if now macbook start always, you should be done, but if it doesnt could be also a damaged keyboard or something else. try with one cable at atime.

plus see if it still power off.

[newtothis]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

Well done on the fix

My reasoning would of been a bad grounding screw, shake it and would switch off. If the screws had been previously removed it may not of been seated correctly. Simply removing then rebuilding could of sorted it out. Upon you working on it may of broken the connection completely hence no power.

Its actually quite common of a repair to just rebuild something.

[xalu]

Re: Macbook Air A1237 Power Issues

OMG gray paste?

maybe it was that crappy old silver BASE thermal compound.

you remember AMD Duron and P3?

whoooo whoooo

Lol I dont know...maybe? I barely remember that crap...that was my preteen - early teen years haha..Whatever it was they had waaaaay too much. I dont know maybe I am just conservative with my paste. One pea sized ball

well maybe it was put badly. if now macbook start always, you should be done, but if it doesnt could be also a damaged keyboard or something else. try with one cable at atime.

plus see if it still power off.

Yeah its working great now. The battery sucks but cheap fix.

Well done on the fix

My reasoning would of been a bad grounding screw, shake it and would switch off. If the screws had been previously removed it may not of been seated correctly. Simply removing then rebuilding could of sorted it out. Upon you working on it may of broken the connection completely hence no power.

Its actually quite common of a repair to just rebuild something.

Well when I rebuilt it (without doing a step by step power test), the power was completely dead. So I actually think there may be a screw shorting somewhere. I took out one screw and it was good. The one near the fan where the harddrive bracket screws in.

I ordered a zif to msata adapter and then a 128gb msata ssd. Way cheaper than buying a zif ssd and I can upgrade it later if I want. (if I dont sell it for profit )

I love fixing stuff