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Repair guides for the MacBook Air, Apple's current line of consumer laptops.

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MacBook Air only turns on when plugged in (water damage possibly)

I spilled some water onto the keyboard of my 2016 11” MacBook Air. I had let it dry but now it only turns on when the laptop is plugged in. If the cord is taken out, it immediately shuts off. Also, when I plug the charging cable into the side of the computer it automatically turns on without pressing the power. It doesn’t turn on from batter power at all.

This happened a few months ago and initially the battery power wasn’t dropping but it isn’t charging. Just recently it says, “Replace battery”. It says the current charge is 870 mAh and the full charge capacity is 4,737. The design capacity is 5,100 and it says that at max charge it can hold 93% of it’s original charge. It has been through 169 battery cycles but it says the macOS battery status is “poor” and that it is charging with “0” watts.

What should I do. I feel like the battery might still be good but for some reason it isn’t charging the battery when I plug it in, or letting me run off of the battery. The battery is just slowly draining as time goes on.

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1 Answer

Shorted/damaged PMIC? It may be able to provide the system with juice to run, but not enough to charge the battery. If you want, you can try popping the bottom off, and taking a peek at the mobo/battery for any obviously damaged parts.

Good luck!

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2 Comments:

Ok thank you. Is that part pretty easy to spot? I will try picking up a set of tools to crack it open today or tomorrow.

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Which generation of Macbook Air is it? (Which year?)

I'm going to find the teardown mobo shots and see where the PMIC may be.

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TTwinTTurbo will be eternally grateful.
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