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The March 2015 update of Apple's 13" MacBook Air features fifth generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, resulting in slightly increased performance and battery life.

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What part is defect after a small pop and some smoke?

While in use, there was a small pop and a bit of smoke came out of the laptop. The computer shut down during that pop. I opened the laptop, and there is no visible damage to the components. The SSD may be damaged, as it looks somewhat 'unusual.' When connecting the laptop to the power adapter, the LED turns orange as usual, and the adapter gets a bit warmer, suggesting that the laptop is charging normally. Pressing Shift/Ctrl/Option+Power also seems to trigger a reset. However, whether with or without the battery, nothing happens when trying to start up. I've tried the same with or without the SSD. The laptop does recognizes the absence of the IO cable (when disconnected). The power LED doesn't turn on when disconnected. Also the key-combination does trigger a reaction; suggesting the logic board still (partly?) works?

Around the processor, there is a smell of burning, but upon removing the heatsink, there was no visible damage.

Who has an idea of how I can identify the problem?

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@nick20699 post some well-focused pictures of what you see, as well as your logic board etc., with your Question. a view of both sides of the logic board are preferred. That way we can see what you see. Adding images to an existing question

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@oldturkey03 Added pictures of logic board + IO board

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@honakrisi Indeed, that one is fully blown and damaged. I missed this while inspecting the logic board, thanks!

By "Try to remove it" you mean... replacing it? Or can I simply remove it, and see if the MBA boots with the power adapter but without the battery? The yellow marked fuse doesn't seem to be damaged (at least, visually).

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Replacing it. And I can almost guarantee that the fuse is blown as I marked it for you on the second picture, so that one will need to be replaced too. Measure the continuity across that fuse and make sure you get a beep or a 0 Ohm resistance which would indicate that it survived that capacitor blowing.

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At first glance I would say that there is a blown tantalum capacitor on the board as shown on the picture.

It is a tantalum poly capacitor which are prone to blow unfortunately.

Try to inspect it under a magnifying glass or microscope, but if it is that capacitor it is C7434 on a board view and it is a 62UF-0.023Ohm 11V capacitor.

Try to remove it and your short circuit should be gone or it may have affected the cap next to it.

It is also expected that the fuse on the main power rail is blown as well as on the second photo which is an 8AMP 24V fuse (1206 size).

Hope it helps!

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Nick will be eternally grateful.
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