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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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[Solved] MacBook Air (2015) Won't Turn On

Solved!!

Original title: [Assistance Needed] MacBook Air (2015) Won't Turn On - Fan Spins, No Display

Hi everyone,

I’m really hoping someone here can help me out with a problem I’m having with my MacBook Air (Early 2015). A few months ago, it started acting up by randomly cutting out while I was using it. Getting it to reboot was a nightmare; I had to press the power button over and over until I heard a click. Sometimes it would power on and I could use it until it cut out randomly again, but the amount of power button pressing needed kept increasing.

I thought it might be a battery issue because I replaced the battery about a year ago. Initially, it was fine, but then these power issues started maybe a month or so before it became difficult to power on. I suspect it might be due to taking the laptop with me while traveling.

I opened it up, checked for any visible damage or rust (couldn't see any), took the battery out and put it back in, but it didn’t really help. Sometimes, I could still get it to charge (the orange light would come on), but it wouldn’t start up.

I even ordered a new battery thinking that might solve the problem, but no luck. Now, it’s completely dead. It doesn’t turn on at all, no clicks, nothing happens. The only thing that happens is if I do this weird sequence: hold the power button for 10 seconds, connect the battery, then plug in the MagSafe charger while still holding the power button for another 10 seconds, and then let go. The fan spins at high speed continuously, but the screen stays black and there’s no response from the keyboard (Caps Lock key doesn’t light up).

I’ve tried all fixes I could find online – SMC reset, PRAM/NVRAM reset, powering on without the battery, disconnecting the SSD – but nothing seems to work. I even cleaned the motherboard (I don't know what most of it does, but dusted it town etc) as best I can with methylated spirits, made sure all the connectors were secure, and tested with an external monitor (no signal there either).

It’s driving me nuts because I used to be able to get it to turn on occasionally, but now it’s just dead except for the fan spinning when I do that power button trick. I’m starting to think it might be something deeper like a logic board issue, but I’m not sure.

Has anyone here experienced something similar or have any ideas on what else I could try? I’m really stuck and could use any advice or tips you might have. Thanks a lot for any help you can offer!

https://imgur.com/a/yvb0mID

P.S. I upgraded the Macbook to MacOS Monterey about a year ago, although I doubt this is causing the issue, also upgraded my SSD to 1TB, but worked fine for many months so doubt that's also the cause. Model is A1466 by the way.

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What SSD did you use?

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@danj Hi Dan, it's a 1TB Nvme SSD WD Blue SN570, I also use a OLVINS M.2 NVME SSD Convert Adapter Card Upgrade so that it can fit in the SSD slot, which is why in the photo they're taped together

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Just wondering, is it worth it to try and buy a new charging lead? I just don't understand how the power seems to only be supplying the fan, also sometimes the charging lead LED doesn't light up when its plugged in, there's no light, other times it goes green for a second then orange

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@maxmrry - if the MagSafe chargers LED is Amber it’s under charge, if it’s no lit at all then it could be a dirty connection. Get a cotton swab slightly wet with Isopropyl alcohol scrubbing the system socket and the charger connector pins. You may want to use a fresh (still soft) pink pencil eraser to polish the contact surfaces, then wiping them again with a wet cotton swab to clean off anything still on the surface.


Do you still have the original SSD? If you do how about putting it in. I’ve often faced issues with M2 SSDs with an adapter either the adapter failed and/or the SSD.

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@danj Thanks for your reply Dan😊 so today I took out the motherboard and DCN board to check it and used methylated spirits (the closest thing to isopropyl alcohol I could find around the house as I wasn't able to get to shops today as they're closed where I live) in parts to clean it, possibly when I was replacing the DCN board I put the connectors back wrong, which could explain why no orange light appears sometimes now, although it's not all the time, thank you for the suggestion of using an eraser on it, I will try that!

I don't have the original SSD unfortunately but when taking the SSD and adapter out, the same strange thing happens when I power it on nothing comes up on the display, and the fan goes at full speed.

Another thing to note is that I did the strange power on technique earlier and as I held down the power button between that and connecting the magsafe I put the battery in- it's the only way the fan can turn on, if I try the power on technique with the battery inserted the fan doesnt go

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[SOLVED]

Hi everyone, I wanted to say that this has now been solved! So after another week or so contemplating whether or not I should buy a new motherboard, I took the risk, I got one off ebay for my a1466, it was about 70 dollars so not cheap, but I knew that I had to try something before throwing the MacBook away (and because I didn't want to give up on it). So, I put everything into the laptop, I tried starting it up (by holding power for 10 secs, then pressing the power button normally) and worryingly when no battery was attached nothing happened, but I knew I was on the right track because differently this time the screen flickered a tiny bit and I could see it was lit up in the LED, like a dark blue/light black, which was a good sign.

Trying this again a few times I was losing hope but I'd realised I hadn't put the left speaker periphery cable back in, so I did that, and because it was my final shot I thought I'd plug the battery back in and charge it a little. So I did, and after holding the power down for another 10 seconds or so it started up!!! The Frankenstein MacBook is alive!!

I got an error when it turned on, and it had to restart because it said 'your computer has restarted because of a problem', I think this is fine though because all of my files are exactly as I had them months ago.

Hopefully, this thread will be useful to anyone in the future looking into why their MacBook isn't starting. Lots of late nights, and hours spent on it. This marks the end of the around 6-month struggle of this MacBook not turning on properly, I'm so relieved to have it back :')

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Reading through all the comments and have an additional thought while you're waiting for the SSD to arrive. You mention you have cleaned up the board and reseated all the connections/made sure they are sound.

Have you inspected the trackpad? Since it's under the battery it often gets overlooked.

Check on the trackpad side of the cable for any signs of liquid damage, or even if the cable is loose or crooked. It could be that it's slightly askew in the connector. See what happens if you try and power it on without the trackpad cable connected.

A bad trackpad cable, or minor liquid damage or debris in the connector, can cause some weird behavior. The trackpad carries electrical data tied to both power on and wake from sleep functions. And it's incredibly vulnerable to damage since that connector is close to the edge of the trackpad. And there is nothing to prevent debris, or liquid from getting in.

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Hi Alisha, thanks for your reply, I took the battery out and had a look at the trackpad, to my untrained eye I can't see any signs of corrosion or any liquid damage, I pulled the keyboard and trackpad (to motherboard) connector out of the eyelash bracket and tried powering it back on, without a battery in, with the MacBook on it's side so I can see the fan, I held power for 10 seconds, plugged in magsafe charger then held for a further 10 secs, normally this would start the fan but with the keyboard and trackpad ribbon cable out this didn't happen - tried it again but with battery connected, nothing - the only way I could get the fan to work was for the trackpad ribbon cable to be connected then to do the above technique without a battery in :) Thanks for your suggestion though I appreciate it, it seems like it's all connected somehow but the weird thing is it's completely dead besides the fan spinning fast 🤔

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@maxmrry Got it. Next thing I would do in that case is try and narrow it does to the board.

Disconnect everything you can from the logic board. Leave fan connected, and the IO board attached so you can power on by connecting the charger.

You can leave the display connected to start, but to rule that out you can just use your external display.

If you strip it down to nothing and it still does the same thing, changes are its the board. In my opinion a new SSD is unlikely to resolve if removing the current one doesn't get a normal power on. But I suppose it's possible.

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@flannelist So I disconnected the display cable, the keyboard and trackpad ribbon cable, the backlight ribbon cable, the wifi and Bluetooth cables, the battery, the SSD, the speakers L & R, I left the I/O board flex cable (flat cable over the fan?) connected, and tried booting up holding power 10 seconds etc, the only way it could turn on the fan was for the keyboard / mouse ribbon cable to be connected, it didn't matter if everything else was unplugged, I plugged in an HDMI to a thunderbolt adapter like this https://www.cdiscount.com/pdt2/5/4/5/1/7... which I tested months ago and know worked with the MacBook, no output from the MacBook, same as before. I'll attach a photo of the back of my motherboard in case that would help anything https://i.imgur.com/U8ow67s.jpeg Thank you for your help so far Alisha it's really kind

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Thinking about it some more it makes sense that it only turns on with the keyboard / mouse ribbon cable connected because that’s sending the signal from the power button, I forgot about this entirely haha whoops - it’s super strange because it seems like my motherboard is in pretty good condition, which makes it harder to think of where the problem is, and if the motherboard was fried then surely it would be more visible somewhere in the circuitry :/

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