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egogoo

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 20, 2020
6
0
So, I have based all my wrong doing to this poor mac air 2017 into one wrong move.

I originally didn't think that there would be a problem formatting the entire drive and putting Manjaro (a form of linux) on the computer as the only OS. All things considering, that's actually when I lost the ability to charge this machine.

Can anyone help with
A. What on earth caused this SMC malfunction, when all I did was wipe software.
B. Is there any remedial action I can take to change this system back to a charging and functional device?
 

Wando64

macrumors 68020
Jul 11, 2013
2,342
3,119
Did you also wipe the recovery partition?

You said it doesn’t charge, but does it work while plugged in?
 
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egogoo

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 20, 2020
6
0
Yes! But not really. It boots for about 10 seconds looks the part entirely, until it resets. And does this indefinitely.

Edit: And I nuked the drive . Lol nothing left.

Edit edit: I can unplug, and hold the power button, attach the cable continue holding the power for ~ 5 seconds and let go thusly causing a fairly normal boot sequence, but the fans are on hyper mode, no lit up keys, and if I draw too much cpu req's like high video consumption it shuts off.
 
Last edited:

Wando64

macrumors 68020
Jul 11, 2013
2,342
3,119
if you have access to another Mac you could create a bootable usb drive and attempt to boot from that.
If it still resets after doing that, I wouldn’t know what else to try.
 

egogoo

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 20, 2020
6
0
I would have never thought about that. There isn't a way to make such a pen from an iPad via charge port adapter perchance?

And omg thank you. I've been drowning in this project. You're amazing.
 

xboxbml

macrumors 6502a
Sep 15, 2015
546
178
I would have never thought about that. There isn't a way to make such a pen from an iPad via charge port adapter perchance?

And omg thank you. I've been drowning in this project. You're amazing.
I've never seen anything about doing it that way... not sure it exists. Did you make a TimeMachine backup before you whacked the drive?.. If you did, which you should always do before you do something that drastic, or otherwise, you can boot from that.
 

Wando64

macrumors 68020
Jul 11, 2013
2,342
3,119
I nuked the drive . Lol nothing left.

I have been thinking about this.
before you try anything else, try to boot up in recovery mode just in case.
The recovery partition is hidden and you might have not erased it by fortuitous mistake.
 

egogoo

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 20, 2020
6
0
Booting isn't the issue. Its the fact that it did charge. Now it doesn't, I don't have my backlit keys, and I have to start it up with that super loud fan, with decreased functionality.

Edit: See I was mistaken when reading the first response. The recovery and internet recovery all work. In fact the control+command+shift+r just literally took it back to high Sierra. I was thinking the recovery was a subset of the drive that might aid the SMC.
 

egogoo

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 20, 2020
6
0
This all within the kernel panic mode I can boot it to of course. With high fans etc. This mode, I've found, stays on providing the computer remains plugged in and I don't hit ctrl+option+shift+power
 

Wando64

macrumors 68020
Jul 11, 2013
2,342
3,119
Booting isn't the issue. Its the fact that it did charge. Now it doesn't, I don't have my backlit keys, and I have to start it up with that super loud fan, with decreased functionality.

Edit: See I was mistaken when reading the first response. The recovery and internet recovery all work. In fact the control+command+shift+r just literally took it back to high Sierra. I was thinking the recovery was a subset of the drive that might aid the SMC.
I am now fairly confused.
If the recovery works, then you haven’t wiped that disk as hard as you think you have.
Are you saying that your Mac is not charging even though it is installed with, and it is running, High Sierra?


Then you very likely have a hardware problem (IMO).
I understand it started after you installed Linux, but that is probably coincidental.
Get it diagnosed by Apple.
 

tps3443

macrumors 65816
Jan 24, 2019
1,406
908
NC,USA
After reading this thread. I think I am gonna make a time machine backup. Can’t the Macbook install that from boot?
 

xboxbml

macrumors 6502a
Sep 15, 2015
546
178
After reading this thread. I think I am gonna make a time machine backup. Can’t the Macbook install that from boot?
Yes... You can boot the machine from the TimeMachine drive and reinstall macOS that you had on it when u did the backup as well as all your data. Will be just as you left it..
 

MBAir2010

macrumors 604
May 30, 2018
6,975
6,354
there
many times the original and other ssd drive on the very late 2010 MacBook air was toast,
well only twice.
the recovery remedy was to insert the usb thumb drive of snow leopard,
and the other was a option- internet recovery performed just last year.
The last recovery was a bad copy of linux Mint that was partitioned with el Cap and the restored with mountain lion from time machine or what ever was backed up on the drive.
these drive are very tough and be reinstalled with the original OSX that came with the MacBook.
 
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