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Macbook charging, but no green light at start

R

roque

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 1, 2018
14
1
Hello there

I have macbook pro Late 2011 13" - MD313LL/A

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook-pro-core-i5-2.4-13- late-2011-unibody-thunderbolt-specs.html

I have a problem with charging. I could not find any discussion about this specific problem so started new.

A few days ago was ok, but... today...

If i plug the magsafe connector to laptop, there is no green light, after a few seconds later orange light come out and macbook is charging normal up to 99% or 100%.

There should be at start green light for a few seconds and after that orange, right?

Whats is wrong?

I know charging up 99% is for safety reasons, but where is green light? If im charging long time then battery reaches 100% and orange light goes off, no green light (led light is completely off) and macbook icon on screen shows that macbook is charging or connected to power source (lightning icon) so its ok.

what i already did are:

1. Reset SMC

2. clean magsafe connector on charger and in macbook.

3. Clear all dust from inside macbook on motherboard, he was very dusty.

Any change...

What i can tell more is that if charging process reach 99% orange light is still on, why not green?

If 100% then no light at all, but macbook UI has lightning icon on battery.

If i plug charger display is going to be brighter, so macbook has power from charger.

and I noticed strange behavior, if im charging macbook and grab cable not matter where with whole hand (in a fist) for a few second (this tiny white cable where is magsafe connector at the end) charging process stops, orange light is off, stopped charging. If i let it go, orange light returns and charging. Is this normal? Could it be related to my warm hand and DC current?

There is nothing wrong with magsafe connector on charger, i checked that.

Charger 60W is brand new, so cables cant be broken in any place.

Battery has about 600-700 cycles, works fine. I can work a few hours on that.

Macbook works fine.

I love macbooks. Laptop is in perfect visual condition.

What i can say more to be more precise?

Can You help me ?

Sorry for my bad english ;-)

Cheers
 
Apple charger is original.

I havent tried, cus i dont have anyone who has macbook with magsafe 1 connector , only 2 version....
 
i live in poland, so here is no apple store....

i watched

and my "original" charger looks like the fake one from video, light grey text.... could by fake charger ? i bought this charger as new original apple in third party store....

Charger is made by: DONGGUAN SAMSUNG ELECTRO-MECHANICS... it could by fake like this

So.... maybe if i get original charger my problem gone.

But im not sure for 100% is my charger is fake or real.....
 
Last edited:
Post a picture of the writing on your charger?

Was your charger much cheaper than an original charger in Poland?

Look under about, system report, power. Is it recognized as a 60 watt charger and does it show a serial #?
 
From what you described seems pretty normal.

It might stay orange for a while before switching to green at the end of the charge. The rate of charge slows down as the battery gets close to capacity.
 
I tested four chargers: 2 MagSafe 1 and 2 MagSafe 2.

The led for all four chargers will turn green when first connected to my MacBooks, turn to orange while charging, and change back to green when charged.
 
but i dont have any green light. This is all about green light i dont have.

i made some photos of charger and ac info.
 

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What is wrong with my green light ? Hardware problem on motherboard or charger?
 
now, when battery is at 94% and macbook is on and i plug charger there is no charging, no bright display.

i checked motherboard under bottom cover without removing motherboard from laptop. Nothing is burned, looks clean and good.

Could it be problem w SMC? Is SMC in on other side on motherboard?



edit: sometimes charging with orange light (but without green at the begining) and sometimes not, lottery, dont know why.

I stated running apple hardware test 3A225 to check what is wrong, i hope something come out.
 
Last edited:
apple hardware test completed without problems. took 46min. 56 sec.

is it normal that magsafe whole cable is very hot under heavy load of cpu under this test?
charger itself is very hot too.

you can make eggs on it.

After test completed cable cool down quickly.
Charger is still hot.
 
i replaced DC logic board, no change.

I noticed that when i move the charger from 1 place to another, the charging process stop, if i move back to previous position charger works.

this is related with holding cable in fist.

so 90% sure charger is the problem.

im going to get one tomorrow and we will see.
 
so for those who have the same problem as me, the power supply was defective. end of thread.

in short...

no green light, after a moment orange light and charging,
but sometimes not charging at all.

green light means macbook accepting charger and can get power from it.
If You have no green light this could be problem with charger, but not in all case. Louis Rossmann has a lot of videos about green light and charging where defected was macbook logic board.

cheers
 
Your magsafe charger is bad.
You can likely test this by opening the bottom case on your MBPro, and disconnecting the battery.
NOW, try to get your MBPro to power on without the battery connection.
I suspect that it won't work, but the adapter WILL provide power to charge the battery.
You did say that if the battery is more than 94% charged, then you get no LED. The battery won't charge unless it is 94% or less, so that simply means that the power adapter can't provide power without charging the battery, and you have to be charging the battery at full power, so the charger will get pretty warm.
The charger is bad.
I DID think that you have a bad DC-in board, but your said you already replaced that. It will be the charger, I am more than 95% sure about that.
AND - you also said that the charging stops sometimes when you move the charger. I think that one of the wires in the magsafe wire is broken, or maybe a broken connection in the magsafe connector, or inside the power adapter itself.

You have a 6 month warranty with X-Kom. I am pretty sure the adapter is bad.
 
yep, i know charger is bad, cus i get one from friend, and with friend's charger i have green light. everything is ok.

i have tried a day ago running macbook without battery with my charger and sometimes macbook can start (if running no light at all on magesafe connector), sometimes cant start.

I returned my charger to x-kom today.
[doublepost=1525552184][/doublepost]thank You all for your help.
 
Okay...

I left my browser window open, and didn't think about how much time went by, so my response was late.

Glad to hear that you found the fix. :cool:
 
I've got a A1344 60W Dongguan Samsung make charger. I don't know if it's fake or genuine but it looks genuine.
Just one question: When I connect it to my Late-2009 MacBook whose battery is about %80 charged, it draws 14-15 Watts while charging the MB. I measure this with my Watt meter. The MB is not turned-on. Just its battery is being charged. Is this charging power of about 15 Watts normal?
 
If your charger is charging the battery, the power has to come from somewhere.
You said it is rated for 60W, so drawing 14-15 watts is well within the capability.
And, it would be using somewhat less current when the MacBook is turned off.
Saying that, I have never monitored the power draw from a power adapter. I just want to know that it works, and does its job of charging the battery.
Why would it matter if a Dongguan Samsung charger that you are using on a MacBook is genuine?
Not an Apple-brand charger, anyway...
I think the question would be: Does it charge the battery in a reasonable amount of time - and does the charger get abnormally hot when doing so? (hot would IMO be too hot to hold in your hand - any charger will heat up, although there are those that are sold as being very efficient (don't remember what they are called). I would expect those would not get nearly as warm, as a result of the design.
 
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DeltaMac said:
If your charger is charging the battery, the power has to come from somewhere.
You said it is rated for 60W, so drawing 14-15 watts is well within the capability.
And, it would be using somewhat less current when the MacBook is turned off.
Saying that, I have never monitored the power draw from a power adapter. I just want to know that it works, and does its job of charging the battery.
Why would it matter if a Dongguan Samsung charger that you are using on a MacBook is genuine?
Not an Apple-brand charger, anyway...
I think the question would be: Does it charge the battery in a reasonable amount of time - and does the charger get abnormally hot when doing so? (hot would IMO be too hot to hold in your hand - any charger will heat up, although there are those that are sold as being very efficient (don't remember what they are called). I would expect those would not get nearly as warm, as a result of the design.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the comment. So, drawing 14-16 Watts for charging a turned off MacBook looks normal I think.

I've connected it to a Watt meter after I saw it being done in the video above. The reason I'm interested in adaptor's being genuine is because I consider selling it. It charges the MB in a quite reasonable amount of time. It doesn't get abnormally hot after a full charge. When the MB is fully charged, it draws about 25-30Watts during boot, Here it's seen to be drawing 28 Watts during boot.
20220803_141718_Film1.jpg

When both the MB is not fully charged and the MB is being booted, it draws about 50Watts. I've seen 53 Watts maximum. This adaptor works in many circumstances quite well. Meanwhile, the 2006 Mac mini's were shipped with Dongguan-Samsung brand adaptors. The later ones 2007 and 2009 models were shipped with Delta Electronics brand adaptors. I have a Dongguan-Samsung brand Mac mini adaptör which I've been using for about 10 years. So it seems once upon a time, Dongguan-Samsung was a genuine Apple brand. So I assume, this Dongguan-Samsung MacBook adaptor is likely to be genuine. I stand corrected, though. Here are some photos of it:
20220730_140040_Film1.jpg
20220730_134819_Film1.jpg

You might wonder why I consider selling this adaptor for which I've said it's working quite properly. Yes it works properly but %95 of the time. Sometimes particularly when it's been working all day long and when nighttime comes, it just stops working! This happens only occasionally. Several times in the last 4-6 months, I had to use the MB from battery power during midnight because this adaptor refused to power. During those occasions (however rare they are) I couldn't make it work no matter what I did. I unplugged the adaptor, waited several minutes to ease it up, reconnected it no power. I shut down the MB so that it would draw less power, connected the adaptor, no power. I can't rule out the possibility of some malfunction on the MB or its battery, though because when I got this MB it had a swollen battery then I replaced its battery with a %75 to %80 healthy, genuine Apple battery and its MagSafe connector socket looks just a bit out of shape too. After I put the connector in its place sometimes I have to tinker with it to connect it properly. But those issues on the MB are minor ones. I think the adaptor is the faulty one, however slightly. So I've summed it up by saying it works 95% of the time. Anyone who doesn't use MB all day and night long, like I do, s/he might not event notice this little fault.
 
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