Macbook shutting down

[michaelsaxon]

Today my black Macbook started shutting down when the power adapter comes out. It dims for about a second and then just goes black. The battery is fully charged and the LEDs on the back show it to be so. Now, when it turns off the LEDs go completely dark and only come back on when it is plugged in again. I've tried some sort of power down, remove the battery and AC, hold the power button for 10 seconds, and power back up reset and I've also made sure the memory was properly seated.

1. Anyone know what might be the problem and whether or not I can fix this myself?

2. I traded this computer for my Dell XPS and the person is supposed to send me the receipt and remote in the mail, which he forgot to send. Will I be able to get it serviced without the receipt? I went online and plugged in the SN and it showed up as having 266 days left on AppleCare, so I assume it has already been registered.

Thanks for your help. I'm really disappointed that I'm already having problems with this. I hope Apple treats me well.

UPDATE: Now the magsafe light won't turn on at all when it is plugged in and starting up the computer while it is plugged in makes the fan blow very fast and loudly the entire time the machine is on with no letup.

UPDATE 2: Opening the battery case and closing it again seems to have fixed the magsafe light / fan problem, but not the original one.

 

[mad jew]

So does it work normally when it's plugged in? Hopefully this is just a matter of getting the battery replaced, but maybe get in touch with the seller./trader to get your receipt. I dunno Apple's policy on receipts but I imagine they have some sort of system in place to check name + serial number at least.

 

[michaelsaxon]

Yes, it works mostly normally, though this morning the screen went black and I couldn't get it to come back on. I had to hold the power button down.

 

[aristobrat]

Sounds like it might be the Random Shutdown issue that affected earlier MacBooks.

If you haven't already, make sure you've run all of the Software Updates. One of them is supposed to address that issue.

If it keeps happening after you've run that update, call AppleCare. They'll replace a heatsink and it should stop the problem.

 

[michaelsaxon]

Well, I took it to the geniuses tonight and they fixed it. It was as simple as a bad battery (strangely, it had normal voltage but showed negative amperage).

I notice that some people get peeved when people post these things up on the forums and I guess I can see why. I'm coming from "build and troubleshoot your own PC" land, so I'll have to adjust to simply getting things fixed by the experts!

Thanks.