MagSafe Problem

K1LLSW1TCH · 29 Dec 2011 at 15:13

Hey all,

I've got a 2007 white MacBook which I've owned from new, bought it from John Lewis in the Christmas of 2007 and it's always worked perfectly until the past week or so when the laptop would intermittently refuse to charge. Sometimes I'd plug the power adapter in and the laptop would charge just fine, other times it would act as if there was no power coming down the cable and the LED on the magnetic end would simply refuse to light up.

After doing a bit of Googling there seems to have been a problem with certain MagSafe adapters, Apple did a huge recall on some of the older adapters from the PowerBook and I was wondering what the chances were of me getting a replacement? The laptop is only a handful of years old and I don't find my expectation that the power adapter should still work to be unreasonable. I've noticed that where the cable attaches to the power brick there have been some orange sparks for the past few times I've plugged it in. This has led me to become afraid of charging the laptop at all in case it starts a fire.

I have to stress that I feel it's no fault of my own, I'm not one of these people that wraps wires around in a really tight coil, it hasn't been mistreated in any way either. Would I stand much chance of getting a replacement? I've ordered a new laptop which should be here next week sometime and I was going to hand this MacBook down to my mum, but there's absolutely no way I'm going to give her it in this state.

Biz.Kid09 · 30 Dec 2011 at 02:51

If you buy through John Lewis you get 5yr warranty?

It is worth taking it back and see what they say?

K1LLSW1TCH · 30 Dec 2011 at 04:35

Biz.Kid09 said:
If you buy through John Lewis you get 5yr warranty?

Is that a question or a statement? I think my nearest John Lewis is in Bristol so by the time I drive there, drive back and pay the Severn Bridge toll I might as well just buy a cheap power adapter.

Biz.Kid09 · 30 Dec 2011 at 12:07

Statement and oh

, have you rang them or Apple? Always worth asking to see if they will replace.

konicky · 30 Dec 2011 at 12:23

Biz.Kid09 said:
If you buy through John Lewis you get 5yr warranty?

2 year warranty through JL not 5!

K1LLSW1TCH · 30 Dec 2011 at 16:06

Biz.Kid09 said:
Statement and oh , have you rang them or Apple? Always worth asking to see if they will replace.

I haven't rang anybody up yet, thought I'd post here as if someone had already had success then I'd know exactly what to do. I'll get in touch with Apple and see what they say.

konicky said:
2 year warranty through JL not 5!

Thanks.

K1LLSW1TCH · 30 Dec 2011 at 19:08

Moses said:
Near an Apple store? If so, just go in with the charger and say you've got the issue - I reckon they'll just swap it over.

There's one in Cardiff, actually I could pop in there, good idea. I'll go sometime next week and see what they suggest.

durbs · 31 Dec 2011 at 00:43

As far as I know, Apple have a policy of swapping the old style non-90 degree MagSafe adapters as they have a known design fault so I'm pretty sure the Apple store will just swap it with no question no matter how old the laptop is.

Sparks when charging is a safety risk so it would be very irresponsible to do otherwise!

K1LLSW1TCH · 14 Feb 2012 at 04:11

Quick question, will any of the newer 90 degree style power adapters work on my older MacBook? The cost of driving or getting the bus/train to an Apple store and back is about the same as simply buying a new charger.

pingwing · 14 Feb 2012 at 09:30

Your problem is the old type failing, happened to my last one. I ended up getting a new type as I lost it for ages anyway but I think they switch them for free.

K1LLSW1TCH said:
Quick question, will any of the newer 90 degree style power adapters work on my older MacBook? The cost of driving or getting the bus/train to an Apple store and back is about the same as simply buying a new charger.

The newer 90 degree one will work fine (though it probably won't sit quite as snugly but thats not a problem) just make sure you get the right wattage one, get one thats too much for your mac and you'll hurt the battery.

FreeStream · 14 Feb 2012 at 09:45

pingwing said:
The newer 90 degree one will work fine (though it probably won't sit quite as snugly but thats not a problem) just make sure you get the right wattage one, get one thats too much for your mac and you'll hurt the battery.

Incorrect!

You need to buy one that is at least as powerful as the original, otherwise if your trying to charge the MBP and using it at the same time it won't charge!

You can use higher rated ones (I have multiple times) with no problem. The charge delivered to the battery is controlled by the SMC not the PSU!

pingwing · 14 Feb 2012 at 10:31

Oooo! Didn't realise the higher wattage one would be ok, learnt something new today.

Though it would be sensible to stick with the one that's the same as the original to be sure.

Djwayne · 14 Feb 2012 at 10:32

K1LLSW1TCH said:
There's one in Cardiff, actually I could pop in there, good idea. I'll go sometime next week and see what they suggest.

Theres also a John Lewis in Cardiff

K1LLSW1TCH · 14 Feb 2012 at 16:51

Djwayne said:
Theres also a John Lewis in Cardiff

So is the Apple store, and driving there, paying for parking and then driving back is about the same price as buying one off the Internet.

Concorde Rules said:
Incorrect!

You need to buy one that is at least as powerful as the original, otherwise if your trying to charge the MBP and using it at the same time it won't charge!

You can use higher rated ones (I have multiple times) with no problem. The charge delivered to the battery is controlled by the SMC not the PSU!

Thanks.

I'll have to speak to my mum and ask her what wattage it has on the power adapter as I can't remember for the life of me. I imagine the cheap Chinese knock off's aren't recommended? I was going to get an official charger.