Chosen Solution
Hello Ifixit community, this is my first post. The problem is as follows: My macbook air 13" Mid 2012 keeps on turning off abruptly when unplugged. It can last from anywhere around 2 minutes, to nothing (a small sound appears when powering on, yet cuts off even before booting sound). Initially it would last longer, yet quickly degraded to its current status. However, when plugged in, it works with no problem at all… I initially thought the battery must have degraded really, really quickly (i replaced it about 2-3 months ago), yet as can be seen with coconut, its in good health with realtively few cycles. I hace done an smc reset with no results. I have also done pram, no results. I have run diagnostics, no faults appear. I have attempted completely discharging battery, but as it turns off when unplugged, this is something I can not do. What I am guessing (in light that the battery actually comes up as “good”) is that the laptop somehow thinks that it is drawing too much power and thus automatically closing itself. When plugged, there is infinite power so it doesnt feel the need to close itself, even if it might see itself drawing too much power. I think this might be the issue because the problem slowly started after very heavy usage of playing CIV 6 for a week where it was surely gobbling up power. Now the component that measures this “power-gobbling” (:)) rate is either broken or uncalibrated as a result of this heavy use. But of course this is purely a guestimate…
It would be much appreciated if someone helped me out!!
You mentioned that you had water damage a few years ago. My first thought would be that your previous damage is acting up again. If there was any corrosion around the ISL charging chip and it was not thoroughly cleaned after liquid damage, then now - years later + humidity + heat + any other variable could have cut the thread that was holding the system together. If you are comfortable with it, I would recommend opening the system up and looking around the ISL chip and its resistors that is on the back side of your motherboard - with a magnifine glass or better yet, microscope.
Damage can be easy or hard to spot. It really sounds like a bad feedback resistor on the battery side of the power in circuit. If you do find damage here, you might want to consider sending your computer out for micro soldering repair, or if you are confident in your own skills and can get the right supplies, you can give it a go by your self first! There are some good videos on line showing what this chip does an how it can be replaced. Good luck!
hi there, I am having the same problem with my Macbook Air 13 inch late 2015. I spilled some soup last year, but I cleaned it up quickly, and assumed everything was fine. Over the year, the screws on the bottom of the mac fell off and the base became a little loose. Then, after returning to my mac after 1 month+ of inactivity, i found out that the mac randomly turns off when I unplug. I found this discussion really helpful and will try to get my mac to a computer shop. It’s a school computer, but idk if the IT can be able to fix it.
I’d try an SMC reset to start things off. This normally fixes standard battery issues.
Having this same problem with a mid 2010. I had had both the battery AND the logic board replaced under the little known video card problem just before the 5 year warranty expired as I paid the $300 lump sum. I took it back claiming that the parts should have had at least some kind of their own repair warranty with no luck. I have also tried the SMC and PRAM multiple times. Sometimes the battery disappears form the upper right in the screen, other times the Wireless icon disappears. I have upgraded to a solid state but there were no problems up until I had all of the warrantied items replaced….. Help!
Hey Yavuz, Did you manage to solve your Macbook Air battery problem where the Macbook keeps turning off when unplugged? I have the same Macbook Air 13" Mid 2012 model that experienced this problem after a new battery replacement ordered from iFixit.
