How to fix it when your MacBook is not charging? Five ways to fix it.
In our experience, Apple MacBooks are some of the most reliable computers you can buy. Except for the odd design flaws that you can see attributed to the brilliant Louis Rossman, most people think their MacBooks just keep on driving. This is one of the reasons why a serious device failure can be a shock. One minute your MacBook is working fine, the next it won’t charge!
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The Two Types of MacBook “Not Chargingâ€
“MacBook won’t charge†can mean several things. More often than not, you plug in the charging cable and your MacBook won’t turn on or the battery continues to drain even if you plugged in power.
The second reason someone might want to look for this problem is for a battery status message that says “not charging.” However, the computer operates normally and the battery level does not drop, drop more slowly, or actually increase slowly over time.
The second situation occurs when the MacBook requires more power than the cable provides. This usually happens because you are using an insufficient power adapter. We’ll tackle this issue soon, but first, let’s see what you can do if your MacBook is completely dead and won’t charge.
1. My MacBook is Dead
If your MacBook won’t turn on or charge even when you plug-in power, you might have a dead MacBook in your hands. However, before submitting it to Apple Genius, try this:
- Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds, which will shut down your MacBook. Then try turning it on as usual.
- After you have done this, but there is still no response, you can try to reset the SMC (System Management Controller). Hold Shift-Control-Option on the left side of the keyboard along with the power button for 10 seconds. Then release the keys and try turning on your MacBook as usual.
If that doesn’t work, pack your laptop and take it to your nearest service center for inspection. Having tackled this most serious problem, we can look at the most common (and more solvable!) Charging problems faced by MacBook owners.
2. Start at the Source: Check Your Charger
If your MacBook won’t charge, there are two pieces to the puzzle. One is the laptop itself and the other is the charger. The latter piece of equipment is the easiest to test, so it makes sense to start there.
Make sure the charger, cables, and connectors are not visibly damaged. You should also make sure that the outlet is working by trying another device.
If the charger is a USB model, try connecting it to a different USB device. If the charger works with other devices but not your MacBook, it probably isn’t the problem.
3. Use Original Apple Accessories
Modern MacBooks are especially versatile because they use a standard USB-C port for charging. This means you can use almost any smartphone or tablet charger to charge your laptop. Even an external battery can lengthen the power outage before the lights go out.
Unfortunately, the world is full of substandard chargers or devices that don’t meet the power standards that MacBooks need. It can also happen that the charger simply doesn’t have the power needed to provide enough power to the MacBook.
MacBook chargers range from 29W to 96W, so check what’s required for your MacBook and use something the same or better. You can charge your MacBook using the 18W smartphone charger, but the computer must be turned off or in sleep mode. Even then, a full charge will take much longer.
The best way to fix this as the cause of the problem is to use the original Apple charger and cable that came with the laptop. If they also give a “not charging†error, then it’s time to contact an Apple service center.
4.Do You Have Dirty Ports?
Please don’t take it personally, a lot of people have dirty ports. There is nothing to be ashamed of! It is important to ensure that dust and lint in the MacBook charging port may be causing a poor electrical connection.
This isn’t really a problem for pre-Thunderbolt 3 MacBooks, but if you have one of the newer models, they might run into the same issues as Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C ports in general. Shine a light into the port to see if there is any dirt. If so, you can ask a technician to clean them for you or, if you are a little bolder, gently remove the dirt from the connector with a plastic or wooden toothpick. As always, do this at your own peril and risk.
5. Your Battery Might Actually be Dead
Lithium batteries wear out a little every time they go through a charge cycle. After they have passed the nominal number of cycles, the battery begins to lose capacity, and this process can start slowly and then speed up. At some point, the battery won’t charge or holds such a tiny charge that it discharges in minutes. If you click on the battery icon in MacOS and see the message “Service Battery”, it means that the battery needs to be checked by a specialist and most likely replaced.
There are three options when it comes to removing the battery. Older MacBooks have user-replaceable batteries. You simply take out the old battery and insert the new one. After these MacBooks, there was a generation of laptops in which the battery could be removed, but that required opening the laptop. If you have one of these models, head over to the iFixit guide to finding out how to get to this battery.
Recent MacBooks are sealed units and even if you open it, the battery is glued on and needs to be removed with solvent. This forces you to go to an Apple specialist and deprives you of the opportunity to do the work yourself unless you have the necessary technical skills.
Stay in Charge
Hopefully, the problem with charging your MacBook was temporary. Otherwise, in the end, the installation of a new battery by a certified technician is not like this.
What you should never do is ask someone to install a third-party replacement battery on your MacBook. In most cases, using third-party lithium batteries is a bad idea, but this is especially true for MacBooks that have been carefully designed. A battery that is manufactured with less precision may cause a fire or explosion. It will be much more expensive to fix this than replacing the battery with the right person!
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How to fix it when your MacBook is not charging? Five ways to fix it
How to fix it when your MacBook is not charging? Five ways to fix it