Hi, I've been encountering some issues with my macbook white recently. my gf bought the thing for me 2nd hand last year in Sg. when i got it from her, everything seemed to be working. couple of weeks ago, i tried playing some audio cd's on it and it won't play them. it just does this humming sound and ejects it a few seconds later. tried it multiple times but same result. also, just last night, i drained my mac battery. then i tried charging it to full charge. i left it plugged in through the night. when i woke up, instead of finding it fully charged, it was almost drained again. after checking, i found that the battery adapter was not lit up like it's supposed to. i had my engineer friend take a look at the adapter and he says its working fine. my mac is not under warranty anymore. been thinking of having it checked but wanted to get your thoughts on it first. also, my friend wants to try opening up the adapter for a closer look but i said i'd ask around first. what do you guys think i should do? thanks for your respones.
The adapter is not user-serviceable and an authorized Apple service center might reject to repair your adapter, if they find out it's been opened by someone else. If you've tried other CDs with your optical drive and it's still ejecting them, then your optical drive could be failing. Seems like it's having a hard time reading your discs. Could be just dirt, or could be something wrong with the lens. As for your battery, it's possible the battery's in need of replacement (how old is it?), which could be why it's not charging. Quick question: is it bulging? If yes, get rid of it. Best way is for you to go to a service center (Senco in Makati, Digital Hub, Power Mac Center, The A Shop, etc.) and have an authorized technician take a look at your Mac.
thanks for your response, johannes i don't see the battery as bulging. why do you ask? what does a bulging battery indicate? the unit is about 2 years old. another question...my friend says that defective batteries (or those due for replacement) sometimes cause damage to the adapter when plugged in. is that true with macs? i was thinking the same thing...wait for the service center to say it's irreparable before allowing my friend to tinker with it. would you have any idea how much that would set me back? even a ball partk figure? like i mentioned, the unit does not have any applecare or anything. what service center would be most affordable?
What type of audio CDs are these? are they burned CDRs? Have you tried other audio CDs you know were okay before?
no, tried original audio cd's bought from the music bars. before, i tried playing burned audio cd's and dvd's on it and it was fine.
bulging battery indicate that it's time that he (battery) should retire and purchase a new one. some people try to repack their battery just to lessen the cost, but i don't recommend you to do that, it is not recommended by Apple. better yet as sir johannes mention, have Apple authorized service center check it for you. with regards with super drive, does all kinds/formats of cd's are being rejected? maybe it is just dirty, as based on your post, it accepts, but ejects the automatically.
so it suddenly becomes defective. do hear your super drive reading? like a smooth motor turning while the disk/s are inside?
When my out of warranty iBook adaptor stopped working, one reseller advised me to just get a new one. I brought it to Ynzal, and Nomer told me that the only way to diagnose it is to crack it open at the seams, and hope it could still be repaired. I told him to go ahead. Thankfully, it was just a frayed internal wire. So he fixed it, and put it back together with masking tape. It looked super ugly, but still works up to now. You could also try a cheaper "replacement" adaptor. I got a "brown box" generic one from Greenhills for half the price of an original. Forgot the store already, so just ask around. As for your battery, click on the apple in the top left of the menu bar > "About This Mac" > Power > then look up the battery information. You could also download "Coconutbattery", which gives you info on the condition of your battery. Finally, if your superdrive is pihikan with disks, it could be failing already. Since your unit was second hand, you don't really know the history of its usage. So its most probably on its last breath.
1. remove the battery and plug the charger, it should light up to green. if not then either you have a busted charger or dc-in board (where you plug the tip connector of the magsafe into the macbook). 2. try to use a tested working charger, if still no light then its probably a busted dc-in board. 3. if the unit can turn on but no charging, try another tested working battery. if still not charging, you have a busted dc-in board. most probably your battery is still working, you can try to to test it on another macbook. 4. you optical drive needs replacement if it cannot read any discs anymore.
The best thing you can do is have it check at a nearby service center as mentioned by Sir Johannes. You can never go wrong with asking. You always get answers when you consult with the people in service centers. Of course, it is a wise move also to ask here. Anyway, with regards to the battery, try not to drain it all the time. And yes, downloading Coconut Battery would really help. About the optical disk, if you tried other CDs and they played just fine, it might just be the type of CD that you inserted. This happened to me one time and the disk won't even want to come out. I found out that since Mac disk drives aren't the usual ones that you have to press and then the drive would come out and whatnot, there are really certain types of CDs that doesn't necessarily "fit properly" for a lack of better word, into the drive. Again, best bet would be to go to a service center.
thanks everyone for your replies... followed your advice and took the unit to a powermac center. the unit worked fine with their adapter so i guess that narrows my problems to the charger. i also tried some cdr disks i brought along and the unit was able to recognize it. so i still dont know what's wrong with the cd drive. maybe it's just picky. now that i know that it's the adapter with the problem, i'm looking for adapters on sale. the orig brand new ones cost close to 5k. so i'm looking at other options.
well there are a lot of class a magsafe adapters available that doesn't come with a box, i think its P3500.
