Chosen Solution

I was given this MacBook Air by a friend after it started failing on her daughter (who was not very descriptive). The first time I turned it on it came up perfectly, but after that never got it to start again. Symptoms:

  1. no audible beep on startup
  2. no visible display - no apple logo, no backlight, no nothing.
  3. plugging in external monitor during startup displays nothing.
  4. SMC Reset DOES result in magsafe connector light change.
  5. Fan comes on; goes off very briefly and then stays on
  6. Front white LED comes on; goes off very briefly, and then stays on.
  7. CPU/GPU area gets and stays warm.
  8. battery charges (light eventually turns green). I purchased another logic board (certified used); absolutely no change in behavior. I purchased another SSD drive (brand new); no change (I know a new drive would need new OS Load but I’m not that far along yet). I’m tempted to buy a new display assembly, but - friends have told me that due to ‘3’ above (no activity on external monitor), this rules out my LCD - I should see ‘something’ on the external monitor if GPU is ok. But - I bought another logic board, so that should eliminate bad GPU. Not sure what to try next! I wish I had a second working A1304 to swap parts with but my other MBA is a much newer model. Suggestions? Thanks!

When you replace the logic board did it look like it has gotten wet? Did you see any signs of liquid damage? Have you tried shorting out the power pads to see if the system would boot up that way? You may want to disconnect the keyboard cable and plug in a USB keyboard & mouse. Try starting up the system without the battery plugged in with just the power adapter only. Do you get further in the boot up process? I would focus on the basics here.

Thanks a lot. have the 2011 i7 15 inch pro. The service battery sign was always on. I ignored that service battery and I dismantled everything to change the thermal paste on the CPU/GPU. After that it worked for a week and went blank. I was scratching my head thinking the logic board was corrupt. reset the SMC /NVRAM multiple times and it came up at one instance. I reinstalled Mac OS, thinking the pirated version of software I installed corrupted the Mac. After reinstalling everything was fine, but with service battery error. Two weeks back it stopped and became blank while I was working on it and was not powering on. When powered on the light used to come up and no display. No beep. light bud come up and dim and no display. I thought I broke the lvds connector after dismantling the MacBook for applying thermal grease. finally removed the battery and reset the smc/nvram and did that multiple times, disconnecting the battery. Now its back again running on the main power without the battery.. I feel the faulty battery has caused the MacBook to not startup.. Whats the connection. Can anyone explain. thanks ravi