Roy Tang

Posted on r/applehelp: 2017 Macbook Air has trouble charging

Hello,

I have a 2017 Macbook Air. This one still has the Magsafe charger. My problem with it is that connecting the charger to the device via the Magsafe port is super finicky, most of the time if I just plug it in straight, the device won’t charge (the battery status indicator will have the lightning bolt symbol, but if you click on it, the dropdown will say “not charging”) and the magsafe connector won’t light up (if it’s charging it will light up either red or green).

Eventually I’m usually able to get it to charge. But it takes me some number of tries disconnecting and reconnecting the charger, turning the wire or the connector every which way trying to find the proper angle where it will charge. Sometimes it takes me hours or even days to be able to get it to charge again. Obviously not very practical.

I don’t think it’s a problem with the charger itself; I’ve tried borrowing another working magsafe charger from someone else and the same problems arise. I’ve tried blowing into the connector ports or using toothpicks to clean out any dust, and still the situation persists.

Anyone else encountered this kind of issue? Any advice?