Help: MacBook turns on as soon as I attach the AC adaptor

Hi guys!

My black MacBook has developed a strange self consciousness: each time I attach the AC cord, and even with lid still closed (!!!), it turns on by itself...

I've tried resetting SMC/PMU (remove power cord and battery, hold down power button for 5 seconds) and PRAM (Command+Option+P+R while booting) but no success (hoping I did them the right way as there is no confirmation), the problem remains.

Very very strange... Any suggestion???

Thanks and Ciao!

Sergio

 

Do you mean it turns itself on or wakes from sleep?

I'm not at my Macbook Pro right now, but if you mean it wakes from sleep there is a setting for that.

If you mean it wakes from not being on, that's slightly more strange...

Your SMC reset looks fine, PRAM also if you kept holding the keys down until you heard the chime twice? That's the confirmation for PRAM reset, there is no confirmation for SMC however.

 

After shutting down, do you close the lid immediately? It takes a few seconds to shutdown and if you close the lid before it completly shuts down, it goes to sleep instead of shutting down. But how can it start with the lid close? Hmmm .. I'm lost. True, very very strange.

 

There is a feature where you can attach an external monitor and external input devices and have the Macbook wake up from sleeping, while still closed. This only kicks in when the adapter is attached. If it's something else then I've got no idea.

 

Hi!

Many many thanks for your kind support

To Starlight:
No, it turns itself on, not from sleep (or at least there is no front light blinking, so I suppose it is turned off); PRAM reset seems ok, heard the chime twice!

To IBMac:
Usually I wait a few seconds before closing the lid, and there is no blinking front light after that; and yes it starts with lid closed!!! Very very strange...

To l33t_c0w:
I've to check, you are right in pointing me to this topic: sometimes I use my MacBook attached to an LCD TV, but never touched any preferences apart from resolution settings; the problem is that the MacBook doesn't wake up from sleep, it turns on when left turned off (or at least I have no blinking light...)

I know this is not a real issue: apart from this "little" problem my MacBook runs really fine and I'd be very disappointed to have to send it for repair (better to keep it like this, than to have to wait who knows how long for it to come back). I hope I can find a "software related" solution...

Thanks again and Ciao from Italy

Sergio

 

Hi again,

yesterday night I ran the hardware test from the Mac OsX installation DVD and all went fine

Now I will try this from command line:

sudo pmset -a acwake 0

And look at the settings in this file, just to check if something is screwed-up:

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.PowerManagement.plist

Tomorrow will report back!

Ciao

Sergio

 

No news bad news...

It seems that acwake is correctly set to 0, so this is not the problem...

The only thing I can add is that it seems that my Macbook is waking up when plugged only if I leave it unused (and unplugged) for some time: lets say if I turn it off and disconnect from power, then anfer few minutes I reconnect it, nothing strange happens (it stays turned off); while if I do so after a full day not touching it, then it turns on...

It seems like some settings (but the only one that I'm aware of is this weird "turning on when powered", and sometimes the screen brightness that comes back to full even if it is always set to minimum) are lost when the machine stays turned off for some hours...

My one year warranty will end in a month, so I'd like to find out if it's some sort of software related problem or not, before sending to repair in time to take benefit of the warranty...

Ciao for now

Sergio

 

Well, you could try running the Apple Hardware Test - it's not likely to spot the issue, but if you get a hit in there you know for sure there's a hardware error.

If you really want to be sure, do an erase & install - if the issue remains after, it's a hardware issue.

As you said, warranty ends in a month - so do make sure you leave it with an Apple Store or authorized service provider before that. I would advise you to buy an AppleCare Protection Plan also before it's too late (2 years more coverage). You have until the end of the one-year warranty to do that. And yes, it's worth it.

 

Hi Starlight

Done, both the fast one and the advanced, no errors

Yes, it's my last chance, but as I'd like to upgrade my original 80 Gig HD with a new 160 Gig, maybe I will do it only once with the new drive

I think I will follow your advice and buy it, even if the AppleCare Protection Plan for a MacBook is 319 Euro... Quite expensive if you think that Volkswagen is asking me 425 Euro to extend of 2 years the warranty of my Golf GT 1.4!!!

By the way, yesterday I called the Apple Tech Support in Italy and told them about my problem with the MacBook: they suggested the same things we already did (resets etc.) but then also suggested to try to move the pins of the MagSafe connector with the plastic cap of a pen, maybe one of them was stuck in a wrong position and didn't make the correct connection when plugged... So far I have had only one chance to verify if this was the solution (I have to wait at least 12, better 24 hours from the last use of the Mac to expect the problem), and the MacBook behaved correctly, this evening I will retry and report back!

Ciao for now and sorry for the long post ;-)

Sergio

 

It seems that the trick worked, no more strange startups since I followed the Thech Suport suggestion! Great

Thanks again to all who helped & Ciao!

Sergio