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MacBook Air shuts down when progress bar reaches 1/3 its length during startup

I have got a MacBook Air 2017 previously running on macOS 12 and now running on macOS 11. Sometimes when I shut down my device, it won't boot up anymore. When I press the power button, the Apple logo and the progress bar will show but when the bar runs to around 1/3 its length, the device shuts down by itself.


When such issue occurs, I can't do anything to boot it up (well except one, detailed in the next few paragraphs). I have tried resetting SMC, VRAM and basically every method on 'If your Mac doesn't turn on' or other similar Apple Support web pages but none of the methods work. I have even made an appointment (a few appointments actually) to Apple Support but their technicians cannot help (except telling me to replace the motherboard).


The issue actually first occured around 1.5 years ago. I have a bootable USB with macOS 11 installer in it (it once was macOS 12 but I changed it to macOS 11). Occasionally, I can boot my device with that USB and enter the disk utility and macOS installer.


In such case, I would erase my disk and install a brand new macOS in it. Usually after installation, my device would work perfectly fine (except turning on veryyyyy slow for the first startup after installation). It works so fine that I could work and do whatever I would do with it for nearly half years without any startup issues.


The whole erasing-installing-working cycle worked 4 or 5 times. When it fails, I would put it away for maybe a week or longer, then use the USB to try boot it up. If the booting works, I would erase the disk, install a new macOS and it would work fine. If the booting doesn't work, I will put it away and try it for like another week and try it again.


I am pretty sure that the issues are not caused by any app-related issues because of two reasons:

  1. The only apps I install on it are Google Chrome, Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Onedrive) and Adobe Acrobat Reader. Nothing suspicous.
  2. For once or twice, before I installed any apps after installing a new macOS, I would turn it off and later when I turned it on, It would fail when booting (the system is fresh with no third-party apps installed.


I have read a bunch of articles on this Apple Community as well as Reddit and other forums, with most of them concluding a hardware motherboard issue.


However, in my case my laptop has twice been working for more than 3 months and once even for near half a year after installing a new macOS.


When my device is working fine, I have also brought it to Apple Support once, but at that time, the technician said nothing was wrong (after doing whatever check they did).


Sorry for having you to read a long article, but may I kindly ask if you have any inspiration on the issues. I have tried most of the possible solutions (including booting in safe mode, repair mode, etc.) but all of them ended up failing (shutting down when entering into such mode, similar to booting in normal mode).


I have used the original charger with no other accessories attached (except for the bootable USB, tried both booting with and without the USB but still mostly failed during malfunction period). The spec is as followed:


Model: MacBook Air 2017

Model Identifier: MacBookAir7,2

Storage: 128 GB (original SSD, not replaced, showing 'verified' for SMART status in 'System Information > Storage')

Operating System: Probably macOS (12.7.2 or 12.7.4) and 12.7.6 in the past, macOS 11.7.10 now

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.7

Posted on Nov 22, 2024 11:05 AM

Reply
2 replies

Nov 22, 2024 8:19 PM in response to WheelieNick

I have been using macOS 12 for the last nearly two years since it is the newest version supported. I have used the latest version of Monterey but the same issue happens (it may work after fresh installation but in someday it can't boot). So now I want to try using the latest macOS 11 (though the same issue seems to exist as well). Now I prefer not to turn off the device to avoid that.

MacBook Air shuts down when progress bar reaches 1/3 its length during startup

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