Saving a MacBook Air with exploded accu

Opening and repairing the machine

Sep. 14, 2017 - Willem L. Middelkoop

Last night I had a nasty surprise: my original MacBook Air was swollen due to an exploded battery. I immediately had to take action, for reasons of safety and to preserve this piece of modern computer history. Don’t try this at home, but if you do... read along for some practical tips.

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The damage to the battery pack is clearly visible

I disconnected the battery from the logic board using a plastic tool (that does not conduct electricity).

This battery is dead.

MacOS X correctly concluded that there are no batteries available, it works fine using a Power Adapter.

The MacBook is back alive, greeting me with its boot screen.

This laptop is not supposed to have a bobble...

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Articles (155)

2024-12-19 Data versus Feeling
2024-12-09 The Problem With Bitcoin
2024-11-11 Write your own words
2024-11-10 Go Viral on X
2024-10-20 Marathon
2024-09-10 I see dead people
2024-05-11 Developing a native iOS app
2024-03-24 Half Marathon
2024-03-05 No, I Won't Build That!
2024-02-16 Vision Pro
2024-01-16 Health and fitness data
2023-12-15 Backup Rotation Scheme
2023-11-10 Apple Watch as Phone
2023-11-01 And... there is light!
2023-10-14 Giving AI Training
2023-10-13 Hello, stranger
2023-08-23 The Same, Differently
2023-05-31 Impact of training
2023-05-08 Tablet as Tool
2023-05-03 Using AI to generate code
2023-05-01 Working Offline First
2023-04-20 Tips for Long-Distance Cycling
2023-04-05 Cutting Cloud Costs
2023-02-08 Back to the University
2022-12-22 Rolex DateJust 36
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2022-10-23 MUSE in Carré
2022-09-15 The Ultimate Freedom Bike
2022-09-11 Computer says no
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2022-04-18 Snake '97 High Scores
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2021-12-09 For the love of mini
2021-11-19 Escaping the flat tires
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2020-03-25 Designing and implementing a (micro) payment system
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2020-02-28 Your own addressbook and calendar cloud
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2019-10-19 Flying in a C47-A (DC-3) classic plane
2019-10-07 Multi-Window support in your iPad app
2019-09-27 Visiting an international hackers conference
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2019-07-16 Limitations of sleep tracking using a wearable
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2019-06-24 Six months with MCADD
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2019-01-24 My first weeks as dad
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2018-11-16 Around town in an electric car
2018-11-02 Is the Apple Watch the modern tool watch?
2018-10-16 Rescuing files from a broken harddisk
2018-10-09 Using a budget Android as main smartphone
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2018-09-26 Optimising images for the web and performance
2018-08-21 Space travelling from El Teide
2018-08-20 Google Analytics vs AWStats
2018-07-20 Helping people with free software
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2018-06-09 Removing paint from a bike frame
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2018-05-09 Lunch by plane
2018-04-30 Off the grid: Working on 100% renewable energy
2018-04-18 Outside the comfort zone: amateur acting
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2018-03-07 Tablet as main computer
2018-02-24 Creating the ultimate commuter bike
2018-02-21 Updating Snake '97
2018-01-21 Something the smartwatch will never have: patina
2018-01-08 Lessons from a takeaway plastic bag
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2017-09-14 Saving a MacBook Air with exploded battery
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