My MacBook MagSafe charger is blinking orange—Reopening as new topic to give my workaround

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Level 1

47 points

My MacBook MagSafe charger is blinking orange—Reopening as new topic to give my workaround

I let my MacBook battery go so flat that the Mac wouldn’t boot. So, I plugged in the mag connector and got the blinking amber and no boot. It didn’t seem to be able to resolve itself.

Then it hit me that I hit this issue before, and it took me a while to remember that I solved the no-boot by plugging power in with a C type plug.

Ah! That trick worked again! So once the display showed the batter icon, I could then go immediately back to the Mag Plug. It shortly had 1% and booted.

So, that may be your best first effort to get the MagSafe plug and laptop to fall in love again. The C power plug seems to reset that fault and then it works fine as long as it keeps a charge.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 15.5

Posted on Sep 12, 2025 02:52 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 12, 2025 08:33 AM in response to Jakib

Another good fix is to leave it connected to a source of power and allow the computer to trickle-charge at the default (very, very slow) rate. It may take as long as overnight to make any progress.

Once the battery gets up to a minimal level, then with the power still connected, you can usually get it to start a 'real' charge cycle and make faster progress. Sometimes a Reset is required.

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Answer 2

Jakib Author

Level 1

47 points

Sep 12, 2025 02:06 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks, but if it’s not charging, as indicated by the blinking amber, this cannot work.

In fairness, that is essentially what I tried the first time. It did not work. The. Alternative power did work however, and just did work again.

If the MagSafe eventually worked for you, your laptop may have finally ‘reset’ whatever offending electronic switch is locked up, but that may be down to luck…

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Answer 3

Sep 12, 2025 05:12 PM in response to Jakib

< Thanks, but if it’s not charging, as indicated by the blinking amber, this cannot work. >>

The MagSafe indicators are not set by the power adapter itself. They are set by commands from the computer, so the computer must already be running.

Some users have found that trickle-charging can still take place while those indicators are dark. With blinking, we don't have enough reports to say for certain, but it seemed worth mentioning anyway.

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