MacBook Air Models A1237 and A1304

Model A1237 or A1304 / 1.6, 1.8, 1.86, or 2.13 GHz Core 2 Duo processor

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3 beeps on start up

Hi,

On power up, my MacBook Air beeps three times continuously.

beep beep beep (short break) beep beep beep (short break)....

Any ideas.

thanks.

Frustrated!!

Update

I feel really ripped off! I bought the macbook Air 13" shortly after the warranty expired. The thing is practically perfect. Now I come to find out that the ram is bad and there's not a thing I can do about it. I tried to to Hold Command +P+R and still nothing.

JC

Contestado! View the answer Yo también tengo este problema

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9 Respuestas

Solución Elegida

NEWS FLASH for MacBook Air users with 3 Beeps at startup!!!

On a hunch, as I have noticed my MacBook Air has overheated in the past, I opened mine up to check the THERMAL PASTE. Made no sense that DRAM of any sort would fail after 15 months. When I got down to the logic board, I inspected the 8 visible 1 gigabit chips visible. The solder joints appeared pristine. Nothing else appeared burned, fractured, loose or disconnected. I then removed the heatsink I found the thermal paste dried and hardened! I carefully removed all of the old paste and then applied new high quality thermal paste. I then reassembled the machine. Rebooted and NO 3 beeps! Once again, my MacBook Air appears to be working perfectly.

Therefore, if you have recently had a MacBook Air exhibit the 3 beep boot failure, strongly consider checking your thermal paste. WARNING: You should do this ONLY you are an experienced repair person, and only if your computer is already out of warranty.

FYI: I've been building, repairing and modding computers since 1987.

Hope this helps some people,

John

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An interesting solution +

por rj713

+ 2 thumbs up! The RAM controller is on the Northbridge/video chip - this is an Intel product. It makes good/perfect sense. Nothing amazing about it. But I bet this answer helps a great many people.

por ABCellars

It worked for me. Bought the screwdrivers and thermal past on Amazon and fixed my computer for lest than $15. Thank you for taking the time to post this. Mac repair shop told me that it was the RAM gone bad. It's worth the time to try the thermal paste fix first.

por Robert Edge

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It's a RAM problem, 13" models have 2GB soldered memory and the RAM is not upgradeable or replaceable. 15" and 17" have a 4GB maximum with two slots and you can replace the RAM on those.

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Good answer +

por rj713

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BAsed on my working MAC computers, three beeps is related to BAD MEMORY. i suggest you to replace your RAM with good one and try booting again... hope this will help!

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Tayamen is right, this points to a RAM problem. But unfortunately the Airs RAM is soldered to the logicboard. You may have to change it. Bummer.

por remacberlin

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UPDATE: THERMAL PASTE

Having now had to do this repair twice, I am beginning to suspect that environmental conditions (temperature, ambient humidity) are directly affecting thermal paste on the Macbook Air (as least the Rev C).

Please let me explain, as I do not think there is anything inherently wrong with this model. Each time I have run into the 3 beep scenario, it has occurred after the MacBook Air has been exposed to extremes in temperature. Specifically, it has been left out in the center console of my 2007 Tundra when it has been very cold (10º F to 20º F). Although this area of the pickup truck should be insulated (you would think, as this console is specifically marketed pitching it as a place to store your notebook computer), it seems to not be so. That and the fact that the MacBook Air is so thin, and there is no real thermal insulator between the case and the logic board. My thinking is that the paste contracts and/or dries out when exposed to extremely cold temperature. If the former is true, then when it warms up it could potentially fail by cracking, or even pulling away from the surface it is adhered to. Likewise this could occur as it contracts, or if it gets dried out. Anyone out there with material science engineering experience with thermal paste, input would be greatly appreciated.

Bottomline is that each time I've had the 3 beep scenario, twice now and after machine being on (sleeping, cover closed), being exposed to a significant temperature drop, when I open it up and replace the paste, it works again. CAUTION: the paste itself is not at all easy to work with, and can make a real mess. It especially loves hydrophillic substances like your fingers. And MORE IMPORTANTLY, if you fail to put the thermal paste on properly, you are in for a potential disaster. Although I think Apple has engineered a fail safe for this by preventing the boot sequence, resulting in the 3 beeps (misleadingly indicating RAM failure), I wouldn't want to be the one finding a fire igniting my Air! Just to respond to the memory seating issue, there is none. As others have pointed out, it is soldered (using SMD -tiny 'surface mount' - chips) to the logic board).

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in the aple store tecnic service tell me is mi mother board and that cost 900$ them y read this coment and change the paste for my own and it work again you save me a lot of money thank

por Alvaro Miranda

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I have found solution, the problem is so small and funny, unbelievable small.

I had problem few days, totally black screen and only three beeps in intervals, no boot.

And i don't wanna to give a lot of money for nothing so i decided to do everything which i know and to fix it or trow it in a garbage.

I have tried thermal paste, have checked the memory chips on logic board, soldered the new one, but again the same.

The problem was that thermal sensor which is on the small board and glued to the logicboard (i don't know why they do like that) have take apart from it and touching the metal part of cooler and making a short circuit. I had glued back again, put the paste and cooler and, woala, air is on the air again hehe

the location i have marked on picture with red.

the location of thermal sensor

hope you will find this useful.

Greetings from Serbia

Zdravko

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ZDRAVKO's lead me to my solution!

I have a macbook air that most of the time wouldn't boot, the light turned on, but then everything did shut off with a click. I had reassembled the mac when it started doing this. Somehow I figured out that when I did not assemble the heatsink it would boot ok, but ofcourse would get too hot after a while. After even more testing, it turned out that the tiny screw in the middle of the heatsink that holds a V shaped clamp, was the cause. When I had that screw tightened, that macbook air wouldn't boot.

After using the macbook without the clamp fastened I found out that it reached 90+ degrees and did shut off the same way as when it wouldn't boot. With a click and then powered off. Remembering this answer of ZDRAVKO I could conclude that somehow this heatsink screw was interfering with the temperature sensor and causing the macbook to turn of immediately. I couldn't find any case of shortcircuiting, but I did notice that one of the cables of the temperature sensor was routed above a hard square motherboard chip-thingy. When the heatsink was totally fastened, that would get squeeshed there and probably short-circuit or do something else bad. When I put that cable aside it, where it probably belonged, the boot error was solved!!

So, what a coincidence that I read ZDRAVKO's answer! Long live the internetz. :)

por Peterdk

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Found the solucion!!!!!

Hold Command+P+R simultaneously and press power button this will seset the parameter REM (PRAM)

Pedro

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Pedro, check the update. That did not work

por oldturkey03

I also experienced the 3 beeps with no further computer function. I used the Command + R + P and Powerup method. The Air then started without the beeps but with a blank screen. After several attempts to restart, I used the hold "D" key down with Powerup. I had to hold the "D" key for over 30 seconds, then the computer started as normal. So far it has experienced no further odd behavior.

por relveston

relveston, in the update to the question it was said that this solution did not work. Great that it worked for you, good job.

por oldturkey03

I got 3 beeps nonstop. So as I read here, I pressed D key and power up simultaneously. The beep stopped and it s working again. Thanks for the tip xx

por Maryam

PEDRO saved me!! press command + R + P + power !!! it rebooted and now works!!

por SUPERJOE

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I took out the logic board and placed it in the oven on 350 degree F for 8 min. Let it cool for 30 min put the computer back together and it started up with on problems.

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Well, I am surprised. I went through all the answers on this site in order of difficulty, and after cleaning off and replacing the thermal paste with no joy, I ordered a new logic board. Only after I had the old one out did I find I had ordered the wrong version of the logic board. Did not fit. So as a sort of WTF, I went ahead and baked my old one then reassembled things. I needed to do that just so I did not lose parts while hassling a replacement of the replacement board, so what the heck. And it booted up!

So what I take from this is that there may be a number of factors that can cause the 3 beeps, and Apple had a number of small revisions over the life of this model, so don't expect a simple "one answer" fix. I have NO IDEA why baking the logic board would heal the memory, but try it if nothing else works! Thanks, Nikhil!

por feraltech

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Holding down D for about 20-30 seconds -- and power simultaneously -- stopped the beeps. Then I pressed power and it booted right up. My guess is that the mac air overheated from too much video work (was moving large video files around and using iMovie).

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@textractor - thanks a lot. My daughters MacBook was doing the beeping and I did replace the memory but it kept doing it. Your D+power steps made it stop and it's booting ok again. Big thank you!

por Bogdan Vacaliuc

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Same for me here.

My MacBook Air mid 2011 with 4 GB RAM would only beep 3 times on booting.

Put the logic board 8 minutes in the oven with 190 degree celsius - was booting again fine afterwards :)

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