Chosen Solution
Macbook Air A1369 circa 2011 Hello, When trying to startup my Macbook Air circa 2011, I encountered the dreaded “three beeps” followed by a few seconds’ pause repeating endlessly. I tried all of the answers in this helpful thread 3 beeps on start up and none of them worked until the last, surprising one: baking the motherboard! Doing so at 350 degrees F for 8 minutes led to the following: when I pressed the power button, I heard the Apple “chime” and the normal blue screen lit up. I was so happy! But then, after about 1 second, a series of multi-colored flashing bands appeared on the display. The screen then went black. Now, the three beeps has occurred again and the I can’t get the chime or normal blue startup screen anymore. Does this minor success mean the baking is useful and I should try it again at a higher heat? Longer time? Or at this point is my computer just toast? (no pun intended) Any help is appreciated . . .
None of the top techs have touched this question for a very good reason. Baking a logic board is analogous to going to a doctor with a broken finger and coming out with a body cast. Yeah, the finger got a cast on it. You’ve probably destroyed any chance a tech had of actually repairing it. Your best shot was taking it to a tech an having them reflow the RAM that is not working! With a hot air work station.
Ok, so the reason you bake a motherboard is to attempt to try re-solder everything when it heats up and then cools back into place. Although from the link you provided, it sounds like bad solder could be an issue, I highly recommend this as a last resort type deal. I would first attempt to reapply the thermal paste like John had said (putting a motherboard into a microwave isn’t always safe).
I just did it and it worked for me as well. I had an Apple Macbook pro layin around because of the GPU and today I took it apart and so it is and was true it actually worked. Im not sure how long it will work for does anyone know how long this will last and will I have to keep doing it? Im siked! Thanks Internet.
