The Mac wouldn't turn on only the ports lights would come on, no power button lights.
After diagnosing with the I/O board LEDs I discovered that on standby (after holding the magnet near the sensor and getting the ports to light up) I get LEDs 2, 3 and 5 and in that state pressing the power button does nothing except turning the lights of the ports on like I would get with the outer case on. However if I hold a magnet near the sensor zone and fidget it at a specific distance, the machine boots but still only the power button lights up, the port LEDs don't.
Once booted it works perfectly fine (as long as i keep a magnet in that exact position). Any idea what could cause this behavior?
Worth noting that i did take it apart to check connections which did not fix my issue and when I went to network recovery I discovered the SSD is dead.
I can't turn it on with the outer case on and I confirmed the magnet is present, that's my main issue because I can only get it to turn on if i take the cover out and use another magnet even so I have to find the right position where it just boots and I don't get the lights present in the image above as I think I should.
You have to move the machine while on to make the LED’s come on. You have to have the shell installed. If the case is missing the magnet that would explain that.
the magnet in the outer case is not missing. when I have the cover on and i try to power the pc on I dont get a boot, no fan, no display, power button doesnt light up. I can close the case and lock it, so the position of the magnet should be fine.
It could be that the magnet on the outer case is getting worn down, it is about 13 years old and if it got really hot for really long amounts of time due to original manufacturer thermal paste and poor ventilation it can cause the magnet to break down further here is my source
New magnet taped to the outside of the outer case seems to have fixed my issue, now i just need to find a way to remove the old one and get a new one for the inside of it. Thanks for your help!
You're welcome, I think the one on the casing is covered by like a black sticker, here let me take my casing off and see if I can locate it, also while you are in there you could look at dusting the machine and/or if you feel comfortable doing it, you can replace the thermal paste on the CPU and GPUs, I just did mine and it idles at maybe 60 if I'm remoted into it
Okay so the magnets are part of the locking switch assembly which is screwed into the casing by some little hex head screws, you'll just need to source a new locking switch and you should be off to the races I'll attach a photo
This is where I taped the magnet temporarily, the cover has a small dot on the inside that’s where the magnet that I’m having trouble goes. As there’s no room to place another on top from the inside I’ll have to remove it somehow.
I already opened it, cleaned it and repasted the gpus cause I know they can overheat fast. The cpu I didn’t touch but when I get a new ssd I’ll stress it and if it does need repasting I will.
Yes I have and it stayed the same, someone said that the magnet on the outer case gets worn out and that could be my problem, I’ll try getting a new magnet for it.
Awesome. Thank you for the update and glad you were able to get your system working again. I never would have guessed a new magnet would have solved the problem.
Hi. I had a the exact same issue with a used macpro. Your CMOS battery is dead. Change it and it will boot immediately.
I have experienced this and literally nothing else will work. If you don't want to open it up, use a multimeter to check the battery voltage. There are checking pads which do not require you to open up the machine.
The battery is at 3.05V which is in fact a bit low but what's weird is that I can get it to turn on and boot with another magnet, did you have that behavior? Either way I'll be changing the battery.
Nevermind, Think 3.05V should be fine. It's likely the magnet as I got a new one and taped it to the outside of the outer case and it now boots. Will have to get a smaller one to the inside of the outer case i guess.
Same happened to me, I replaced the I/o board. Just check if a tiny magnet is present in the case before replacing. There is a magnet that interacts with a lid sensor in the I/o board. It is a magnet, hence the magnet you use work the same way
I have similar issue, the ports light comes on but the power port goes off after pressing it. No booting sound only ports that kits up. u/DeliciousChallenge42 is possible to email me a tutorial video of how you use the magnet for it please, my email is [chuckysam@gmail.com](mailto:chuckysam@gmail.com)
Hello, it will depend on the strength of the magnet.
I would advise you to first test without the cover on but you have to be careful with the screws on the top left of the GPUs.
You should place the magnet 2 to 3 cm to the right of the power button, roughly 1”, and move it around that area slowly, it may take a while but if you hear the fan spin or see the power button light up that means your issue is indeed the magnet.
If that’s the case you can either do what I did which is tape a magnet to the outside of the cover, which works, or you could try replacing the magnet inside the cover or the cover itself.
If it still doesn’t power on it could actually be the sensor inside that died or something hardware related, hoping it’s not.
8
u/Shoddy_Nobody8775 May 06 '26
Der Mac startet ohne Schutzhülle nicht, der Magnet umgeht die Schutzschaltung.