Chosen Solution
So, looking for concurrence of a diagnosis from those who are WAY smarter than me! I’ve read similar posts on this topic, but none exactly like this situation. Early 2015 MacBook Air suddenly shut down and wouldn’t turn on. Resetting the SMC and the PRAM made no difference. Connected charger is orange, and then turns green to signify a full battery (which it had). After removing the bottom cover and disconnecting the battery, the laptop will power back up and run and continue to run if I reconnect the battery and disconnect the charger. I can even put the laptop to sleep by closing the cover, and it will wake normally. However, if I connect the battery and shut down the computer, I cannot restart it with the power button. I should mention that I believe the charge LED remains green if disconnected from the battery. My guess is that it’s a bad keyboard, and it would be easiest to replace the whole top assembly. Do you think I’m right in this? Thanks in advance for your wisdom! Cz
“After removing the bottom cover and disconnecting the battery, the laptop will power back up and run and continue to run if I reconnect the battery and disconnect the charger. I can even put the laptop to sleep by closing the cover, and it will wake normally.” Use this technique to power on the machine so you can fully test the functionality of the top case. To test the power button try to force the machine to power off by holding the power button for 10 seconds (also, if the charging light changed when you performed the SMC reset the power button is working). I strongly suspect the battery has an issue since you are only experiencing problems when the battery is connected. Batteries for this model are relatively cheap and easy to install. I would recommend installing a new, known-good battery to see if this resolves the issue.
