MacBook Air Portable Genius, 4th Edition

General Hardware Troubleshooting Techniques

If you’re having trouble with a device attached to MacBook Air, the good news is that a fair chunk of hardware problems have a relatively limited set of causes. You may be able to get the device back on its feet by attempting a few tried-and-true remedies that work quite often for many devices. The next few sections take you through these generic troubleshooting techniques.

Basic hardware troubleshooting steps

If it’s not immediately obvious what the problem is, your MacBook Air hardware troubleshooting routine should always start with these very basic techniques:

Check connections, power switches, and so on. Some of the most common (and most embarrassing) causes of hardware problems are the simple physical things, such as devices being unplugged or disconnected. So your first troubleshooting steps should concentrate on the obvious: making sure that a device is turned on, checking that cable connections are secure, and ensuring that external devices (such as those using a Thunderbolt or USB cable) are properly connected. For example, if you can’t access the Internet or your network, make sure that your network’s router or wireless access point is turned on. If you have a wired connection, make sure that the network cable between MacBook Air and your router is properly connected.

Replace the batteries. Wireless devices, such as keyboards ...