Sometimes needs the power buton pushed multiple times to turn on

The power key is actually working. The blink(1) I mentioned, it can be programmed to display a pattern when it gets power until the OS takes over managing USB devices. It starts the pattern, but it fails pretty consistently within a half second, so it does start to power on, it just then powers back off.

And, as I said, I literally had this *exact* issue back in 2020 and the fix did not involve having to replace any hardware.

And, honestly? I can't afford a replacement. It took me 7 months to save up enough to replace the battery this last time, so that's not really an option

@joeyteel - let’s get a better idea on what’s happening as the SLI is not programmable it does have a pattern of response but that doesn’t help us during the power on process as you’ve described.

First let’s see if we can get the onboard diagnostics to pop an error code as that can help localize a problem. Restart your system and press the D key to enter. Let us know what you get for the error.

The next is install CoconutBattery and post a snapshot of the apps main window here for us to see.

I'm gonna back @danj 's advice and say this is something down to the power button. I'm going to guess what is happening is that the contact patch/membrane is so worn it requires you to press it down hard enough to get it to contact.

To test that (After you've run diagnostics and stuff), what i need you to do is to shut it down, then instead of mashing your power button, i want you to press it, but press it super far in (push it like if your sending it through the keyboard). Let go and see if it works. if it doesn't, then it's likely something further within the keyboard. If it does, then that means your power button does work, it just requires the deepest press to turn on. As long as everything else works, it should hopefully be okay.

Let me repeat this concept one more time for you:

Yes, the power button is working. The blink(1) is a device that plugs into the USB port. It will not run the sequence **UNLESS IT HAS POWER** so if it is starting the process, then it is startng to get power.

What is happening, as I said *multiple times now* is that it is indeed starting to power on, but then it turns back off most of the time. It *DOES* work eventually however, it just takes multiple presses for it to turn on *and stay on*.

As I also said before, I had this *exact* issue in 2020, and it was a simple fix that didn't involve replacing the hardware.

@joeyteel - We do hear you! So let’s review what Apple engineered here as maybe that will explain why things are not so black and white.

The white Status Indicator Light (SIL) main function is to tell you the system is in sleep mode, this is where the illumination ramps up and down. The next action is a blinking pattern when the firmware can’t pass its CRC (corrupted or the the correct version)

Reference: If the Status Indicator Light flashes on Mac

During the startup it can blink depending if getting external power Vs not connected to a external power source. So it’s a spurious condition that doesn’t tell us anything.

So now let’s drive deeper here what does the onboard diagnostics tell you as well as CoconutBattery?

As we need something more definitive to work from. If the issue is not the keyboard there is only two other possibilities a very weak battery or a messed up logic board.