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Battery will not charge. MagSafe adapter remains green?

Model: Macbook Pro 17 (A 1229) , 2,4 GHz - 2007

System: OSX Mavericks

Battery: Replacement Battery (not original) 11.1 V, 6600mAh (73 Wh)

  • Health: 98%
  • Cycles: 5
  • Charge 83%

Problem:

After some heavy workload I did with the MacBook Pro (heating up quite well), next day I found the following problem:

Battery will not charge. Battery is currently at 83% load. The LED of the MagSafe adapter (original) remains green. Mac works with MagSafe adapter cable attached to computer. Mac shuts down when only used with battery power although it is at 83% load. Mac will not power on without MagSafe power supply. Mac works fine without Battery in body case - only with MagSafe power supply attached.

I tried: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) - did not resolve the problem.

My hardware guess to fix it:

  • MacBook Pro 17" (Model A1229) Left I/O Board

or

  • MacBook Pro 17" (Models A1212/A1229) Battery Connector

Can anybody help - or had the same problem - and do you know, how to fix it?

Help is much appreciated, Dirk

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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Same thing happened to my Macbook Pro Charger

Battery Information:

Model Information:

Serial Number: 9G522076KD3MB

Manufacturer: DP

Device Name: bq20z451

Pack Lot Code: 0

PCB Lot Code: 0

Firmware Version: 201

Hardware Revision: 2

Cell Revision: 158

Charge Information:

Charge Remaining (mAh): 5348

Fully Charged: Yes

Charging: No

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 5592

Health Information:

Cycle Count: 229

Condition: Normal

Battery Installed: Yes

Amperage (mA): 0

Voltage (mV): 12282

the charger is always on green light and the percentage won't increase but it won't decrease either if it's remained plug, but when I unplugged it the percentage goes down while using the laptop. I've read some comments that sound stupid but it sure did worked.

I unplugged the charger for a few minutes and let my battery run down to 90% then when I plugged it back the light finally turned orange and began charging.

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Dirk I would try the SMC reset again as I don't think you gave the system enough time to discharge fully. Did you follow this Apple TN? Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) Some people have found they needed to remove the battery when doing it.

As you are getting SMC telling you the batteries status we know its communicating to the battery so its a working battery and the connector is also functioning. The I/O board does have some of the charging logic on it on this model (4 - FET transistors). So it's possible it is having issues. I would give this little gem of an app a try coconutBattery 2.8 to see what the SMC is doing and what its detecting. With its information you should be able to tell if the I/O board is working.

You may have a deeper problem within the main logic board.

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Thank you Dan ! I will look into it this weekend and see what I get. Keep you posted!

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Hi Dan,

so below are the results from Coconut battery. I also did the SMC reset again with removed battery etc. and followed the steps from the apple site you posted. Mac is still working only wiht he power cable adapted, still not battery charge. Thx for your help ! Dirk

Coconut battery 2.8

Battery Charge

Current Charge: 5392mAh

Maximum Charge: 6448mAh

Battery Charge 84 %

Battery Capacity

Current Capacity: 6448mAh

Design Capacity: 6600mAH

Battery Health: 98%

Details

Mac Model: MacBookPro3,1

Age of your Mac: 79 months

Battery load cycles: 5

Battery Temeperature: 29.3 C

Battery Power Usage: 0.0 Watt

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Well we now know the SMC & the battery are OK. Sorry to say you have a logic board problem with the power switching logic. Do you have a local repair shop that does SMT component repairs? This is repairable Vs needing a replacement logic board.

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Thank you Dan!! That helps! I'll see if I can find a repair shop for the logic board problem. Kindly, Dirk

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Hi Dirk,

I had the exact same problem - magsafe always wih a green light, no charging, Coconut told me the battery is working fine, SMC reset without result, MacBook only running with attached magsafe. I found this page when trying to find help, thanks to Google, and found the answers of Dan quiet logic, so I tried to get my hands on a new logic board - which is not easy here in Germany, so I started thinking about getting a new MacBook and dumping the 17".

Meanwhile, only by strange coincidence, I found out that Dans answer is - in my case - wrong. I travelled by train, working with the MacBook, when a stranger with the exact same model sat on the same table. We started talking about my problems and my search for a logic board, when he suggested to put his working battery into my MacBook to make sure it was really no battery problem. What can I say: We changed the battery, instantly the magsafe went orange, the battery-symbol on the desktop stated "Charging", and the MAcBook went on running without magsafe attached.

I got a new battery in the local Apple-Store for far less money than the logic-board would have cost. MacBook is up and running without any problem since then..

One more thing: The dead battery was not orginial Apple, I had bought a cheap battery on ebay when the original part showed the well-known problems like swelling up and not fitting any longer. Maybe the recent problem was caused by this cheap third-party battery?

Anyway, maybe this is of help: Don´t trust coconut, check the battery physically.

Kindly, Andreas

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andreas - First I'm happy you got your system working. As to my answer being wrong: I would say 99% of the time when I deal with this kind of problem the FET's are damaged on the logic board (ESD damaged). I don't work with cheap 3rd party batteries so they could be defective or respond incorrectly to SMT services (lying to coconutBattery which is reporting on SMT). Even Apple's tech guides support my diagnosis.

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Hi Andreas,

thank you for your detailed story! It is much appreciated!

So far I have not tried to buy a new logic board / or I-O Board - as you pointed out - are quite pricey here in Germany. Also to get them from ebay is not so easy . I thought about buying another A1229 Model from ebay ( around 500.- € ) and switching all necessary parts to my Mac, but I haven't done it yet.

Your battery Information is quite helpful. Maybe I have to travel by train too and find a guy with the same Macbook Pro model and battery ?!

:-)

My current battery is also NOT original ( bought it from an ebay third party battery seller ) ! I guess I'll try to somehow get my hand on a original Apple battery to check the problem out.

Will keep you guys posted on my problem.

Also I want to thank you Dan for all your work on this!

Noch einmal Danke! Andreas und liebe Grüße,

Dirk

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Hallo Dirk,

einige Tage her, aber konntest Du Dein Problem lösen? Würde mich interessieren...Grüße aus München,

Andreas

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Hallo Andreas. Nein, hab noch nichts geändert - keine Zeit gehabt und alles etwas zu teuer gerade bei ebay ( Boards / Original Batterien). Keep you posted. grüße , Dirk

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If you have a bulging genuine Apple battery take it to the apple store. they may replace it for free. I got a free replacement for a bulging battery several years ago.

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Hi!

I've just had the exact same problem as Dirk had, on my MBP 15 Mid 2009 and its genuine battery: no charge, magsafe LED always green, battery stuck @ 40% & MBP would only start with the power cord connected. It would shut down instantly when removing Magsafe.

Coconut battery was pretty confident regarding the good condition of my battery, but still it wasn't operational at all!

I've tried all the resets you could imagine (SMC, PRAM & NVRAM & so on...) and all the fingers/keyboard combinations the guys at Apple came up with, without any success!

I finally found this post.

All my little "mac world" was about to collapse when I read Dan's answer > Logic board problem (no offense Dan) - but I kept reading. Hope came back when I read Andreas' contribution.

I couldn't swap battery like Andreas did, but I tried to remove it from the mac (without any pentalobe screwdrivers - that's a challenge).

I started the mac on power supply without no battery fitted: booted up fine.

I finally reinstalled the battery in the MBP and powered it without any power supply: AND IT WORKED !

It looks like the battery needed a "hard reset" SMC couldn't offer.

Anyway, I hope this trick will help some of you.

This message is not aiming at trying to determine who's right and who's wrong, I only want to share my experience.

Big kiss from Paris.

Patrick.

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Patrick, I think you jumped to the second part of the answer before reading the first part. There I stated clearly you may need may need to disconnect the battery to get SMC to reset. If that failed... Then the logic bd would be the next thing as long as you have a good working battery. That's where coconutBattery will help you. Part of the problem is some battery's being sold are very cheap knock offs which don't communicate correctly to SMC services. Which add a layer of confusion. Happy you where able to get your system working without needing an expensive repair :-}

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Dan - I felt bad about using the word "wrong" from the moment I submitted the post...let´s blame it on my English skills, I definitly did not want to deny that your conclusion in most of the cases is right. I just wanted to share my experience, in which checking the battery saved me from dumping a MacBook Pro that might be outdated but with SSD and FusionDrive still beats the new MacBook of my wife...Your explanaition (cheap battery lying to coconutBattery) however makes perfect sense...

So lets sum up: Check your battery, if problem is not solved, repair/replace the logic board....

Greetings from Munich,

Andreas

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Keine verletzten Holzeinschlag für meinen Teil, wollte einfach nicht, andere zu missverstehen. Meine Familie ist von ursprünglich Freiburg.

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I've been trying everything.

Magsafe stay's green, when powering up de machine (Macbook 6.1) with the battery connected, I hear the chime, see the apple logo on the screen and than the machine switches off.

When unplugging the Magsafe, holding the power button for 10 secs, connect the magsafe while still holding down the power button for 10 secs. once more hitting the power button, the machine swithes on with vens full speed. With or without battery connected, the battery sign in the displays shows a black cross and is not charging. Magsafe stay's green

When battery is connected, I need to do SMC reset, than unplug the battery, hit the power button in order to switch on the machine. Magsafe stay's green.

I noticed that the Magsafe green light blink's off and on every 6 secs

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Download this app: coconutBattery. Post a snapshot on what it shows you.

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Had similar problems. MegaSafe would be green, and laptop would power on, but the battery icon on the screen had an "X" through it as it was not charging. Also found that pressing the battery indicator button did not produce any results.

Ended up replacing the Battery indicator board as the ribbon cable attached to the logic board was fragile. Once replaced, laptop started charging properly.

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I just solved this problem after many weeks of experiencing it. I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner. After letting my mac cool for 30 minutes (not sure if that makes a difference but I wanted to have all bases covered) I took the charger out of the socket and from the PC. I counted SLOWLY to 30. I then attached the maglite to the Mac, then plugged it in. WaLah.....it worked. I guess by decharging the Mac so as to start clean....that's all it took. I have only done it once so far but wanted to hop on here and share what I learned for any others facing this problem. My puter was dead and the green light never would turn orange. It does now!

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Brilliant!

Worked like a charm, and so easy.

FWIW, I new it was the MagSafe as another charger worked normally.

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Hi all. I faced same problem. I'm trying to solve it last 4 months. Changed 3 adapters. Red Light came back for just 10 mnts then gone forever replaced by green. Now last option left. To change battery. I hope it will work. ((((

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Hi,

I have this same problem too. I've downloaded CoconutBattery and it has given me the following information:

  • Current Charge : 543mAh
  • Max Charge : 5064
  • Current Capacity: 5064mah
  • Design Capacity : 5770
  • Mac Model: MBP7,1
  • Age: 61months
  • Battery Loadcycles : 844
  • Temp 30degrees
  • Power usage 16.3watt

Could someone translate all this for me?

As the MagSafe light is on, but the display isn't showing charge icon. W hen I press the battery test button there isn't even one flashing to show charge either.

If i was to replace my magsafe would this rectify the issue?

Many Thanks, Sam

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Hi,

I'm actually facing the same problem!

I worked last night and put my laptop in sleep mode on 90% and very next day it was not turning on or coming out of sleep mode. I plugged in the MagSafe adapter and the laptop started normally.

My desktop showed a cross on my battery icon which confused me for a second. I took off MagSafe and shutdown my laptop properly. I reconnected the MagSafe and turned the laptop on again.

It showed the same problem with MagSafe LED green and cross on the battery icon but suddenly it responded! Showing the battery percentage 83% and MagSafe turned Orange. It was a sign of relief for me not for more than 4 hours because when I turned my laptop on again. The problem came back and since then it's working,

I went to the Apple experts and they tried their best and couldn't fix it and gave me a contact of their professional expert in another city... So I might be meeting him tomorrow for this problem.

If any one knows about how to fix it please let me know so that I could save my time by going to another city to repair it...

Thanks, Ibrahim

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Coconut Battery Information:

  • Current Charge : 3694mAh
  • Max Charge : 5486
  • Design Capacity: 5770
  • Manufacture Date: 13/6/20
  • Loadcycles:759
  • OSX Battery Status Good
  • Battery Temp 32.1
  • Battery Usage 10.7 watts
  • Battery Failure None
  • Power Adaptor 60 watts

Help requested please! Same issue as all of you guys,

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Answer is simple, as mentioned above, you will need to get new battery as previous one failed.

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I had the same kind of issue, albeit slightly different as the descriptions I read here: once connecting the MagSafe connector, the led turns green, then red (normal, as charging is on-going).

However, soon after, the led turns off automatically.

The only temporary fix is to turn the computer off, then the charge will proceed normally. And once turned on again, as long as the charge remains at 100%, it keeps working. And (even more) surprisingly, it's when a percentage is increasing that the led turns off (e.g. going from 82% to 83%: at the moment that 83% is reached, the led turns off).

I performed the SMC reset, without success. Then, I went to the Apple store in Brussels, they told me it was likely the MagSafe connector on the computer (tested parameters, namely battery are OK). It's now in reparation and the connector will be replaced.

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I did have a MacBook Pro battery where a cell died, and it would shut off cold at about 80% charge. in that case however I could still charge it to 100% and use it on the battery again until it got to 80 again.

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I have a mid -2012 MacBook Pro that was experiencing the same problem I.e. not starting even though it had been charged.

I pressed the charge indicator and all lights flashed 5 times.

It WOULD start with the charger attached.

I reset SMC and PRAM with the charger attached and still would not start on the battery alone.

Having read the info above I decided to disconnect the battery completely.

With the charger plugged back in, the laptop started straight away. I shut it down and reset the SMC with the battery still disconnected.

I reconnected the battery and plugged the charger in and after showing green for a second the charger light displayed orange, with the battery lights all on bar the last one flashing.

This told me that the battery was working again and i was able to start it up without the charger plugged in.

I checked the battery status in the system information and it tells me the cycle count is on 701. With Apple stating that this models cycle count is around 1000 I figured this is a good way of telling me I’m due a replacement battery.

Thanks for the help up top even though it’s old. I thought I would put this here in case people people are still having issues.

Obviously it may not work for everyone but it’s another way to check.

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I have had the same problem but with constant jiggling and tapping the magsafe connector most of the time the charge light will eventually turn orange. I strongly suspect that many of the cases above are not so much an electrical problem as a mechanical one: the connector pins are just not making good contact with the connections. Try thoroughly cleaning both sides with rubbing alcohol and a q-tip and scraping of any buildup in the recessed socket on the mac. To me, it looks like the sockets on the mac side are looking a bit oxidized and worn, and I suspect I will eventually have to replace the connector on the mac side, as described here: MacBook Pro 13" Retina Display Early 2015 MagSafe DC-In Board Replacement

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Update: I did in fact replace the connector on the mac side, as described here: MacBook Pro 13" Retina Display Early 2015 MagSafe DC-In Board Replacement

The repair was easy and resolved the issue. Clearly the connectors on the mac side of the magsafe connector have a tendency to wear down over time making it hard to get a good connection


I got the replacement part needed pretty cheap here:

Padarsey Replacement Magsafe DC-in Power Jack Board 820-3584-A Compatible for MacBook Pro 13" A1502 Retina (Late 2013-Early 2015)

by tonfuteams

Learn more: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0757KWJ1B/r...

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Same problem, green light on the Magsafe connector, no charge. However, before that happened I had a Magsafe connector fail at the strain relief, so I bought a 3rd party power supply from Amazon that had a detachable cable, plus an extra cable. I cut the cable on the 2012 Macbook Air 13” power supply, and spliced in the new cable. It worked for another year, then the Magsafe end started showing green and not charging. I used the Amazon power supply with it’s cable and it worked fine. My 2014 Macbook Pro 13” power supply also worked fine on the Air. So I think my problem is not in the logic board. I am suspecting the pins in the Magsafe connector.

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Update: I did in fact replace the connector on the mac side, as described here: MacBook Pro 13" Retina Display Early 2015 MagSafe DC-In Board Replacement

The repair was easy and worked as expected. I got the replacement part needed pretty cheap here:

Padarsey Replacement Magsafe DC-in Power Jack Board 820-3584-A Compatible for MacBook Pro 13" A1502 Retina (Late 2013-Early 2015)by tonfuteamsLearn more: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0757KWJ1B/r... 

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Command + Option + Control + Eject / Power combination helped me to get charging battery back.

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I have a late 2013 MacBook Pro with the Nvidia 750m. It started doing this same thing where I have only the green light on the mag safe side, and the MacBook Pro will display the battery icon on screen. Do you think if I unplug the battery then it will start? The reason I ask is I know that some of the models listed in this sub form are models that have batteries designed to be like that. Will it hurt anything if I unplug the battery then try to plug up the MagSafe to turn the laptop on?

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Dirk will be eternally grateful.
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