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Model A1286. Released February 2011 / 2.0, 2.2, or 2.3 GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7 Processor

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Mac only works with smaller model's battery..?

Hi guys,

A colleague of mine has a 15" MacBook Pro Early 2011 which I'm in the process of upgrading.

The battery swelled and disfigured the base cover/ casing of the machine. It was fortunate because the battery did not burst, so none of the components were damaged - other than the cracked trackpad.

Anyway, we've bought two Replacement batteries now and neither work. One was a refurbished apple battery, the other a brand new third party battery.

The really strange thing is, when I plug in the battery from our 13" MacBook Pro, it works perfectly. I've been able to start and use the Mac as normal with this smaller battery in place. Only problem is, it doesn't fit in the housing so I can't screw the back on yet.

I was trying to figure out why two 15" batteries both won't work when I spotted a couple of strange metal prongs directly between the battery and the ram. Upon further inspection it looks as though these prongs align with a couple of circular indentations on the base cover/ casing. I'm wondering whether the larger batteries need these prongs to be in contact with the metal of the base cover in order to complete the circuit?

As they're not present in the 13" model I thought maybe it was a safety feature for the larger sized batteries in the 15" model's.

The disfigured base plate doesn't fit properly anymore and I suspect doesn't touch these prongs as I believe it's meant to - does anyone know whether this is a genuine thing? Or if not, what these prongs are actually for and why the 15" batteries wouldn't be working but a 13" battery would?

You'll be able to see these prongs in the link below. They're on the left of the image directly below the RAM.

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There is no such thing as a refurbished battery! Someone just took a battery out of a dead system to sell it. I really recommend you get a good battery from either IFIXIT or other mainstream supplier.

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Apple uses a mid frame brace to support the bottom cover the bracket is what you are seeing here.

The older models used a plastic unit but they tended to fail (breaking) causing the cover to press down and damage the HD SATA cable as it crosses the optical drive. This newer design uses a metal spring so it has some give but not to much as to cut into the cable. It does not offer any electrical or mechanical benefit to the battery.

More likely you have messed up your SMC by using the wrong battery. Hopefully you can reset it once you get a good battery (which you appear not to have). You could also have a charging logic failure here as well. What does the onboard battery checker show you when you put in the correct battery?

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Thanks for getting back to me.

So, the battery for the 13" Mac when plugged in, the battery checker says it needs to be replaced - which is what it used to say in the 13" Mac when we had it.

I guess my question now would be, why does the Mac work just fine with the 13" battery plugged in, but it's totally unresponsive when the battery that was made for it is plugged in?

Could it simply be two dud batteries, or is there more to it?

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You've confused your system! It requires the correct battery for it. A 15" model needs a 15" battery & a 13" model needs a 13" battery. Hopefully you haven't messed up your system mixing things up!

I would get a known good battery from a working MacBook Pro that has the same battery to test your system. At that point you can work it out.

I'm suspecting you have weak or bad batteries. Which could be due to the system having a bad charging logic and/or the wrong or bad MagSafe adapter. Review this Apple T/N: Apple Portables: Troubleshooting MagSafe adapters

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Interesting - I've been using the magsafe adapter for the 13" model on this machine. Do the 13" and 15" have different adapters?

Also, trying to reset SMC on the macbook pro with removable battery seems difficult to verify as there's no visual indication that it's done anything.

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They do use different chargers!

Forget the SMC reset until you have a known good battery.

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