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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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MacBook Pro shuts down when on battery alone

Hello everyone.

I have a Macbook Pro early-2011, a1286 model. I have been trying new batteries for it for over a week now, and it seems to work fine when on AC power (or even when its not plugged in), until something starts putting stress on the CPU, at which point it just shuts down as if the power gets cut. I won’t be able to turn it on anymore either until I connect the Magsafe charger.

A quick way for me to recreate the crash condition is to run the following command three to four times.

yes > /dev/null

I have done an SMC reset where I hold down the control-option-shift and power button which made the magsafe light go from orange to green for a few seconds. I even tried the SMC reset where I unplug it from AC, disconnect its battery and hold down he power button. Also tried to reset the PRAM with 5 chimes but nothing helped.

I did the battery cycling as well and that hasn’t helped either.

The weird thing is that I can even have 8 terminal windows with he above command while on AC power and it will not shut down, only when its running off of the battery.

I have tried 3 new batteries so far (non-oem) and I doubt all 3 batteries are faulty, so I figured I’d finally make my post here to see if I can figure something out.

I’m not afraid to take the macbook pro apart, as I’ve changed its thermal paste several times already and replaced its superdrive with a harddisk bay. I have a multimeter at hand (a UT33D multimeter) I can use to check if something is wrong with the logic board if necessary, with some guidance.

Sadly I came did not get to make use of the logic board replacement programme back in 2016 as I had no idea it was a thing at the time.

Does anyone have any idea what the problem might be?

I’ll attach the coconutbattery screenshots below.

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Thanks in advance.

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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It seems SMC is working fine. Screenshots you posted show a discharging situation, that happens when the Mac is running off battery only, without a magsafe plugged in, under normal conditions. If magsafe was plugged in when you took the screenshots it seems logic board is not charging _and_ not running off battery. If that’s the case you have a logic board issue at charging IC circuit, it’s likely a mosfet gone bad. I’d recommend stop trying new batteries and concentrate on power/charging circuit, all around and about U7000 and relevant components, if you have the skills to. Otherwise you’ll have to find someone into component level board repairs.

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