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Early 2011 Model: A1278 / 2.3 GHz i5 or 2.7 GHz i7 processor

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MacBook Pro Early 2011 Battery is not charging

Hello.

My battery says it is not charging.

The green light on the charger is on basically all the time. Sometimes it turns orange for a short while, particularly when the laptop is off, or just after it has turned on, but the battery hardly increases in charge and it always reverts to being green even when the battery is not charged.

It is currently plugged in and on, and it is discharging (battery level is decreasing) . Coconut battery normally reports it as charging with between 0.5 and 2.5 watts.

I have tried:

Resetting the SMC by disconnecting the battery and holding the power button down for a while and this didn’t help.

Replacing the battery with a brand new one (bought from ).

I Replacing the 85W magsafe charger (bought direct from Apple).

Replacing the magsafe DC-in board (bought from this site).

It still behaves the same…!

Any ideas? Thanks a lot in advance!

EDIT: Added pictures from coconut battery

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EDIT2: pictures of logic board

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EDIT3: images of a fried component on underside of logic board

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EDIT4: image of cleaned splodge of unidentified matter on logic board

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Answer this question I have this problem too

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Let’s get a better view of things, install this gem of an app! CoconutBattery take a snapshot of the apps main window and post it here for us to see Adding images to an existing question

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@danj as it says above I've already installed that! Nevertheless, I have added some screenshots. I'm going to try reinstalling the OSX software in case that is the problem. Thanks a lot.

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@hamomac - Good Morning! Enjoying my morning cup of Joe here.

OK, re-installing the OS won't change things here. You have a SMC problem with the voltage/current sensors. Did you have a liquid spill at some point?

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@danj Thanks for your response.

I have not spilled anything on the laptop. However, when I lifted up the logic board yesterday, it took a little bit of force as it seemed to be slightly stuck to the black plastic sheet below it, as if it was glued down. When lifted up it left a mark on the black sheet. Is that normal? I suppose it could have gotten very hot and melted something. The laptop does get quite warm. However I didn't notice anything visibly wrong with the board inside...

Why do you think there would be a spill and why would that affect the SMC?

Thanks

Hamish

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SMC is the traffic cop of charging of your battery. It's part of the system management computer (SMC) which deals with all of the household tasks.

Sadly, it sits on the backside of the logic board and the fact the keyboard insulator was stuck to the logic board is telling me some time or other something was spilled or leaked.

Take some pictures so I can see what you have here. Make sure you got plenty of light and the pictures are in focus and sharp! Adding images to an existing question

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Well… Whatever is on your logic board its not part of it! Here’s a boardview of the area with the components laid out. You’ll need to clean it off carefully so as not to disturb the SMT devices.

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3 Comments:

Thanks a lot for the drawing @danj ! I cleaned the area quite well with rubbing alcohol a cloth and a toothbrush. The stain came off, mostly (I didn't want to be too aggressive) however after reassembling the laptop the problem remains.

I have posted a new photo above to show what the area with the former stain looks like now. I have no idea what it was. Perhaps it came from a component which broke. Do you know what that component does? Is that the SMC?

Any other ideas? I really appreciate your help. Thank you.

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I think it's time to let a professional take over as this will take a bit of deep troubleshooting to figure you on ones bench.

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Yeah perhaps you're right. But to pay someone to open it when it's this age I'll probably be best to just get another machine. I'll see. Perhaps I can get a new logic board cheap.

Thanks a lot for your help anyway.

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Hamish will be eternally grateful.
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