hummer5663

Q: macbook pro 17" late 2008.  battery not charging, magsafe light faint green.

macbook pro 17" late 2008.  battery not charging, magsafe light faint green.  I've reset SMC and also PRAM.  It's not the adapter.  Took it to the apple store and they tried another adapter.  I replaced my logicboard 14 months ago, so their is no serial number and they couldn't do a test.

 

While plugged in it doesn't lose charge but it doesn't charge either.  Any suggestions?  Below is the battery information.

 

Battery Information:

 

  Model Information:

  Manufacturer:          SMP

  Device Name:          ASMB014

  Pack Lot Code:          2

  PCB Lot Code:          0

  Firmware Version:          110

  Hardware Revision:          500

  Cell Revision:          102

  Charge Information:

  Charge Remaining (mAh):          2128

  Fully Charged:          No

  Charging:          No

  Full Charge Capacity (mAh):          5420

  Health Information:

  Cycle Count:          322

  Condition:          Normal

  Battery Installed:          Yes

  Amperage (mA):          0

  Voltage (mV):          10983

 

System Power Settings:

 

  AC Power:

  System Sleep Timer (Minutes):          10

  Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes):          10

  Display Sleep Timer (Minutes):          10

  Automatic Restart on Power Loss:          No

  Wake on AC Change:          No

  Wake on Clamshell Open:          Yes

  Wake on LAN:          No

  Current Power Source:          Yes

  Display Sleep Uses Dim:          Yes

  PrioritizeNetworkReachabilityOverSleep:          0

  RestartAfterKernelPanic:          157680000

  Battery Power:

  System Sleep Timer (Minutes):          15

  Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes):          10

  Display Sleep Timer (Minutes):          15

  Wake on AC Change:          No

  Wake on Clamshell Open:          Yes

  Display Sleep Uses Dim:          Yes

  Reduce Brightness:          Yes

  RestartAfterKernelPanic:          157680000

 

Hardware Configuration:

 

  UPS Installed:          No

 

AC Charger Information:

 

  Connected:          Yes

  ID:          0x0000

  Revision:          0x0000

  Family:          0x0000

  Serial Number:          0x00000000

  Charging:          No

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5), Lion was an upgrade, no disks

Posted on Dec 21, 2012 6:27 PM

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Q: macbook pro 17" late 2008.  battery not charging, magsafe light faint green.

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  • by hummer5663,

    hummer5663 hummer5663 Dec 21, 2012 6:36 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 21, 2012 6:36 PM in response to Kappy

    Thanks, tried that.   Getting a little frustrated.  I bought this computer with no disks, upgraded to Lion, for some reason AHT wasn't installed, so there is no way to do a Hardware test.  aagghhh!

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Dec 21, 2012 6:48 PM in response to hummer5663
    Level 10 (271,052 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 21, 2012 6:48 PM in response to hummer5663

    Well, if it's a software issue you can try this:

     

    Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion Without Erasing the Drive

     

    Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

     

    Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.

     

    When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list.  In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive.  If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.

     

    Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.

     

    Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

     

    If this doesn't help then it's a hardware problem so you'll need to take it in for service.

  • by CMCSK,

    CMCSK CMCSK Dec 21, 2012 6:55 PM in response to hummer5663
    Level 6 (10,845 points)
    Dec 21, 2012 6:55 PM in response to hummer5663

    seasons6.gif

     

     

     

     

     

    I bought this computer with no disks, upgraded to Lion

    Replacement System Discs can be obtained from Apple's Customer Support - US (800) 767-2775 for a nominal fee. You'll need to have the model and serial number of your Mac available.

     

    If you're not in the US, you may need to go through the regional Apple Store that serves your location to find the contact number - http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/intlstoreroutingpage.html

     

     

    for some reason AHT wasn't installed

    AHT is included in system disc #1. 

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    dancingsmilie.gif

  • by hummer5663,

    hummer5663 hummer5663 Dec 21, 2012 7:38 PM in response to CMCSK
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 21, 2012 7:38 PM in response to CMCSK

    Thanks for the disk info, I truly don't think is a reinstall situation.  As for purchasing disks, again appreciated but from what I've read, AHT probably wouldn't help much, it's just frustrating that I couldn't at least do that check.  What I really need is some more intensive diagnostic tools that could do logic board testing etc.

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Dec 21, 2012 7:58 PM in response to hummer5663
    Level 10 (271,052 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 21, 2012 7:58 PM in response to hummer5663

    Then take it in for service. The AHT doesn't do intensive logic board testing.

  • by hummer5663,

    hummer5663 hummer5663 Dec 21, 2012 8:48 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 21, 2012 8:48 PM in response to Kappy

    Thank you for the advise, I am studying to be a tech, for now. In the PC world (shame) eventually, I want to obtain my apple tech certification as well, so I was really looking for a way to trouble shoot this myself with help from the forums. 

  • by wolfmajor15,

    wolfmajor15 wolfmajor15 Feb 20, 2013 5:46 PM in response to hummer5663
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 20, 2013 5:46 PM in response to hummer5663

    Ditto, Hummer5663...my MBP won't power up at all & so I took it to Small Dog Electronics.  They came back to tell me the logic board needs to be replaced, but the only info I got on the diagnostic work was that they couldn't start the Mac with the power pads.  (There's a way to jump these pads to start the computer.). But I was looking for any board level tests I could do with a meter. 

     

    Did you get any other feedback on this?

     

    Hope you got your system back up and running!

    Thanks,

    Cheryl

  • by Beestingza,

    Beestingza Beestingza Nov 21, 2013 4:26 PM in response to hummer5663
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 21, 2013 4:26 PM in response to hummer5663

    I have a late 2008 macbook pro 2.53 Ghz with the faint green charging light which would only boot in SMC bypass mode. I'd like to add that I was almost at the point of baking the logic board in the oven to attempt a reflow but averted that nonsense by first doing a thorough cleaning of the fans (2 dense little dust bunnies came out of the intake ports), and motherboard. For the motherboard, after carefully disassembling everything and removing the mobo, I removed heat-sink and cleaned off all the caked dried out old thermal paste with radio shack electronics cleaner. I then essentially rinsed the whole board with the cleaner, followed by a little Deoxit D series spray on an almost microscopic area of corrosion near the DC-IN connector (which was at the site of a liquid incursion which I believe caused my particular charging/no boot situation), follwed by a further rinse with the RS cleaner. I used compressed air to give the board a decent drying, but then let it sit for several hours to make sure there wasn't any solvent hiding under one of the processors. I then reapplied Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste to all the processors, and used some tape to reinforce the magsafe/DC-IN module gray plastic lining which the magsafe adapter cord snaps to when plugged in. It looked like the gray plastic lining had worn thin, and I'm not sure if that can cause the charger to short against the case, but I reinforced it anyway. Since I cleaned so many things I can't say exactly which solved the charging/boot problem, but the computer booted immediately.  Fan speed and temps returned to normal, new battery was recognized where it wasn't before, and the charger is behaving normally. Other than the graphics chip failure I've read about (and obviously spills like the one I had), I've come to believe overheating is the major cause of failures of these logic boards. Doing a good cleaning/thermal paste reapplication can breathe new life into a great computer that might otherwise be headed for the scrap pile.