TravestyHisMajesty
Level 1 (4 points)
Notebooks

Q: Macbook Pro not charging

I feel like this question gets asked a million times, but let me walk you guys through my situation.

 

Retina Macbook Pro 2013 (out of warranty of course ) in excellent condition. Software fully updated.

 

About a year ago, I had an intermittent charging issue. Of course, I went online and followed the instructions about resetting the SMC. Sometimes it would work, other times not. Sometimes software updates would trigger the charger to activate upon system reboot. I'd try various power outlets around the house with none of them working. Took the laptop into my nearest Apple Certified tech and it charged off of their magsafe charger just fine. I thought, cool, i'll just buy a new charger. I get it home and it won't charge. This process repeats for a year. I could get either the new charger or the one the laptop shipped with to work. After a time I had kind of nailed it down that I could warm up the charger bricks with body heat and get them to come on. Kind of weird but it worked... sometimes. So fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't get the computer to charge at all. I took a day and tried everything in the book:

 

  • Resetting the SMC
  • Trying different outlets
  • Warming the charger
  • Updating the system software
  • Leaving the charger unplugged for hours and trying again (This is in case of dirty power coming out of the walls, and tripping the charger?)

 

So I took it to my local tech again and it started charging automatically off of not only their chargers but both of mine... He performs an SMC reset, talks to me about over voltages home circuits and sends me on my way, pretty confused. I get it home and charge the battery to 100%, but two weeks later here I am again with a Macbook Pro that won't charge... This time I've even tried charging it off of a UPS system.

 

I consider myself very computer savvy, especially with macs. I have a decent background in electrical systems from classes I took in high school and college. I read the manuals, I do my homework, I take excellent care of my devices. But sincerely, ***...

 

Any ideas would be appreciated. I'm going to take it in again anyway. My local tech takes walk-ins and I can't get a genius bar appointment until next week. I'll have a dead laptop by then.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Aug 30, 2016 3:02 PM

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TravestyHisMajesty

Q: Macbook Pro not charging

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  • by John Galt,Helpful

    John Galt John Galt Aug 30, 2016 5:56 PM in response to TravestyHisMajesty
    Level 8 (48,715 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 30, 2016 5:56 PM in response to TravestyHisMajesty

    I do my homework,


    You certainly did, and ruled out all the obvious concerns in addition to some non-obvious ones. The only remaining uncertainty I can suggest is your household power, since your Mac seems to charge just fine everywhere else. The Mac's power adapter will intelligently shut down if it detects poor power quality. Other than to call it "noise" Apple is characteristically silent when it comes to discussing just what parameters it uses to accomplish that.

     

    Most UPSs don't do much by way of power conditioning. One alternative is to use a "true online" or "double conversion online" UPS, which are more expensive because they're always deriving power from their battery, thereby isolating their input and output power. Another esoteric alternative that I don't necessarily recommend is to use a ferroresonant transformer. They're inherently inefficient, but effectively accomplish the same isolation.

  • by TravestyHisMajesty,

    TravestyHisMajesty TravestyHisMajesty Aug 30, 2016 5:56 PM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Aug 30, 2016 5:56 PM in response to John Galt

    I guess I left a couple of, possibly key, details out. I took the Macbook to a friends house, with no luck there. That house is much older construction than mine and I suppose it could present the same issue toward my charger. I've also got an older Macbook Pro (2008?) around and have never had an issue with it. I'll checkout a couple of other UPS systems. Thank you!