Macbook pro won't charge after waking up from sleep

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Level 1

14 points

Macbook pro won't charge after waking up from sleep

My MacBook Pro (TB, 13-inch, 2017, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports) sometimes won't charge when woken up from sleep. It's not consistent (not always when woken up from sleep it won't recognise the battery, I'd say half of the time). There are several possible situations I've encountered:

It doesn't recognise the power adapter but after changing the usb-c port it will and starts charging.
It doesn't recognise the power adapter and changing the usb-c port doesn't help. When shut down for a while I can start it up again and most of the time it will start charging (it does need to be shut down for a while however).
It recognises the power adapter but doesn't charge and says 'battery not charging' after clicking on the battery icon in the menu bar. After closing down all programs it suddenly starts calculating 'remaining time' until the battery's full and starts charging. In this case I usually have Finder, Safari, WhatsApp and Apple Mail open, sometimes Chrome as well.

Situation 3 is the most common and happened again half an hour ago (the programs started lagging, that's when I noticed the battery's on 5% and it would not charge). I did run a etrecheck directly afterwards, so maybe there's information somewhere in the report.

Etrecheck Report

The battery itself seems fine as well: it's on 96,8% of it's design capacity of 4315mAh according to coconutBattery. I've already reset the SMC and PRAM multiple times but it doesn't seem to help.

What can be causing the issue?

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Aug 31, 2019 7:33 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 31, 2019 9:03 AM in response to BlowYourMind

If the resetting the SMC https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

for your exact Mac, then I would take it in for a diagnostic.

In or out of warranty you can get a free over the counter 'Apple Service Diagnostics' test /assessment

Make an appointment for a "hardware issue"—

https://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

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Answer 2

BlowYourMind Author

Level 1

14 points

Sep 1, 2019 1:11 PM in response to BlowYourMind

I am going to make an appointment with the Genius Bar, but for clarity's sake (and ease of sharing with the Genius Bar) I'll still write down the things I've done.

Today the problem worsened: it says the battery's connected but won't charge. Shutting down the programs and restarting the Mac didn't work. I've checked again with another power adapter and other outlet to make sure the adapter or the outlet aren't the problem. The Mac still doesn't charge with the other (definitely working) power adapter and outlet. I decided to speak to Apple via chat and they confirmed I've already done and checked everything that they can recommend I check, so the only option available to me is going to the Genius Bar to get it checked out. They suspect it's a hardware issue.

However, after the chat I noticed that when I unplugged everything (including the power adapter) the MBP still thinks the power adapter's attached ('Power source: Power adapter'). Restarting doesn't change this, resetting the SMC & PRAM doesn't change this, using another usb-c port/power adapter doesn't change this. I decided to check if the issue persists in Safe Mode: it does. I also updated the software today (there was a new update), which also didn't solve the issue.

Frustrated as I was, I decided to shut it down and check again after a few hours. Incidentally, it was plugged into the power socket via the power adapter. When restarting my MBP after ±3 hours, the battery was fully charged again! So it seems it will only charge when shut down. The same issue still persists when the MBP's turned on: it won't charge and thinks the power adapter is connected when it's not. But, at least I can charge it to prevent it from dying completely.

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I also want to add that a few months ago I had issues when my MBP was sleeping. Sometimes it would drain completely when asleep, but at the time I thought it was a software issue, since it seemed resolved after deleting a few programs from my MBP. It also emptied when gaming on my Mac, which I posted about here. Now, I'm not so sure, so I just wanted to add these just in case.

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