2012 Retina MacBook Pro wont turn on after battery replacement

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2012 Retina MacBook Pro wont turn on after battery replacement

Hi,

I was recently having an issue with my late 2012 macbook pro with retina display. The battery life had gotten really bad on it and it would be very very laggy when waking up if it wasn't plugged in to the ac adapter.

One day, it just never turned back on and I couldn't get the battery light to to come on and indicate charging when I would plug the adapter in.

I did the reset (option+left ****+control+power) and after the reset, the battery light came on and it began charging. Once it was charged enough to power back up, the battery was totally shot. It would turn off if I unplugged the adapter so I assumed the battery was dead. Everything else was working as normal when plugged in.

I ordered a replacement battery from PureDick on amazon. I watched the videos online and replaced the battery successfully. After replacing, I shut down, charged the macbook battery to 100%, then I changed all the energy saving settings so it wouldn't sleep and allowed it to drain completely before recharging completely and resetting the energy settings.

It worked like it was brand new out of the box for 1-2 days however, this morning I closed the monitor while it was still on (attempting to put it to sleep) and when I went back to it an hour or two later I couldn't get it to turn on. The battery light was orange indicating it was charging and eventually switched to green but I still can't get it on. I've tried the same reset, holding down power, unplugging and replugging in the adapter and still nothing.

So confusing - just when I thought it was all fixed! Anyone have any ideas on possible remedies or what could have gone wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated it. Thank you so much!

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jun 1, 2020 1:25 PM

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Answer 1

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HWTech

Community+ 2026

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70,472 points

Jun 6, 2020 3:41 PM in response to novawaly

Disconnect the battery and plug in the charger. Try to power on the laptop while the battery is still disconnected. You may need to perform another SMC reset if it won't power on this way. If the laptop powers on, then reconnect the battery while the laptop is still powered on and let the battery charge at least 10% before disconnecting the charger or shutting down the laptop. Sometimes when a battery becomes completely drained it will put the Logic Board into a weird state where it won't power on without performing these steps.

You must be very careful not to let the internal circuitry come into contact with any metal or conductive items/surfaces. Placing the laptop on its right side can help prevent this and still allow you to work on it and check the charge.

If the laptop won't power on with the battery disconnected, then you either have a bad charger, bad DC-In Board, or a bad Logic Board. Make sure to unplug the charger from the electrical outlet for a minute to reset the charger's internal circuitry. Here is an Apple article for troubleshooting Magsafe charging issues:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203207

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Answer 2

Jun 1, 2020 8:33 PM in response to novawaly

FYI, Apple recently changed their policy on Vintage hardware. Repairs are still possible as long as Apple still has the necessary part(s) in stock to perform the repair.

When Apple laptops have battery or power issues the Logic Board can get into a weird state. You will need to disconnect the battery from the Logic Board and try powering on the laptop using just the charger. You may still need to perform another SMC reset if it still won't power on. Once the laptop powers on reconnect the battery while the laptop is still running on the power adapter. Check the condition and charge state of the battery. Just make sure to keep the internal circuitry from touching any metallic or conductive objects or surfaces.

I have absolutely no faith in third party Lithium-ion batteries since I've had nothing but problems with them regardless of the brand or where I've purchased them for use in our organization's laptops. I've even had issues with the NewerTech batteries sold by the well respected vendor OWC.

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Answer 3

Jun 1, 2020 6:58 PM in response to novawaly

I think you have a defective battery. The quality of third party Lithium-ion batteries is extremely poor. I won't touch a third party Lithium-ion battery as long as I can get an official Apple battery replacement. I suggest you contact the vendor or the manufacturer of the battery for warranty support.

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Answer 4

Jun 11, 2020 7:10 PM in response to novawaly

The 3rd party charger may not have all the safety features on it. If the 3rd party is 85W then the laptop may be drawing more power from it. I've seen that happen when repairing MBAirs. Diagnostics will pass when using an 85W charger, but fail when using the proper lower wattage charger. This indicates an issue with the battery or the Logic Board too. As electronics age, their behavior does change so it could be just a case of some electronics with the original charger or with the Logic Board is starting to wear out and this is the first sign of a pending failure.

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Answer 5

novawaly Author

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8 points

Jun 1, 2020 7:41 PM in response to HWTech

Unfortunately, since it's 2012 apple considers it vintage and no longer has parts so I have no choice but to go with a third party. I've looked at Ifixit and OWC as well as puredick from amazon but it looks like I have no choice but to choose the lesser of the evils.

Do you think the battery could be causing the issues? Wouldn't the computer be able to turn on via the ac adapter even if the battery is bad?

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Answer 6

novawaly Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 2, 2020 5:41 AM in response to HWTech

That's a great piece of info. I'll call around to Apple and see if I can locate the original battery.

Unfortunately, my choice looks like it might might come down to replacing the laptop entirely or choosing the lesser of the evils. It sounds like OWC is the most "respected" choice? Or are you saying you'd better off just throwing it away if I can't find the original battery through Apple?

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Answer 7

novawaly Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 2, 2020 11:24 AM in response to HWTech

Ya I realized that after I called around. I can get the whole top deck for 500 instead of the exchange price of 200. I wish I had posted before I tried replacing it. Ordered the newertech and will hope for the best. Thanks for your advice

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Answer 8

Vloet

Level 1

25 points

Jun 2, 2020 2:40 PM in response to novawaly

Just to let you know, i've changed my battery of 2012 Retina a couple of months ago with the OWC replacement.

Installation was a bit tricky, but the battery is superb.

Macbook now lasts longer then when it did in 2012 with the new original battery. :)

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Answer 9

novawaly Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 6, 2020 1:16 PM in response to HWTech

So just got the OWC battery replacement in and swapped it in and it still wont turn on. Light is organge so I know it's charging and when i do an SWC reset, the battery light flashes green for a second before going back to orange but no power up or anything.

The part thats still got me so confused is that it was working completely fine for 2 days before just not waking back up again.

Theres a apple approved repair shop in my town. They charge 65 for diagnostics. They claim there is at least some info they can glean even if it doesn't turn on but does anyone know what I can realistically expect from them? Am i just wasting my 65 dollars or is it worth giving it a go?

Thanks!

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Answer 10

novawaly Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 11, 2020 1:09 PM in response to HWTech

So this case continually baffles me. I've now had 2 different batteries in and after talking to more people I realized that my problem may have started when my original charger died out. I ordered a cheap one off amazon for like 30 bucks, it seemed to work fine but within a couple days - all these problems started.

nothing seemed to be working and everyone i talked to said i need to replace the logic board which was 500+. I tried a last ditch effort and ordered a new OEM adapter from mac. When I unplugged the batteries and plugged that in, it actually turned on. The problem is: I took your advice and turned it on without the battery connected. I would then connect the battery and it would come up as plugged in. However, if i disconnect the adapter, the battery (fully charged) would take over as expected, but the OEM charger wont connect after that. The strange thing is that the 30 dollar amazon charger works as you'd expect.

Since I had both the pure dick and the newertech battery here, I swapped them out it was actually the same issue with both batteries. Both 100% charged, once the OEM charger disconnects, only the 3rd party charger seems to work. Also, not sure if this is related but the trackpad stops working after each batter change.

(ps thank you for all the info you've given thus far - without your help, i've talked to about 6 other repair shops and all they keep telling me is to swap something out for 300-500 dollars.

Any ideas here?

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Answer 11

novawaly Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 11, 2020 5:20 PM in response to HWTech

Can you think of any reason why a 3rd party charger would be charging it whole the OEM isn't? I think I bought a 60w instead of 85w which is what the 3rd party is. Just ordered the OEM 85w as well but according to most research they should both work.

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Answer 12

Jun 2, 2020 11:13 AM in response to novawaly

Unfortunately since you've already removed the original Apple battery Apple will no longer perform the repair.

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Answer 13

Jun 2, 2020 12:12 PM in response to novawaly

Please let us know how you make out with the NewerTech battery. I haven't purchased them in a long time and never for a Retina model.

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Answer 14

novawaly Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 2, 2020 1:40 PM in response to HWTech

I will definitely do that. Thanks again for all the info!

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Answer 15

Jun 11, 2020 3:44 PM in response to novawaly

With the added information I also agree the issue is most likely with your Logic Board.

I would never use a cheap charger purchased online. Most of them don't have the necessary protective circuitry. See this article on how many of the cheap third party chargers are made (not the article I was searching for, but don't have time to find the correct one):

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/cheap-macbook-adapters-safe-worth/

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2012 Retina MacBook Pro wont turn on after battery replacement

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