Macbook Pro Mid 2017 Power Issues - Apple Completely Unhelpful

Question

Level 1

4 points

Macbook Pro Mid 2017 Power Issues - Apple Completely Unhelpful

This is going to be a long post, so please bear with me.

A while ago after waiting for a very long time, I got my Macbook Pro mid-2017 15 in. fixed in India (it was still under apple care at that time) because the logic board gave up. This gave me the chance to change the sticky keyboard and the screen which had a weird gradient. So, after getting it back, I noticed I'm having erratic power issues with it. If I charge the battery at 100% and put the screen down putting the Macbook to sleep for a couple of hours and turn it back on, it would show the battery depleted sign which is weird because if I connect it to power and turn it on, the battery would sometimes not be detected and at other times not charge and remain at zero. If I remove the usb c power cable, the laptop would shut off and not turn on until I reconnected the power cable.

I took it back to the apple service center here and they said its a software issue and not a hardware one. They formatted my Macbook and reinstalled my OS and I recovered my filed through time machine. Again, the same issue. The technicians are insisting that it is a software issue, and after communicating with apple for about a month and a half who by the way were horrid with their followups and listening to my problem, I went to the apple technician again who found it to be a power adaptor cable issue or thats what he presumed. They gave me a new cable. It's been under a month and the problem is occurring again.

I've been frustrated with Apple India. Their customer service is beyond horrible and they lie to their customers to get a quick fix done. My apple care warranty ran out in November and and I have about a month before the warranty on my replacements run out. Every time I talk to Apple on the phone about my customer service experience with them, they said they will take the feedback. I'm in a small town in India and we don't have many options for an Apple service center because there is probably one company contracted to take care of repairs.

Anyone having the same issue or know how to deal with this problem. Been using an Apple for 10 years and am very, very disappointed.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.0

Posted on Dec 11, 2020 3:14 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

HWTech

Community+ 2026

Level 9

70,448 points

Dec 11, 2020 5:58 PM in response to saadnawab

Perform a clean install of macOS by first erasing the whole physical drive before reinstalling macOS. Do not migrate or restore from a backup or install any third party apps. Does the issue occur with just a clean install? If so, then you know without a doubt it is a hardware issue. This will help you when you deal with Apple.

I've seen some of our USB-C Macs have the red battery icon on the center of the screen when waking/powering on the laptop yet the battery has sufficient charge. However, once the charger is connected and the laptop wakes/powers on we can remove the charger without issue.

Do you have any external devices connected? Maybe one of them is causing your problem.

From what you describe it sounds like you may have received a defective battery. Try to see if you can reproduce the issue with the clean install. If you can, then show the tech how it fails with a clean install. Intermittent issues can be very difficult to troubleshoot for a tech. Unfortunately some service locations won't perform more involved & thorough tests & troubleshooting because it can take lots of time to try and find any type of odd behavior. Many times techs (myself included) are unable to reproduce or even notice any issue (no matter how small or minor) after hours or days of troubleshooting and using the client's computer.

Reply

Answer 2

saadnawab Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 14, 2020 3:53 AM in response to HWTech

"I've seen some of our USB-C Macs have the red battery icon on the center of the screen when waking/powering on the laptop yet the battery has sufficient charge. However, once the charger is connected and the laptop wakes/powers on we can remove the charger without issue." - this is the problem I have been facing and I switched off power nap and put 'never' as the option for putting my computer to sleep on adaptor mode.

To answer your questions - I don't have any external devices connected. The clean install process was done by the apple technician. I had provided video evidence showing the problem and to my luck, the problem happened in front of him. But then he just replaced the power cord which seemed to work but apparently I have realized it doesn't. I had a word with Apple care also when my laptop was in warranty until last month and after multiple calls and a lot of back and forth that lasted for like two months, they feel it is a hardware issue. The apple India technicians here say they will not listen to Apple care and can't access the my case file. This never happened before I ended up getting the battery, logic board and keyboard replaced. I usually am very particular about my laptops as this is my source of income.

Yesterday, I tried running diagnostics after this issue has been recurring a lot. The battery is not detected. I have to connect and disconnect the charger and/or try to shut down and restart the laptop before it detects the battery and works normally. Also, for some reason, I have to sign in to my apple id from the system preferences section. So I guess, this is a hardware issue. I will take it to the Apple service center again, and I hope they listen to me this time.

Reply

Answer 3

Dec 15, 2020 5:24 PM in response to saadnawab

Sometimes a service provider is unable to access the prior service records if the repair was performed at another location.

A service provider can contact Apple on your behalf to attempt to get the repair covered under warranty if there is a record of the issue while still under warranty. However, Apple has been very difficult and doesn't help out much any more for service technicians so you may need to contact Apple corporate to tell them your story to see if they will make a coverage exception for the current repair considering the circumstances. End users will usually have more sway over Apple to cover repairs than a service provider (especially these last few years).

Also look into your local consumer protection laws to see if they can assist you in getting this repair covered since you reported the issue while the system was still under warranty.

Years ago Apple would most likely have covered this repair quite easily, but from what I've personally experienced with Apple these last several years I would not get my hopes up. Good luck.

Reply

Macbook Pro Mid 2017 Power Issues - Apple Completely Unhelpful

Similar questions