Battery capacity 0mAh, but diagnostics says condition is 'normal' and it's fully charged!

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Level 1

12 points

Battery capacity 0mAh, but diagnostics says condition is 'normal' and it's fully charged!

I've searched for others with this particular problem but not found any, hence my post. My battery won't charge but the battery diagnostics are strange, e.g.

Fully Charged: YES

Capacity 0 mAh

Condition: Normal (!!)

Any ideas where I should start to try and fix this? Have reset SMC, used different charger and cable, left it alone, said nice things to it, but no change... Is it worth opening it up to check for a loose connector? Why would it say "Normal"? Can't see what's normal about a battery with 0 mAh capacity?

Thank you in advance for any help whatsoever.

Battery Information:

Model Information:

Serial Number: D8***6B4

Manufacturer: SMP

Device Name: bq20z451

Pack Lot Code: 0

PCB Lot Code: 0

Firmware Version: 702

Hardware Revision: 500

Cell Revision: 3202

Charge Information:

Charge Remaining (mAh): 0

Fully Charged: Yes

Charging: No

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 0

Health Information:

Cycle Count: 383

Condition: Normal

Battery Installed: Yes

Amperage (mA): 0

Voltage (mV): 8635

[Personal Information Edited by Moderator]

Posted on Feb 8, 2021 9:50 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Tesserax

Level 10

159,812 points

Feb 9, 2021 11:09 AM in response to AshAndy

Not sure opening it up to check the battery will prove helpful as the battery is pretty much a glued-in type and employ a T5 Torx screw to secure the battery to the logic board. If would be extremely rare that this screw would have worked loose to cause any of these issues.

My concern is the failure to be able to run the Apple Diagnostics may indicate a more serious problem. At this point, I strongly suggest that you make a Genius Bar appointment at your local Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider to have them take a look and provide you with your options. Alternatively, you can make arrangements to ship your notebook to Apple for the same purpose.

Ref: Mac Service and Repair - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Tesserax

Level 10

159,812 points

Feb 8, 2021 12:40 PM in response to AshAndy

Thanks for the updates.

Since you have already reset the notebook's SMC, I suggest the following:

Run the SMC reset again. Yes, I know it is redundant, but sometimes you need to perform the reset multiple times to get it to "stick."
Run an Apple Diagnostics to see if it uncovers anything unusual. Ref: Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support. If any errors show up, here are a list of potential reference codes to compare them against.
Optionally. run an EtreCheck report and post its results if you need assistance with interpreting it. Ref: Using EtreCheck to Troubleshoot Potential… - Apple Community

At this point, it's pointing to a defective battery, but it still may be possible that readings are incorrect. However, if it doesn't charge, that issue will need to be resolved ... unless you want to use it plugged-in all the time.

Some additional references that may come in handy:

Get help with your Mac notebook battery - Apple Support
How to fix a MacBook that won't charge - Macworld
Checking Battery Health on a MacBook - OWC

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Answer 3

AshAndy Author

Level 1

12 points

Feb 8, 2021 3:22 PM in response to Tesserax

Thanks again. I tried Apple diagnostics twice but each time it froze as soon as I completed the language selection. The mouse cursor wouldn't move and there was blank screen with just the power off and restart icons at the bottom and the froze mouse cursor. I left it for 10 minutes and nothing. EtreCheck didn't find any issues.

Also reset SMC again twice.

Do you think it's worth me opening it up and checking the cable to the battery?

Many thanks,

Andy

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