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User profile for user: mahihi
mahihi Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

MBP (2018) shuts down suddenly, needs power for waking up, battery level jumps.

Hello everyone,


I assume I have a battery problem. This problem concerns a 13" MacBook Pro (2018, four Thunderbolt 3 ports, Touch ID, T2 security chip) running Ventura 13.0.1.


When the computer wakes up from sleep mode after not being used in a while, I get the empty battery logo, and the screen goes black again, despite the battery not being empty.


In these situations, I plug in the power cable and then I can make the laptop wake up again after a few minutes, with a battery that is suddenly charged. So for instancance, the battery jumps from 1% to 53% just because it was connected to the power source. So the laptop has difficulties waking up on its own, so to speak, and misinterprets its own level of charge. This also happens when starting up from scratch.


Sometimes the laptop goes dead when typing in my account password, sometimes a moment after that. I charge it with the Apple charger that it came with and I don't use any dongles or external hardware when the described problem occurs.


Solutions I've tried: resetting PRAM and SMC. This did not work.


Should I take the laptop to a service point?

Any ideas what could be the issue here?


Thanks in advance for your advice.



MacBook Pro 13″

Posted on Feb 6, 2023 1:59 AM

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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
60,284 points

Posted on Feb 6, 2023 6:37 PM

I have seen this happen a lot with the USB-C Intel Mac laptops, many times with no issue being reported by the user. I suspect there may be some issue with the Logic Board, but the issue does not occur enough to warrant a repair. From supporting our organization's thousands of USB-C Macs, I have found the USB-C MBPros to have a lot of quirky behavior. Seems more pronounced with 2018+ Intel Macs with the T2 security chip.


If this happens a lot, then you most likely have some sort of hardware issue with the laptop with the battery being the most likely problem. Battery issues can be intermittent and hard to detect. Check the battery's condition by Option-clicking on the battery icon on the menubar. If you see a condition of "Service Recommended", then you should have Apple or an AASP replace the battery for you. If the battery condition is "Normal" (or not shown which indicates "normal"), then try checking the condition when the battery charge level is lower....I find many battery issues are more easily detected when the battery is around 10% or so. Checking the battery condition immediately after this issue occurs is another good time to possible see a "Service Recommended" condition.


Try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected. Same advice as above for the best time to detect a failure.


I have discovered other ways of detecting battery failures if these methods don't work.


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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
60,284 points

Feb 6, 2023 6:37 PM in response to mahihi

I have seen this happen a lot with the USB-C Intel Mac laptops, many times with no issue being reported by the user. I suspect there may be some issue with the Logic Board, but the issue does not occur enough to warrant a repair. From supporting our organization's thousands of USB-C Macs, I have found the USB-C MBPros to have a lot of quirky behavior. Seems more pronounced with 2018+ Intel Macs with the T2 security chip.


If this happens a lot, then you most likely have some sort of hardware issue with the laptop with the battery being the most likely problem. Battery issues can be intermittent and hard to detect. Check the battery's condition by Option-clicking on the battery icon on the menubar. If you see a condition of "Service Recommended", then you should have Apple or an AASP replace the battery for you. If the battery condition is "Normal" (or not shown which indicates "normal"), then try checking the condition when the battery charge level is lower....I find many battery issues are more easily detected when the battery is around 10% or so. Checking the battery condition immediately after this issue occurs is another good time to possible see a "Service Recommended" condition.


Try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected. Same advice as above for the best time to detect a failure.


I have discovered other ways of detecting battery failures if these methods don't work.


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User profile for user: mahihi
mahihi Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Feb 7, 2023 4:35 AM in response to HWTech

Hi HWTech. Interesting to hear that you have experienced this with a lot of USB-C Intel Mac laptops before.


Running Apple Diagnostics resulted in no issues found. The cooling fan went a bit crazy after restart, only for a few minutes.


At 80% battery level, the battery condition is displayed as 'normal'. But I will drain the battery and see what it does around 10%, and I will also check the status right after the issue occurs.


Thanks for your reply, and to be continued.

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MBP (2018) shuts down suddenly, needs power for waking up, battery level jumps.

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