2015 MacBook Pro Laptop Battery Dead, Won’t Boot Up Even When Plugged In

Question

Level 1

16 points

2015 MacBook Pro Laptop Battery Dead, Won’t Boot Up Even When Plugged In

Hello,

Short version:

Battery is dead now, and won’t even boot up when plugged in. I don’t mind that the battery is dead. But why would it not boot up even while plugged in to the wall outlet? (And how to fix it)?

More details:

Bought this 2015 MBP in 2018. Has worked like a champ all this time. Only recently (around Jan 2023, 2 months ago) I noticed the battery life had decreased quite a lot. Down to around two hours on battery.

Then three days ago (mid March 2023) it started turning itself off without warning even when the battery was around 50%. Then 60%. Then 90%. Then yesterday it wouldn’t run on battery at all, I had to plug it into the wall to get it to work.

But now today I plug it into the wall and it won’t even boot. It’ll turn on. It brings up the user login screen. I type my password and hit enter, the wheel starts spinning, and then the screen turns black and the reboot sound comes on and it reboots back into the log in screen.

I type my password again and hit enter and it does the same thing. Over and over.

Why would it not boot even when plugged in? And more importantly how can I get it to boot up?

I don’t mind sending it for a new battery, but I want to copy all my data off there first (back up and wipe the drive before sending it in). And just use it plugged in for a while before sending it in.

So I need figure out how to use this while plugged in to wall outlet.

Thanks.

2015 MacBook Pro 256gb

Earlier Mac models

Posted on Mar 21, 2023 8:59 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

HWTech

Level 9

55,508 points

Mar 23, 2023 5:08 PM in response to fuzzy_b

Sounds like you have a file system, or software issue, or an issue with your macOS user account.

Try booting into Safe Mode to see if you can log in.

FYI, you should always have frequent and regular backups of your computer and all external media (including the cloud) which contains important & unique data. It is important to realize that it is impossible to recover accidentally deleted data after the Trash has been emptied. Plus SSDs can fail at any time with no warning signs (even a brand new SSD) and data recovery is nearly impossible to impossible. With 2018+ USB-C Macs there are even more ways to permanently lose access to data which is not backed up.

Apple provides the Time Machine software for free with macOS so users can easily backup their Macs.

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Answer 2

pogster

Level 5

4,247 points

Mar 23, 2023 4:24 PM in response to fuzzy_b

Try running the diagnostics near the bottom of this article. Maybe it'll shed some light on what's happening.

Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support (CA)

If all else fails have your Mac inspected by an Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple Store.

Find Locations - Apple

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Answer 3

HWTech

Level 9

55,508 points

Mar 25, 2023 8:12 PM in response to fuzzy_b

The "Replace Soon" battery condition indicates the battery's Full Charge Capacity (FCC) has dropped below 80% of the original Design Capacity, but it may still provide sufficient runtime for many people. When the battery's FCC drops even lower where it may only work for an hour or two where it will be unusable for most users, the condition will change to "Replace Now". There is no need to replace the battery if it is working sufficiently for your needs. However, be aware that the 2015 model just became "Vintage" so an official Apple battery repair/replacement will only be available until 2024 or 2025 (I don't recall exactly when Apple made this model "Vintage") or for as long as the necessary part is still available. Just something to keep in mind.

Since rebooting normally now works after accessing Safe Mode, most likely either the file system was repaired or the boot issue was due to a corrupt temporary or cache files .

I'm glad the solution was so simple for you.

Make sure to always have frequent and regular backups of the computer and all external media (including the cloud) which contains important & unique data. It is impossible to recover accidentally deleted files from an SSD after the Trash has been emptied due to how SSDs work. Plus an SSD can fail suddenly without any warning signs (even a brand new SSD). Once you upgrade to a newer USB-C Mac, there will be even more ways you can lose access to your data if it is not backed up.

Apple includes the Time Machine backup software for free with macOS, so make sure to use it. If there is even a chance you may not purchase another Mac in the future, then I would highly recommend to have one backup where the files are stored on external media which can be easily accessed by any device or OS since a Time Machine backup is an Apple specific backup requiring another compatible Mac to access.

Glad your laptop is now working again and thanks for the update.

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Answer 4

fuzzy_b Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 22, 2023 2:02 PM in response to kaz-k

Thank you for your reply and suggestion. That did not solve it.

I tried resetting the SMC per the instructions but still get same results.

I reset the SMC, I let it charge for an hour, I turned it on. It has the charging icon and says Battery is 100%. It’s plugged in. It will sit on the log in screen as long as I let it. But when I type my password and hit enter, the wheel starts spinning for two seconds, the screen goes black, and it reboots itself back to the login screen.

Also, literally the instant I unplug the power cord, the computer dies. Instantly.

Any other suggestions?

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Answer 5

fuzzy_b Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 25, 2023 6:22 PM in response to pogster

Haha, thank you. Got a diagnostic message error code. All that said was, “The battery will need to be replaced soon. It is functioning normally, but holds less charge than it did when new.”

But thanks! I did not know about running diagnostics.

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