MacBook Pro mid-2012 has random shutdowns only when battery is plugged in

Question

Burialfaith Author

Level 1

7 points

MacBook Pro mid-2012 has random shutdowns only when battery is plugged in

Greetings,

I purchased a mbp from a second hand reseller (A1286, EMC 2556 - MD104LL/A) and unfortunately it randomly shuts down.

The shutdowns won't occur when the battery is physically removed (while the mbp is powered via the power cord).

Thus, I would be tempted to point to:

1. A short-circuit on the motherboard itself (between the power cord interface and the battery or between the battery interface and somewhere else on the motherboard), or;

2. An hardware issue with the battery itself.

I'm equipped with a multimeter and a soldering iron and am willing to fix the motherboard and/or the battery circuits. Although, this would be a first time for me; I'm quite new to electronics.

Where should I begin with?

In addition, I can't rule out that the possible short-circuit on the motherboard itself could of been caused by the previous owner plugging in a wrong power supply into the mbp. Currently, the magsafe power adapter is an A1343; is this the right power adapter to use with the mbp?

Thanks in advance,

Best regards,

B

MacBook Pro 15″

Posted on May 3, 2023 2:01 AM

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Answer 1

May 16, 2023 6:45 PM in response to Burialfaith

The quality of third-party batteries is wildly variable, but mostly just wild.

OWC sells some NuPower batteries that get some respect, most all others, not.

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Answer 2

kaz-k

Level 9

51,084 points

May 3, 2023 5:04 AM in response to Burialfaith

Hi,

Did you try to reset SMC?

Reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support

Anyway you'd better check your MacBook Pro with Apple Diagnostics if it reports battery related error.

Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 3

May 16, 2023 5:09 PM in response to Burialfaith

if it runs properly with the power adapter AND battery connected, and only shuts down when the battery alone is in use, it sounds like that battery is spent.

Batteries are a wear item, like the soles of your shoes or tires or brakes on your car. They deteriorate with use AND with the passage of time.

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Answer 4

Burialfaith Author

Level 1

7 points

May 4, 2023 1:48 AM in response to kaz-k

Greetings kaz-k,

Thank you for the reply.

I believe I uninstalled the battery when it was fully charged about 18 months ago. Today, I reinstalled the battery and plugged in the power cord and it's connector displays an orange light. I then proceeded with reseting the SMC as you suggested to.

Afterward, pressing the battery button located on the side of the mbp turns on the seven first battery's lights which light with a solid green colour while the 8th dot flashes with a green light. From within the MacOS, the battery icon shows a lightning strike over it and clicking its icon displays the following message: "Finishing Charge (0:00 Until Full), Power Source: Power Adapter".

I tried to run the Apple Diagnostic test by booting while holding the "D" button, but it seems to have launched the internet recovery as mentioned on the screen. I then got prompted to enter my wifi password and got connected to the internet. A moment later, the screen turned black and the following error message was displayed:

Error: 0x8000000000000003, Cannot Load 'EFI/Drivers/TestSupport.efi'

Status: 0x00000003

I'm going to let the mbp continue to apparently charge and update this thread whenever possible.

Thank you,

Best regards,

B

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Answer 5

Burialfaith Author

Level 1

7 points

May 16, 2023 4:52 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Greetings Grant,

After some testing, it seems clear that the mbp will only shutdown when relying on the battery.

Every shutdown, Safari was opened.
Some shutdowns seems to be due to bad calibration from the battery (which I attempted to recalibrate) as the battery % will drastically change after turning back on the mbp.

The mbp will run fine with the battery installed and while plugged in power.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

Best regards,

B

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Answer 6

Burialfaith Author

Level 1

7 points

May 16, 2023 6:22 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thank you for the reply Grant.

I still remind the previous owner saying as his pitch sale that the battery was brand new. Glad I could at least fix the broken GPU on this mbp (by editing the firmware) with the help from another thread on the Apple Community forums.

Thanks for the help,

Best regards,

B

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