Macbook pro, Mid-2013 does not turn on

I have a mid-2013 Macbook pro that does not turn on. When I press the power button for 10 seconds, the battery charger light comes on. I plug it in and the charging icon appears. But the charger cable turned green indicating that it was fully charged but the laptop still says that the battery is dead.


I tried an SMC reset and the laptop turned on but was very slow in responding. The trackpad would take about 5-10 seconds before you see the cursor on the screen move. I was attempting to make a backup to do a full factory reset but then it shut down again and won't turn on. Is there something else I could do?


Also that few minutes when it did turn on, the battery showed as full but when it died, it showed that the battery dead even though I had it plugged in the whole time.

Posted on Nov 7, 2023 10:59 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 7, 2023 7:50 PM

There is no "mid-2013" MBPro. There is an Early and a Late 2013 model which are both Retina models. Or do you mean a Mid-2012 non-Retina model? The exact model is extremely critical. You can get the exact model by clicking the Apple menu and selecting "About This Mac" or by entering the system serial number here:

Check Your Service and Support Coverage - Apple Support


Try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected. Make sure the charger is connected before running the diagnostics or it will cause an error.


Try booting into Safe Mode to see if you can boot & login into the desktop.


Try booting into Recovery Mode (Command + R), or even better into Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R) so you can try running Disk Utility First Aid on the hidden Container. Within Disk Utility you will need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" before the hidden Container appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. Even if First Aid says everything is "Ok", click "Show Details" and scroll back through the report to see if there are any unfixed errors listed. If First Aid is unable to repair any errors, then you will need to erase the whole physical drive before reinstalling macOS & restoring from a backup. However, I highly recommend you create a bootable macOS USB installer first if you can boot this laptop since otherwise you need a compatible Mac since there have been a lot of reports that it is no longer possible to reinstall macOS from Recovery Mode/Internet Recovery Mode.


Have you ever had the battery replaced? It is possible the battery is bad which can prevent the laptop from powering on or even charging the battery. You can try disconnecting the battery from the Logic Board and trying to power on the laptop using only the charger. Just make sure not to allow any metallic or conductive object or surface come into contact with the exposed internals.


FYI, you should always have frequent and regular backups. Many times it is impossible to recover any data from an SSD or any of the newer 2016+ Macs when they fail.

Similar questions

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 7, 2023 7:50 PM in response to EDCRoam

There is no "mid-2013" MBPro. There is an Early and a Late 2013 model which are both Retina models. Or do you mean a Mid-2012 non-Retina model? The exact model is extremely critical. You can get the exact model by clicking the Apple menu and selecting "About This Mac" or by entering the system serial number here:

Check Your Service and Support Coverage - Apple Support


Try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected. Make sure the charger is connected before running the diagnostics or it will cause an error.


Try booting into Safe Mode to see if you can boot & login into the desktop.


Try booting into Recovery Mode (Command + R), or even better into Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R) so you can try running Disk Utility First Aid on the hidden Container. Within Disk Utility you will need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" before the hidden Container appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. Even if First Aid says everything is "Ok", click "Show Details" and scroll back through the report to see if there are any unfixed errors listed. If First Aid is unable to repair any errors, then you will need to erase the whole physical drive before reinstalling macOS & restoring from a backup. However, I highly recommend you create a bootable macOS USB installer first if you can boot this laptop since otherwise you need a compatible Mac since there have been a lot of reports that it is no longer possible to reinstall macOS from Recovery Mode/Internet Recovery Mode.


Have you ever had the battery replaced? It is possible the battery is bad which can prevent the laptop from powering on or even charging the battery. You can try disconnecting the battery from the Logic Board and trying to power on the laptop using only the charger. Just make sure not to allow any metallic or conductive object or surface come into contact with the exposed internals.


FYI, you should always have frequent and regular backups. Many times it is impossible to recover any data from an SSD or any of the newer 2016+ Macs when they fail.

Nov 8, 2023 6:08 PM in response to HWTech

I am not completely sure if it is an early or late 2013 model and I cannot check since it no longer turns on. I am pretty sure it's a 2013 model and know for sure it has a Retina display. I have tried the SMC reset again but it does not work anymore and it does not boot up. My next step will be to try disconnecting the battery and try only the charger.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Macbook pro, Mid-2013 does not turn on

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.