I replaced the original battery March, 2023. The replacement was a NewerTech NuPower 60 Watt-Hour Replacement Battery. Now the laptop is losing network connectivity, loading web sites sloooowly. I ran an EtreCheck Pro study which found the battery to be failing. I am leary about putting another NewerTech battery in. Any alternatives available?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
MacBook Air (2018 – 2020)
Please post the EtreCheck report. That is how it is intended to be used. Those of us who have reviews thousands of those reports here stand a better chance of spotting something subtle that may be the issue at play.
The report is too long to paste normally, so please use these posting instructions:
How to use the Add Text Feature When Post… - Apple Community
That also insures the formatting is not scrambled, and that any secure/personal info is scrubbed.
At this point your symptoms sound more like some hardware item was damaged during installation. Try running Apple Diagnostics, as EtreCheck primarily tests software-related hardware (RAM; storage). It would not pick up a damaged sensor or component connector for example, but Diagnostics would.
Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support
There is a link at the bottom of that page to another the "translates" any error codes that result.
Apple did not intend the battery to user-serviceable, and we see a number of reports of hardware damage to other components following an at-home or non-Apple battery replacement.
The bad new is that, if the hardware is damaged, Apple will not work on a computer which someone else has serviced. You might contact OWC to see if they have a ship-in service for devices struggling with their batteries.
Please post the EtreCheck report. That is how it is intended to be used. Those of us who have reviews thousands of those reports here stand a better chance of spotting something subtle that may be the issue at play.
The report is too long to paste normally, so please use these posting instructions:
How to use the Add Text Feature When Post… - Apple Community
That also insures the formatting is not scrambled, and that any secure/personal info is scrubbed.
At this point your symptoms sound more like some hardware item was damaged during installation. Try running Apple Diagnostics, as EtreCheck primarily tests software-related hardware (RAM; storage). It would not pick up a damaged sensor or component connector for example, but Diagnostics would.
Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support
There is a link at the bottom of that page to another the "translates" any error codes that result.
Apple did not intend the battery to user-serviceable, and we see a number of reports of hardware damage to other components following an at-home or non-Apple battery replacement.
The bad new is that, if the hardware is damaged, Apple will not work on a computer which someone else has serviced. You might contact OWC to see if they have a ship-in service for devices struggling with their batteries.
The best option is to have Apple replace the battery. The OEM battery is the best option and is reasonably priced for this model, however, you would need to reinstall the original Apple battery since I don't know if Apple will perform the repair with a third party battery installed (you can try).
The NewerTech battery is probably the best third party battery you will find. The next option is from iFixIt, but I don't know whether they have one model, or just random models (random models means quality can vary greatly). I have received bad batteries from iFixIt and even OWC from time to time, but they are your best option.
Did you properly calibrate the battery when you first installed it? If not, that could easily shorten its life. Most batteries start to fail at 3 - 5 years....some may fail sooner.
Is the battery causing these issues? It is hard to say, but I think you would notice performance issues in other areas as well if the battery was at fault. As others have asked, please post the complete EtreCheck report so we can examine it for possible clues.
How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting an EtreCheck Report - Apple Community
Here is page 1 of the 5 page EtreCheck Pro report of our MacBook Air 13" 2017.
EtreCheckPro version: 6.8.7 (68068)
Report generated: 2024-12-21 08:28:04
Download EtreCheckPro from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime: 26:57
Performance: Poor
Problem: Other problem
Description:
Repeatedly lose wi-fi connection although other computers and iPhones
have continuous connectivity concurrently.
Major Issues:
Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.
No Time Machine backup - Time Machine backup not found.
Battery failure - Your battery is reporting that it needs to be serviced.
Poor performance - EtreCheck report shows poor performance. This is unusual.
Minor Issues:
These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems or opportunities for improvement.
Apps crashing - There have been numerous app crashes.
Apps with heavy CPU usage - There have been numerous cases of apps with heavy CPU usage.
Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed. These files could be old, incompatible, and cause problems. They should be reviewed.
Hardware Information:
MacBook Air (13-inch, 2017)
Status: Supported
MacBook Air Model: MacBookAir7,2
1.8 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 (i5-5350U) CPU: 2-core
8 GB RAM - Not upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR3 1600
BANK 1/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR3 1600
Battery: Health = Service Battery - Cycle count = 313
Video Information:
Intel HD Graphics 6000 - VRAM: 1536 MB
Color LCD 1440 x 900
Drives:
disk0 - APPLE SSD SM0128G 121.33 GB (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)
Internal PCI 5.0 GT/s x4 Serial ATA
disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB
disk0s2 [APFS Container] 121.12 GB
disk1 [APFS Virtual drive] 121.12 GB (Shared by 6 volumes)
disk1s1 (APFS) [APFS Container] (15.42 GB used)
disk1s1s1 - Macintosh HD (APFS) [APFS Snapshot] (15.42 GB used)
disk1s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] (476 MB used)
disk1s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] (1.12 GB used)
disk1s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] (2.15 GB used)
disk1s5 - Macintosh HD - Data (APFS) [APFS Virtual drive] (29.24 GB used)
disk1s6 - Update (APFS) (9 MB used)
Mounted Volumes:
disk1s1s1 - Macintosh HD [APFS Snapshot]
Filesystem: APFS
Mount point: /
Read-only: Yes
Used: 15.42 GB
I did include a link with instructions for posting an EtreCheck report using the "Additional Text" feature of the forums as did @Allan Jones.
Part of the problem may be due to this laptop not having enough memory for doing everything you want. At the time you ran EtreCheck you had already used about 2GB of Swap after less than a day from restarting the laptop. That is not good. You may want to lessen the number of open apps & tabs that are open at one time. 2GB of Swap isn't much, but it is a sign.
Second, it seems the "routined" process has been crashing a lot (97 times in the past 60 days)....this may be the ultimate source of the problem. Unfortunately there is not much information about the "routined" process other than this although I have seen people mention high CPU utilization & crashes associated with "routined":
NAME
routined -- A daemon that learns the historical location patterns of a user.
DESCRIPTION
routined is a per-user daemon that learns historical location patterns of a user and predicts future visits to locations.
I saw one user report resolving the issue by creating a new macOS user account, so it is likely something within your home user account is causing the problem, but I don't know what that may be. Perhaps another more knowledgeable contributor will have some ideas.
I've generally found the NewerTech batteries from OWC to be quite good. I've gone through quite a few over 15-odd years for multiple computers and had maybe one that ended up not working out well. Sometimes electronics fail early.
Thanks for the multi-level response, Allan. I'll try my best to comply.
Are you saying that by replacing the original battery myself I could have damaged some hardware and that 21 months after replacing the battery that damage would first manifest? The MacBook Air is my wife's and she only had the problems I described a few days ago. Once I studied the problem, I told her to only use the laptop when the charging cable is connected and problems have not returned. To my simple minded way of thinking that points to the battery failure as the problem. But life is not simple and I will continue the search.
I replaced one in a 2012 Unibody about...six years ago or so, and it still has 94% of it's original capacity. Replaced one in a 2008 MacBook Pro4,1 around the same time (much easier, of course, since they are designed to pop out of the bottom of the case) and it still has 102% of its original capacity.
I actually bought two of the 2008 batteries because they were on sale and that was the replacement battery that failed me in the first place...clearly a contingency I didn't need in hindsight.
Thanks, HWTech, I am working on the EtreCheck report and the Apple Diagnostics analysis, however, the fact that the laptop is usually sitting in front of my wife (now that it is working fine as long as plugged in) and that it is winter holiday time is slowing down the process.
Yes, HWTech, I did properly calibrate the battery. Also I have attempted to paste the EtreCheck report into a Reply using the Add Text Feature but repeatedly get the "5000 character limit has been reached" message. Will persevere.
The Apple Diagnostics test concluded twice: No issues found. Reference code: ADP000. Below that assessment a paragraph beginning with a "?" in a circle offered some options about restarting, shutting down or following a link "to access Apple support and service through Safari". I took the last option and was presented with a completely white web page.
Will try to send the EtreCheck Pro report using the Additional Text feature.
Here is page 2 of the 5 page EtreCheck Pro report of our MacBook Air 13" 2017.
Shared values
Size: 121.12 GB
Free: 72.59 GB
Available: 74.33 GB
disk1s2 - Preboot [APFS Preboot]
Filesystem: APFS
Mount point: /System/Volumes/Preboot
Used: 476 MB
Shared values
Size: 121.12 GB
Free: 72.59 GB
disk1s4 - VM [APFS VM]
Filesystem: APFS
Mount point: /System/Volumes/VM
Used: 2.15 GB
Shared values
Size: 121.12 GB
Free: 72.59 GB
disk1s5 - Macintosh HD - Data [APFS Virtual drive]
Filesystem: APFS
Mount point: /System/Volumes/Data
Encrypted
Used: 29.24 GB
Shared values
Size: 121.12 GB
Free: 72.59 GB
Available: 74.33 GB
disk1s6 - Update
Filesystem: APFS
Mount point: /System/Volumes/Update
Used: 9 MB
Shared values
Size: 121.12 GB
Free: 72.59 GB
USB:
USB 3.0 bus
Apple Inc. - BRCM20702 Hub
Apple Inc. - Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Network:
Interface en0: Wi-Fi
802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge
Firewall:
Blocked apps:
System Software:
macOS Monterey 12.7.6 (21H1320)
Time since boot: About a day
Security:
Gatekeeper: App Store and identified developers
Here is page 3 of 5 of the EtreCheck Pro report of our MacBook Air 13" 2017
System Integrity Protection: Enabled
Antivirus software: Apple
Unsigned Files:
Apps: 1
System Launch Daemons:
[Not Loaded] 40 Apple tasks
[Loaded] 194 Apple tasks
[Running] 147 Apple tasks
[Other] One Apple task
System Launch Agents:
[Not Loaded] 18 Apple tasks
[Loaded] 178 Apple tasks
[Running] 161 Apple tasks
Launch Daemons:
[Loaded] com.apple.installer.osmessagetracing.plist (Apple - installed 2018-06-19)
Executable: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/OSInstaller.framework/Resources/OSMessageTracer
User Launch Agents:
[Loaded] com.google.GoogleUpdater.wake.plist (Google LLC - installed 2024-11-20)
Command: ~/Library/Application Support/Google/GoogleUpdater/Current/GoogleUpdater.app/Contents/MacOS/GoogleUpdater --wake-all --enable-logging --vmodule=*/components/update_client/*=2,*/chrome/enterprise_companion/*=2,*/chrome/updater/*=2
[Not Loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Not signed - installed 2023-12-07)
<Empty>
[Not Loaded] com.google.keystone.xpcservice.plist (Not signed - installed 2023-12-07)
<Empty>
User Login Items:
[Not Loaded] Launcher Disabler (App Store - installed 2024-11-04)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/OneDrive.localized/OneDrive.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/Launcher Disabler.app
[Not Loaded] OneDrive Launcher (App Store - installed 2024-11-04)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/OneDrive.localized/OneDrive.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/OneDrive Launcher.app
[Not Loaded] SpeedTestHelper (App Store - installed 2023-03-13)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/Utilities/Speedtest.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/SpeedTestHelper.app
Applications:
491 Apple apps
35 3rd party apps
14 x86-only apps
One unsigned app
App Extensions:
File providers:
[Loaded] OneDrive File Provider - /Applications/OneDrive.localized/OneDrive.app
Finder sync extensions:
[Not Loaded] OneDrive Finder Integration - /Applications/OneDrive.localized/OneDrive.app
Page 4 of 5 EtreCheck Pro report of MacBook Air 13" 2017
Backup:
Time Machine Not Configured!
Performance:
System Load: 1.33 (1 min ago) 1.75 (5 min ago) 2.14 (15 min ago)
Nominal I/O usage: 1.58 MB/s
File system: 71.73 seconds
Write speed: 650 MB/s
Read speed: 1117 MB/s
CPU Usage Snapshot:
Type Overall
System: 1 %
User: 3 %
Idle: 96 %
Top Processes Snapshot by CPU:
Process (count) CPU (Source - Location)
NewsToday2 7.30 % (Apple)
WindowServer 5.72 % (Apple)
EtreCheckPro 4.88 % (Etresoft, Inc.)
kernel_task 1.78 % (Apple)
ScreenTimeAgent 1.18 % (Apple)
Top Processes Snapshot by Memory:
Process (count) RAM usage (Source - Location)
com.apple.WebKit.WebContent (2) 681 MB (Apple)
Google Chrome Helper (Renderer) (4) 485 MB (Google LLC)
EtreCheckPro 455 MB (Etresoft, Inc.)
Notes 189 MB (Apple)
Google Chrome 185 MB (Google LLC)
Top Processes Snapshot by Network Use:
Process (count) Input / Output (Source - Location)
com.apple.WebKit.Networking 4 MB / 367 KB (Apple)
mDNSResponder 2 MB / 987 KB (Apple)
netbiosd 28 KB / 18 KB (Apple)
trustd 17 KB / 2 KB (Apple)
apsd 4 KB / 14 KB (Apple)
Top Processes Snapshot by Energy Use:
Process (count) Energy (0-100) (Source - Location)
airportd 5 (Apple)
WindowServer 5 (Apple)
WorldClockWidget 4 (Apple)
CalendarWidgetExtension 4 (Apple)
CalendarAgent 3 (Apple)
Virtual Memory Information:
Physical RAM: 8 GB
Free RAM: 207 MB
Used RAM: 5.52 GB
Cached files: 2.28 GB
Available RAM: 2.48 GB
Swap Used: 110 MB
Page 5 of 5 EtreCheck Pro report of MacBook Air 13" 2017
Software Installs (past 60 days):
Install Date Name (Version)
2024-11-04 OneDrive (24.201.1006)
2024-12-18 XProtectPlistConfigData (5284)
2024-12-18 XProtectPayloads (149)
Diagnostics Information (past 60 days):
2024-12-21 07:44:13 com.apple.WebKit.WebContent High CPU Use (11 times)
First occurrence: 2024-12-13 20:53:07
2024-12-20 16:27:15 routined Crash (97 times)
First occurrence: 2024-12-14 08:12:52
Executable: /usr/libexec/routined
Details:
libsystem_c.dylib: abort() called
2024-12-20 07:16:55 signpost_reporter High CPU Use (3 times)
First occurrence: 2024-12-15 12:27:44
Executable: /usr/libexec/signpost_reporter
2024-12-17 15:03:11 AppleCameraAssistant Crash (2 times)
Executable: /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreMediaIO.framework/Versions/A/Resources/AppleCamera.plugin
2024-12-15 13:09:00 triald High CPU Use
Executable: /usr/libexec/triald
Thanks for your reply, HWTech. I have tried multiple times to follow the instructions for adding Additional Text but each time get that "5000 character limit reached" message. So I pasted each page of the EtreCheck report individually thereby stopping the conversion of my hair from brown to grey.
Please note that the MacBook Air is used by my wife. Your advice about lessening the number of open apps and tabs at one time will be passed along. Again, thank you.
MacBook Air running slow after a battery replacement
