Well, my issue now appears to be resolved, although following the NVRAM/PRAM reset procedure (once) and the SMC reset procedure (several times) were not successful.
A little backstory:
I've been using the MBP on an almost daily basis since I purchased it in early June 2011. The only "issue" I've had with it is that the battery doesn't last as long as it used to (which is obviously normal). I used the MBP for perhaps 15 minutes yesterday (Friday) while at a client's site and then closed the lid (like I always do and put it back in my bag).
At home last night, I opened the lid and it did not automatically resume. Apparently, it might not have hibernated properly, leading the battery to eventually drain and so the laptop suspended to disk. I plugged it into the wall and it worked normally.
I've been meaning to back up all of my data and do a clean install and finally did that late last night/this morning (with the laptop plugged in the whole time). Right after the re-install, the battery icon in the menu bar was red. Opening up "System Information" showed some crazy numbers. I didn't take a screenshot or note the numbers but, for example, the "Full Charge Capacity (mAh)" number was in the hundreds of thousands.
Later, the icon went from red to the "X". I restarted a few times to no avail and, after coming across this post and others, attempted the SMC reset. No luck there; NVRAM/PRAM reset, no luck; SMC reset a few more times, still no luck.
(In the middle of all of this, at the login screen, I pulled the power adapter out, waited a moment, and plugged it back in. Upon hitting the power button, the laptop began "unsuspending" from disk, *not* starting up as if it had been shut down. This was a clue to me that the battery wasn't actually dead. Also, if I hit the little button on the side, all eight or so of the little LEDs would light up.)
Finally, I resolved to just taking the laptop to an AASC downtown come Monday. I closed the lid (at the logon screen), unplugged the power cord, moved from my office to the couch, plugged it back in, and hit the power button on the laptop. It came out of suspend and, interestingly enough, the battery indicator showed 100%. Checking the "System Information" it shows "normal" values (charge remaining/full charge capacity: 6298 mAh, fully charged: yes, charging: no).
I began typing this post and thought my problem was solved.
As I was in the middle of typing out this post, however, the menubar icon jumped back and forth from "100%" to "X" and back a few times. Now, it has apparently decided it wants to stay on "X"...
... and as I was typing those last two sentenced, it went to "0%" for a moment, then back to the "X". I hit the little button on the left side and it went back to "100%". Now, I'm looking at an "X" again.
I think I'll think it to the shop Monday. I did purchase two additional years of AppleCare, so hopefully they'll cover whatever the heck is wrong. In the meantime, I think I'll try the NVRAM/SMC reset procedures again. It's possible I may not have done them correctly, although I'm a pretty technical guy (systems administrator/network engineer) and am fairly good at reading and comprehension. =)
I'll come back and post updates if I learn anything.
HTH,
-Jeremy
