pacificshack

Q: 2012 MBP Retina 15inch screen black at 30% battery

Has anyone else experienced this?

Mid 2012 MacBook Pro 15 inch Retina.

2.6 GHz Intel Core i7

8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB

OSX Yosemite 10.10.3

Applecare in place until September 2015.

 

Problem 1

When running off the battery, when it gets down to about 32%, the screen goes black. The caps lock button still works (when selecting on and off, it shoes up the green light) so I know the machine is still 'on'.

If I close the lid and open it, nothing happens, even though I still have 32% left in battery.

If I try and force restart by holding down the power button, the battery charge icon appears on screen telling me to plug it in.

I have tried an SMC reboot 3 times and it still has the same issue.

 

Problem 2 (unsure if related)

The laptop is plugged in to a thunderbolt Apple 27" display at work. Sometimes the thunderbolt screen will switch off for no reason and give no warnings. Then after 10 secs it comes back on. Also, the laptop runs quite hot during the day, even with just Chrome, Mail and Coda 2 open.

I also get some 'fuzzy' lines appearing across the screen when I am using just the laptop by itself. I am wondering if this is part of a video card issue? The problem use to happen more frequently in Mavericks, but less in Yosemite. It still happens though.
Is this related to: https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

 

And possibly if both issues are related? Or if the machine needs a new battery and new video card?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on May 15, 2015 2:35 PM

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Q: 2012 MBP Retina 15inch screen black at 30% battery

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  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy May 15, 2015 2:45 PM in response to pacificshack
    Level 10 (271,755 points)
    Desktops
    May 15, 2015 2:45 PM in response to pacificshack

    Check your battery's condition using System Profiler and clicking on the Power entry in the sidebar. I suspect your battery needs to be replaced.

  • by pacificshack,

    pacificshack pacificshack May 15, 2015 2:55 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 15, 2015 2:55 PM in response to Kappy

    OK, here is what I see:

    Battery Information:

     

      Model Information:

      Serial Number: D86228637YTDNMGAJ

      Manufacturer: SMP

      Device Name: bq20z451

      Pack Lot Code: 0

      PCB Lot Code: 0

      Firmware Version: 511

      Hardware Revision: 3

      Cell Revision: 1150

      Charge Information:

      Charge Remaining (mAh): 6245

      Fully Charged: Yes

      Charging: No

      Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 6245

      Health Information:

      Cycle Count: 589

      Condition: Normal

      Battery Installed: Yes

      Amperage (mA): 0

      Voltage (mV): 12518

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy May 15, 2015 2:59 PM in response to pacificshack
    Level 10 (271,755 points)
    Desktops
    May 15, 2015 2:59 PM in response to pacificshack

    That shows a good battery, so you may wish to check the charger. I would also suggest taking it in for service as something is not working properly. Nevertheless, I would like to see what this looks like when the charger is not connected.

  • by pacificshack,

    pacificshack pacificshack May 15, 2015 3:15 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 15, 2015 3:15 PM in response to Kappy

    OK here is the report with no charger plugged in:

    Battery Information:

     

      Model Information:

      Serial Number: D86228637YTDNMGAJ

      Manufacturer: SMP

      Device Name: bq20z451

      Pack Lot Code: 0

      PCB Lot Code: 0

      Firmware Version: 511

      Hardware Revision: 3

      Cell Revision: 1150

      Charge Information:

      Charge Remaining (mAh): 6245

      Fully Charged: Yes

      Charging: No

      Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 6245

      Health Information:

      Cycle Count: 589

      Condition: Normal

      Battery Installed: Yes

      Amperage (mA): -3

      Voltage (mV): 12450

     

    The laptop is powered sometimes by the Thunderbolt monitor, and the rest of the time with the standard charger it came with. I suspect the issue is more logic board / power management issue related as oppose to just battery. The other video issues and also with the machine running hot and also having fans going highlights a bigger issue.

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy May 15, 2015 4:21 PM in response to pacificshack
    Level 10 (271,755 points)
    Desktops
    May 15, 2015 4:21 PM in response to pacificshack

    From what I see there is nothing wrong with your battery. However, the Full Charge and Charge Remaining numbers are the same. That's a bit unusual for a battery with 589 cycles. So, it is possible the battery has a problem, but it doesn't show it in System Profiler. I suggest you take it in for service with the battery run down close to the 40% level so you can demonstrate what happens when it reaches 30%. That is truly odd.

     

    Have you tried reinstalling Yosemite? A dysfunctional upgrade might cause this to happen.

     

    Reinstalling OS X Without Erasing the Drive

     

    Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

     

    Reinstalling OS X Without Erasing the Drive

     

    Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.

     

    When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility and press the Continue button. After Disk Utility loads select the Macintosh HD entry from the the left side list.  Click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If Disk Utility reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit Disk Utility and return to the main menu.

     

    Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.

     

    Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

     

    Alternatively, see:

     

    Reinstall OS X Without Erasing the Drive

     

    Choose the version you have installed now:

     

    OS X Yosemite- Reinstall OS X

    OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X

    OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X

    OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X

     

         Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet

                     if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy May 15, 2015 4:26 PM in response to pacificshack
    Level 10 (271,755 points)
    Desktops
    May 15, 2015 4:26 PM in response to pacificshack

    Check out what shows in Activity Monitor.

     

    Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder.  Select All Processes from the View menu.  Click on the CPU tab in the toolbar. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order.  If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time (>=70,) then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar.  Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process.  See if that helps.  Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.


    Using Activity Monitor to read System Memory and determine how much RAM is being used (OS X Mountain Lion and earlier)

    How to use Activity Monitor - Apple Support

    Runaway applications can shorten battery runtime, affect performance, and increase heat and fan acti…