Battery service icon although Apple Hardware Test showed no errors

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Battery service icon although Apple Hardware Test showed no errors

Hi everyone! Recently after I upgraded to El Capitan I noticed than when battery was getting low and close to 15% the computer went off unexpectedly. If rested for a few minutes it could switch on with the percentage being around 15 to 20 %. And after a few of those times the battery icon showed a service triangle. By searching the net I did the PVRAM reset and the SMC but with no success. Battery still shows service icon. And even when I ran AHT in extensive mode although results show no error, when boot back to OSX the service icon remains. Also the behaviour remains. At around 15% macbook turns dead. Any advice ? Thank yo

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1)

Posted on Dec 8, 2015 6:03 AM

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Answer 1

mario49

Community Specialist

Dec 9, 2015 1:41 PM in response to himan83gr

Hey himan83gr,

If I understand correctly, you have a service light on the battery symbol. It looks like you have already done some troubleshooting. Depending on when you purchased the computer, the battery could be reaching the end of its cycle count. I would recommend you read this article, it may be able to help troubleshoot the issue.

Determining battery cycle count for Mac notebooks - Apple Support

Follow these steps to access information about your Mac notebook battery including the cycle count:

Hold the Option key and click the Apple Menu. Choose the option to open System Information.

Under the Hardware section of the System Information window, select Power. The current cycle count is listed under the Battery Information section.

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Have a good one.

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Answer 2

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,329 points

Dec 9, 2015 1:48 PM in response to himan83gr

Make an appointment at an Apple store genius bar. Have them test the battery. The test will be FREE.

Ciao.

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Answer 3

himan83gr Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 10, 2015 3:10 AM in response to mario49

Sorry I forgot to mention the cycles. As of today I have 395 cycles. I think my battery could still be operating normally for such a number of cycles.

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Answer 4

himan83gr Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 10, 2015 3:12 AM in response to OGELTHORPE

I live in Russia. And If I am not mistaken here we don't have direct apple support but only partners. And they charge even for a diagnostic test. So that's why I am still searching for a DIY solution!

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Answer 5

himan83gr Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 10, 2015 11:49 PM in response to himan83gr

What makes me suspicious that it might be a software issue, is the fact that Apple Hardware Test (AHT) finds no battery error or any error whatsoever. One more thing I noticed is that when still in that program(AHT) in the third tab, where info about the mac is available you can see battery's capacity in %. And there I noticed that while the light on the charger cable is green the % of capacity is around 91% and if left to charge longer it eventually charges to 100%. So any suggestions? Any help is appreciated!

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