New battery won't charge

My daughter spilled water on my MacBook Pro. I dried it out, cleaned up the inside with a tooth brush and fired it up. All appeared fine, but the battery wouldn't charge. The ststus said the battery was bad, so I ordered a new one. The new battery is doing the same thing the bad batter was doing...which is, magsafe has steady green light, battery indicator flashes like it is charging three times and then goes out, is says it is it either running on battery or running on power adapter if It is plugged in, but says not charging. What is wrong that it can run off either power source but the power adapter won't charge the battery?


thanks for any help


joe

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Sep 13, 2016 3:20 PM

Reply
15 replies

Sep 13, 2016 5:17 PM in response to KiltedTim

Would there be any system diagnostics or indicators in the About My Mac that would indicate a motherboard issue. I am surprised that everything else seems fine. Could it be the small port/chip for the magsafe? I can order it for relatively cheap, but I am hesitant to blame it since i us the computer in and the battery indicator acknowledges when it the charger is connected.

Sep 13, 2016 6:14 PM in response to Sippinjoes

Because MacBook Pros have been made for over a decade and can have different issues and troubleshooting steps, it would help the community if you specify the exact version you have. Please do this:


1) Hold down the OPTION key while clicking your Apple menu (left end of menubar. The first item--normally "About this Mac"--should change to "System Profiler" in Mac OS 10.6.8, which I assume you are running. Launch it.


2) Profiler's first screen with be "Hardware Overview." Looks like this:


User uploaded file

Note in the image I have placed a red arrow next to a code in the line "Model Identifier." What does your computer show for that code?


3) If you have an early MacBook Pro, please also post the screen size measured diagonally.

Would there be any system diagnostics or indicators in the About My Mac that would indicate a motherboard issue.


Well, how to do that depends on the model. Old MacBook Pros require using the system install/restore DVDs that shipped with the computer; newer ones do not. That's a good reason for you to post your variant.

Sep 14, 2016 8:18 AM in response to Sippinjoes

Thank you. As your equipment profile says you are running 10.6.8 I thought you have a much older MBP. Might want to update your profile and includ ehte "Mid-2009 15-inch" with the updates.


Still yours is old enough that you need to use the original system DVDs to run Apple Hardware Tests. Info here:


OS X El Capitan: Use Apple Diagnostics or Apple Hardware Test


Also your model has a battery that Apple does not consider user-serviceable. They want to replace them in-store. Therefore they do not sell replacement batteries. There are trusted vendors out there that sell after-market batteries that are clearly branded as such, like OWC, but Apple's refusal to sell a part without installing it has created a large counterfeit market. We've seen those batteries show up here, some with cycle counts too high for a "new" battery, and others that either don't work or damage the computer. A sure sign of a counterfeit is the battery's serial number, also available from System Information (in OS 10.11). Select "Power" from the left-hand Contents pane. Bogus batteries often have the same serial number: 0123456789ABC.


If you ended up with a counterfeit battery your best action is to see if Apple will install a proper one. Only then will you know whether another component failed due to the wetting.

Sep 14, 2016 8:00 PM in response to Sippinjoes

i don't think I have original disks anymore.


All is not lost. If you have to run AHT to resolve this and are in N. America, you can phone the central Apple Store (not a local retail store) with your computer's serial number at hand. Ask for an "operating system specialist." With the serial number they can find and ship you a replacement install/restore disk or disk set at a modest cost of about US$16 per disk. I believe your MBP is new enough that they should be able to help you.


If you are not in N. America I'm not sure of the procedure. The best way could be to take the computer to an Apple Retail Store and ask if they can run the test. Call before driving a long way--your model officially went out of production in April 2010 and, according to this Apple article:


Vintage and obsolete products - Apple Support


they do not support models that have been out of production for more than 5 five years. Some store will "cheat" the date a little and others not. That's why phoning ahead is important.

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.

New battery won't charge

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