Macbook Pro mid2012 charging issues

[janus5555]

Hello, last night, out of the blue, my macbook (mac sierra) stopped charging. I was in the middle of writing sth, had not moved/disconnected/ changed anything and at a 27% the battery (needs to be serviced) stopped getting power and the light on the charger went from orange to nothing.
I put the macbook to sleep, restarted, turned off all programs and restarted, booted into another bootable partition (mac os lion), did a smc reset, nothing, no cable power.
Then after I removed the charger I took off the lid to disconnect the battery, before I disconnected it I attached the charger again and it worked, started giving power again. Now it is ok- don't know for how long....
I had the same issue about a month ago, at that time I resolved the problem by attaching the charger to a friend's macbook to see if it actually gives power (or if it's burned or sth) and as if it was stuck, it turned orange and started charging normally..

This is getting frustrating, apart from smc reset and stupid advice (warm the charger, knock on the corners of the macbook) there are no serious comments about the issue that actually help.
Anybody have sth similar? What could be the cause and how to avoid a third incident?
Thanks for your time..

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Hello, last night, out of the blue, my macbook (mac sierra) stopped charging. I was in the middle of writing sth, had not moved/disconnected/ changed anything and at a 27% the battery (needs to be serviced) stopped getting power and the light on the charger went from orange to nothing.
I put the macbook to sleep, restarted, turned off all programs and restarted, booted into another bootable partition (mac os lion), did a smc reset, nothing, no cable power.
Then after I removed the charger I took off the lid to disconnect the battery, before I disconnected it I attached the charger again and it worked, started giving power again. Now it is ok- don't know for how long....
I had the same issue about a month ago, at that time I resolved the problem by attaching the charger to a friend's macbook to see if it actually gives power (or if it's burned or sth) and as if it was stuck, it turned orange and started charging normally..

This is getting frustrating, apart from smc reset and stupid advice (warm the charger, knock on the corners of the macbook) there are no serious comments about the issue that actually help.
Anybody have sth similar? What could be the cause and how to avoid a third incident?
Thanks for your time..

Sounds like your charger is dying it happens get a new one??

 

[janus5555]

how can I be sure it's the charger that's gone faulty? I mean, one day it charges the next moment nope and then again it's ok...

 

[Samuelsan2001]

how can I be sure it's the charger that's gone faulty? I mean, one day it charges the next moment nope and then again it's ok...

You can't short of borrowing another one and seeing how that goes or dismantling it and testing the components or trying to spot an issue. Or you can take the laptop back to apple and get them to test the battery for you, a faulty battery can swell and explode and destroy your computer so that may be worth doing anyway 5 years is about right for a battery to need replacing.

 

[Audit13]

Take the charger and Macbook to the apple store for a free diagnosis.

 

[janus5555]

No apple store where I live, am located in Greece..
I did try to see if the charger would work on a different macbook and it did! So can't really and definitely say that the charger is the cause of my problems...Afterwards, my macbook eventually accepts charge from this charger so again, I can't say for sure that the macbook has the problem.
Now I am stuck in a situation where either I take it to some "expert" and pay for a "diagnosis" or buy each piece of equipment in order to test funcionality separately..

 

[Samuelsan2001]

No apple store where I live, am located in Greece..
I did try to see if the charger would work on a different macbook and it did! So can't really and definitely say that the charger is the cause of my problems...Afterwards, my macbook eventually accepts charge from this charger so again, I can't say for sure that the macbook has the problem.
Now I am stuck in a situation where either I take it to some "expert" and pay for a "diagnosis" or buy each piece of equipment in order to test funcionality separately..

Have you taken a look at the battery status in the about this mac menu?? That should at least tell you if the battery needs replacing.

 

[Modernape]

It sounds ridiculous, but take a look at the gold contacts in the charging port, they might just need cleaning with a Q-tip.

 

[janus5555]

I have cleaned both adapter and cable for any debris that could pose problems.
My battery is at about 50% of its factory capacity but can hold charge and discharge without any problems.
The problem is ongoing, the past 3 days the macbook randomly stops receiving charge and after I plug/unplug the cable and try different power sockets in the end I manage to charge again.
I suspect it is the dc-in board but would like a way to tell for sure before I spend money on buying a replacement that won't solve my problem in the end..
Anybody know how I can check voltage and general power details with a polymeter and how it should be?
Thanks again for your time.