MacBook Pro refuses to charge correctly

[Mapjin]

Hi all,



Since last december my 15’ MacBook Pro (Touch Bar, end of 2016) exhibits a very strange behavior. When plugged into power, it stops randomly charging at any given percentage (be it 50%, 30%, 80%, etc). The icon in the menu bar displays a plug instead of a bolt and I have no option to « charge now ».Worse, while plugged in, after a while the battery loses charge until it depletes completely.



I tried everything, SMC, PRAM reset, install Monterey from scratch, disable Battery Management and Optimized Battery Charging. Hardware test finds nothing and the status of battery is « Normal » according to Coconut. When unplugged the battery still holds pretty good (it has been replaced with the topcase in 2018 by Apple) and it has a cycle count of 291. I’ve tried with another official power brick, another USB C cable, no change.


The strangest thing is that when I launch a CPU intensive app like Handbrake or FC or Logic, the battery starts charging again! And it stops as soon as I close the apps or the demand on the CPU is lessened.


Is anyone here has seen such a thing? Is Monterey the culprit? Do you think the battery is dying or is it a sign that the logic board needs to be replaced? I had nothing but problems with this machine, screen replaced two times, topcase two times, strobe-light Touch Bar, left speaker busted…I have lost faith in it!



Thank you for your suggestions!

 

[Sanpete]

Have you tried different power outlets?

Apple doesn't recommend this (or say anything about it at all), but it's still a popular thing among Apple users: you could try recalibrating the battery. Seems you've tried almost everything else.

Are you keeping Logic open as a workaround? Does the battery/charging work normally that way long term? Does non-Apple power-hungry software accomplish the same thing? I wonder if Apple set up its own power-intensive software with some instruction to enable or ensure a different power state. If someone knew what it did, you might be able to do it without running the software.

 

[Mapjin]

Have you tried different power outlets?

Apple doesn't recommend this (or say anything about it at all), but it's still a popular thing among Apple users: you could try recalibrating the battery. Seems you've tried almost everything else.

Are you keeping Logic open as a workaround? Does the battery/charging work normally that way long term? Does non-Apple power-hungry software accomplish the same thing? I wonder if Apple set up its own power-intensive software with some instruction to enable or ensure a different power state. If someone knew what it did, you might be able to do it without running the software.

Hi Sanpete,

Yes I have tried with another power outlet, same thing. The one time I let the battery drain, the Mac wouldn't start unless I plug/unplug the cord multiple times until it detects it. So yes, I spend all my day working with an eye on the menu bar icon to see if it's charging or not. Usually I open a Logic project in the background just to let the computer "aware" of the work it has to do and the wattage it has to provide. That's crazy.

One more thing: sometimes when I launch Handbrake (it uses all the cores of the Mac) and the software demands suddenly more power, the computer shutdown completely. I have to wait for about 5 minutes to restart it and then the screen is grey with bars at the bottom like recovering from safe sleep.

 

[Sanpete]

Does the last part happen when it's plugged in or on battery power? If the latter, it sure resembles a bad battery, no matter what Coconut Battery reports. Even if it's plugged in, it could just be a bad battery.

Any way for you to get it to an Apple Store? They'll provide a free diagnosis. If the battery's bad, they might offer you a $200 replacement fee, which isn't too bad, considering you'll get a new top case again.

 

[Mapjin]

Does the last part happen when it's plugged in or on battery power? If the latter, it sure resembles a bad battery, no matter what Coconut Battery reports. Even if it's plugged in, it could just be a bad battery.

Any way for you to get it to an Apple Store? They'll provide a free diagnosis. If the battery's bad, they might offer you a $200 replacement fee, which isn't too bad, considering you'll get a new top case again.

To answer your first question, yes it happens when it's plugged in. It seems like the computer "forgets" it is plugged and let the battery do all the job. I left the Mac in sleep state this morning, it was connected to power, battery was at 85%. I came back 5 hours later: 11% of battery left. I have enough, I will contact Apple and see where it goes, I've done everything at this point. Thanks again Sanpete for your help!