MBPr 2015 A1502 (13in) issues after battery replacement (fans high speed, no chime, no display)

[antoine23]

I have an issue with a MBPr 2015 13in A1502 after replacing the battery.

It won't turn on, although it was working perfectly before, there was never water damage or anything similar.
The best I can get from it now is that the fan turns at high speed, but I get no chime nor screen.

Here's what I have tried (with the battery disconnected):
- SMC Reset, I can see the magsafe lights change colors, so I think it does work
- NVRAM Reset (but I don't know if it works)
- Disconnecting all peripherals/boards and booting from power pads

I even tried without the fan and without heatsink and without SSD.

I have a vague memory that when I replaced the battery on a old MBA I had some issues as well, but I don't remember how I solved them. It involved a combination of battery/power connected/disconnected.

Does this rings a bell to anybody ? Many of the threads I find are for "fans full speed + boot", while in this case it does not boot.

I can make some measurements, but I wouldn't know where to start.

I also read about SMC bypass bootup procedure, where the SMC is not used, but I did not find how to trigger it.

Any help appreciated ! Thank you !

 

[Bigwaff]

Safe to assume you have opened up the laptop and retraced your battery install steps? Perhaps faulty battery?

 

[antoine23]

Safe to assume you have opened up the laptop and retraced your battery install steps? Perhaps faulty battery?

Yes, I did retrace the steps.

Shouldn't the computer start even without a battery ? All the tests I did are without the battery.

Of course, the first test was with the replacement battery, but since I got fans full speed, I removed it and all the rest of the tests are done without.

 

[Bigwaff]

Shouldn't the computer start even without a battery ? All the tests I did are without the battery.

Might depend on the power adapter you are using.. 65W or 85W?

 

[antoine23]

I'm using the original power adapter, would you mind explaining how would the power adapter affect this ?

Is there a procedure involving the power adapter to manually reset/bypass the SMC ?

Do the batter and power adapter need to be connected in a given order when reassembling ? ifixit does not states anything particular, and I just followed their guide.

 

[antoine23]

The SMC reset has to be done with the battery connected ? Does it work as well when the battery is disconnected ?

 

[Audit13]

I've replaced the battery on the 13" and 15" Pro.

After removing the battery, I connect the MacBook to a charger and don't touch any of the keys. The MacBook usually turns on by itself and boots although very slowly. Once it is fully booted, I shut it down, attach the new battery, and then do a reset.

The fact that the fans turn on at high speed leads me to believe there could be a faulty sensor somewhere on the logic board.

I assume the battery was disconnected as soon as the bottom cover was removed before any work was done to start the battery removal process.

At this point, it may be worth it to have a repair person look at the MacBook.

 

[Bigwaff]

I'm using the original power adapter, would you mind explaining how would the power adapter affect this ?

Well, for example, a 45W power adapter might now provide enough juice for a MBP w/out battery to boot.

 

[antoine23]

I've replaced the battery on the 13" and 15" Pro.

After removing the battery, I connect the MacBook to a charger and don't touch any of the keys. The MacBook usually turns on by itself and boots although very slowly. Once it is fully booted, I shut it down, attach the new battery, and then do a reset.

The fact that the fans turn on at high speed leads me to believe there could be a faulty sensor somewhere on the logic board.

I assume the battery was disconnected as soon as the bottom cover was removed before any work was done to start the battery removal process.

At this point, it may be worth it to have a repair person look at the MacBook.

Yes, it turns on by itself, but fans high and no chime.

When you say it boots very slowly, how much time does it take ? Do you get a chime ?

Yes, the battery was already disconnected. Actually I was using it without the battery because it had swollen. I disconnected it until the new battery arrived.

 

[antoine23]

Does anybody know of how to trigger the SMC bypass procedure ? If I understood it correctly, it boots without the SMC

 

[Audit13]

Yes, it turns on by itself, but fans high and no chime.

When you say it boots very slowly, how much time does it take ? Do you get a chime ?

Yes, the battery was already disconnected. Actually I was using it without the battery because it had swollen. I disconnected it until the new battery arrived.

By slowly, I mean it takes longer than usual for the Apple logo to appear and the progress moves slowly. The desktop is also a bit laggy. The fans did not run at high speed.

Yes, I hear the chime when it boots.

I assume you tried using an external monitor as well.

I think there is a problem with the logic board. Has the MacBook ever been exposed to moisture? Any signs of physical defects or corrosion on the logic board?

 

[DeltaMac]

Do you ever get a boot chime when doing an NVRAM reset?:
Press and hold the power button for 5-10 seconds (assuring that power is off).
Then, press and hold Option+Command+P+R.
Next, press and release the power button.
You should get a reset, even without any sound, within 10 to 15 seconds. Continue to hold the same 4 keys.
Give it around 2 minutes. If working normal, you should start hearing a boot chime - might take as long as 20 or 30 seconds for each cycle. You may (depending on the Mac) also see some kind of video response, even if only a very brief flash at each cycle.
If you start hearing a boot chime now, let it chime twice before you release those 4 keys...
Do you get ANY response (audio OR video) during that try at a reset?

 

[antoine23]

By slowly, I mean it takes longer than usual for the Apple logo to appear and the progress moves slowly. The desktop is also a bit laggy. The fans did not run at high speed.

Yes, I hear the chime when it boots.

I assume you tried using an external monitor as well.

I think there is a problem with the logic board. Has the MacBook ever been exposed to moisture? Any signs of physical defects or corrosion on the logic board?

No, I don't get any signal from it.
No chime, no external nor internal display.
The display works because I put it on a second similar computer and it works. Same for the fan, speakers and SSD.

No exposure to moisture nor water nor anything, it has worked fine since I got it in 2015 almost 9 years ago.
No signs of phyiscal nor corrosion on the logic board (I removed it completely and reinstalled, but no change)

 

[antoine23]

Do you ever get a boot chime when doing an NVRAM reset?:
Press and hold the power button for 5-10 seconds (assuring that power is off).
Then, press and hold Option+Command+P+R.
Next, press and release the power button.
You should get a reset, even without any sound, within 10 to 15 seconds. Continue to hold the same 4 keys.
Give it around 2 minutes. If working normal, you should start hearing a boot chime - might take as long as 20 or 30 seconds for each cycle. You may (depending on the Mac) also see some kind of video response, even if only a very brief flash at each cycle.
If you start hearing a boot chime now, let it chime twice before you release those 4 keys...
Do you get ANY response (audio OR video) during that try at a reset?

No, no chime nor any other response (video). I did try SMC reset and NVRAM reset

Do you know of the SMC bypass thing ? Even if it boots slowly, at least I'd know what's wrong or be able to run diagnostics.