Perfect MBP--except it won't turn on at first.

[AaronHeth]

A few days ago, I recieved a brand new C2D MBP. Opened the box, everything was perfect. Went to plug it in to charge the battery, turned it on, wonderful. Very cool running machine, surprising to me. Good LCD. Everything was good.

The next day, I went to turn it on. The AC was not plugged into the laptop. It wouldn't start. The battery had 3 lights, and it would light up, but the laptop wouldn't power until I plugged it in. Now, I could plug it in, THEN unplug it, then turn it on. I just couldn't turn it on until it had had some surge it seems.

The next day, it had a full charge, I tried again, no luck.

Now, if I turn it off during the day for a few hours, it turns back on just fine. It only happens after overnight. It was somewhat cold in the morning too, but it's in a house, and not a freezing house, so I really doubt that should be affecting it.

This morning though, it wouldn't even turn on if I plugged it in and then unplugged it, I had to keep it plugged in initially to turn it on.

I've tried resetting the PRAM. I've tried the SMC (although I don't know if it worked as there is no confirmation).

I'm heading back to Ohio in a few days and think I'll just have to go up to an Apple store for a replacement. That's a dissapointment. Anything I can do?

 

[mad jew]

Sounds like a dodgy battery in which case you've pretty much done all you can. Tell Apple what you've tried and you might save some time going through it all again. Good luck.

 

[MaaseyRacer]

Search apples knowledge base for, "Power Management Reset".

Also try booting with it pluged in no battery, and hold down the control and command keys when you press the power button.

 

[mad jew]

The SMC reset is instead of the power management reset on Intel laptops (and some other Macs).

 

[AaronHeth]

Merry Christmas everyone.

Thanks mad, as said the SMC is the power management. I've done all I can I'm pretty sure less go to a store.

So, I've had this for a little over a week, although the delivery date is probably a little over 14 days now. There's an Apple store about an hour away and an authorized reseller about 20 minutes away.

Do authorized resellers (this appears to be sort of a repair shop) have things in stock, and if so, are they authorized to exchange a new faulty machine with a brand new one? Or can they only repair. I'm leaving the state to head back to college the day after tomorrow, so I'll need a replacement. Just curious if I'm going to have to travel up to an Apple store.


Tomorrow is going to be a long day.

UPDATE:

Well, I called AppleCare today. It went well, they believe it's the battery too. Went to an Apple store and the genius agreed--but they had no batteries in. Pretty odd. I leave for another state tomorrow so I'll have to try there. I hope this gets solved soon, and I hope it actually just is the battery even!

Just in case anyone else ever had this problem, I thought I'd finish the post to resolution. The AppleCare folks had never heard of this, nor did the product specialist. The guy at the Apple store hadn't either, but he talked to someone there who had seen it once.

 

[JAT]

So, all these Apple guys had never even HEARD of a bad battery before? Yeah, right.

 

[iW00t]

So, all these Apple guys had never even HEARD of a bad battery before? Yeah, right.

• Removes battery from MBP
• Machine still stays on

Yeah, I think we can rule out dead battery as a cause.