2009 MBP only charging with one specific charger

[Kovacs]

I am having a strange problem with my daughter's Mid 2009 MBP 13".

It will only charge with the charger that she regularly uses. We have tons of other chargers in the house, but not a single one of them works with that particular Mac. They all work with my 2011 MBP 13" and even with our white MB 2007.

Another problem has been that the Mac would randomly lose power and shut down when she unplugged the charger from the MBP.

I thought it could be the battery, so I bought a new one from iFixit and replaced it without a hitch.

That seems to have solved the insta-shutdown problem.

But the MBP still refuses to charge with any other charger.

What can I do?

 

[triplelucky]

Is the charger that works on the 09 now a genuine Apple charger with logo or a no name replacement?

 

[Kovacs]

All of the chargers are original Apple chargers.

----------

Sadly, a bit more testing revealed that the insta-shutdown problem is still there.

Hm....

 

[triplelucky]

Ok. Well SMC reads the charger information and if it recognizes the charger and its the correct wattage it turns on the charger. So unless there is some kind of contact problem (like an “L” end that won’t fit right) then I don’t know.

There were some issues with the 09 not recognizing later “L” tip chargers that was fixed by auto firmware update,

Possibly a normal SMC reset would help.

The no name chargers bypass all the checking and just charge anyway.

 

[Kovacs]

Thanks. I tried resetting the SMC.

I think I did it wrong a few times before I hit the right keys (it's too late over here in Scandinavia) but after a few tries the battery led turned green and then amber. I tried to disconnect the charger and the Mac insta-shutdown, but perhaps the new battery is virtually empty?

The Mac claims it needs to charge for 20 hours, so I'll let it get a lot of juice before I try to test some more. But at least it's charging from a different charger!

Thanks for your advice, triplelucky.

 

[Kovacs]

Sadly, it seems I have only made it worse.

While it did recharge completely using another charger, it now refuses to notice them at all and also insta-shutsdown more often.



I have tried to clean the connectors with alcohol to no avail.

 

[Kovacs]

The no name chargers bypass all the checking and just charge anyway.

I stand corrected. The working charger is a third-party one. Wow they are so similar I had to really study it to figure that out.

So I guess there is something wrong with the DC-in board or maybe even the logic board?

Could replacing the DC-in board possibly solve this?

 

[triplelucky]

Ok good now you know for sure.

I have never seen a bad DC in board.

I am not fond of using the no name chargers. There are reasons Apple does all that charger recognize and delay stuff.

One reason is that hi current power is not immediately available( takes a second or so) at the connector on an Apple charger.

That gives you time to get the connector “seated” before it powers up.

On the no names power is immediate and you need to be very carful not to short the end when connecting due to “clumsy” positioning.

I think I would try again to get SMC resets to see one of your genuine Apple chargers.

If that doesn’t work then you can decide to continue to use the no name or put the money into trying to repair the charger recognize circuit.

 

[Idefix]

There's an Apple Store in Oslo, Norway.

I'd make an appointment and see what they say? If you do, please report back.