2010 MBP - Plugged in, sometimes charges, sometimes doesn't, and sometimes shuts down

[douglaswyatt]

I've got a 2010 Macbook Pro and have recently experienced some funny behavior. Generally, when plugged in, the battery will charge as normal. But sometimes it won't. When I'm sitting in front of it and notice it, I can usually jiggle the magsafe connector or unplug-replug it and it'll start charging again. But sometimes, when I'm not there, it'll stop charging, drain the battery and shut down.

But, interestingly, it won't go to sleep like it normally does when it gets low on battery and is not plugged in. In these cases, it does a hard shutdown where when I restart it, I have to log back in and everything starts up anew - and the battery is at 0%. It's almost like it knows that it is plugged in, so doesn't bother doing the "Your battery is low, plug in now" warning followed by the go-to-sleep routine to save the running application state. Instead, it just merrily keeps running until the battery hits 0% and then dies a hard death.

Anyone know what could be causing this? My battery is old, but seems to be fine according to System Information:


Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh): 306
Fully Charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 5904
Health Information:
Cycle Count: 899
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 4225
Voltage (mV): 11796

 

[GGJstudios]

Sounds like you may have a bad connection with your power adapter. Check out the link for Troubleshooting MagSafe adapters at the bottom of the CHARGING section of the Battery FAQ. Also, for battery, power, or charging issues, you might try resetting the SMC.

The link below should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions. If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend you take the time to read it.

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​