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2012 MBP - Service Battery Alert

262Runnr

262Runnr

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 21, 2008
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I have a maxed out 2012 MBP and it's running fine when plugged in however that battery drains extremely fast when I disconnect that charger and it's not really usable as a portable machine.
I am getting the "service battery" alert indicator and assumed that I needed a new battery which I just installed. I reset the power settings and that didn't solve anything. Then I followed instructions for fully draining the battery and then charging back to reset everything and that didn't work either.
Any other ideas of what it can be?

It's a great little i7 machine with 16GB RAM and is pretty peppy but unfortunately has only a 1280X800 display.
 
Seems like the new battery is bad. You may need to get it replaced by whoever sold it to you. When I was changing battery in similarly old MBP few years ago, I just plugged in new battery and that was it. But that was, at that time, Apple original replacement battery. No reseting/charging/discharging was needed for battery to work correctly.
 
I just took a screenshot of the error message and sent a notification to the seller....will see what he says.
Thanks....
 
elite953 said:
can you please tell battery cycles count ?
Click to expand...
...battery was new with 1 count. I returned it and requested another battery.....we'll see if that was the problem when I get another replacement. The chances of getting 2 bad batteries is pretty low......
I'll post when I received it and install it.
 
i have 2012 15in retina MBP. I bought it new and it is 8 plus years old. It is by far the best Mac I have ever had. The battery lasts about 1 hr and half and drops very quickly. It is at 835 cycles. Current Max is 6682 Orig max 8460
It old it needs replaced. Probably will get the MBP 16 as soon as get off my butt
 
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Buying 3rd-party MacBook batteries is nothing more than "a crapshoot".

And... almost always... going for "the cheapest" is gonna get you exactly what you paid for.

Sometimes I think one's best bet is to find a lightly-used Apple-original battery from a parted-out MBP...
 
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Fishrrman said:
Buying 3rd-party MacBook batteries is nothing more than "a crapshoot".

And... almost always... going for "the cheapest" is gonna get you exactly what you paid for.

Sometimes I think one's best bet is to find a lightly-used Apple-original battery from a parted-out MBP...
Click to expand...


can you tell how much it would cost me to get the battery changed of my MBP 2015 13" from Apple service centre ?
 
azentropy said:
$200 in the US

Mac Repair and Service - Apple Support

Need to repair your Mac? See your service options, their costs by coverage type, and how long they take.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
Click to expand...
I was told at the Apple store in Pittsburgh that they will not service a 2012 laptop. You can not get the battery replaced there. It looks like the 3rd party battery replacements are a crapshoot. Some say the new battery they got did not last any longer the old one they had.
 
The 2012 MBP's are now "vintage" and Apple Stores probably won't work on them much anymore.

However, a 2015 MBP may still qualify for a "battery change" by Apple.
For $200, it's one of the best deals around -- parts, labor, and a short warranty.
 
262Runnr said:
I have a maxed out 2012 MBP and it's running fine when plugged in however that battery drains extremely fast when I disconnect that charger and it's not really usable as a portable machine.
I am getting the "service battery" alert indicator and assumed that I needed a new battery which I just installed. I reset the power settings and that didn't solve anything. Then I followed instructions for fully draining the battery and then charging back to reset everything and that didn't work either.
Any other ideas of what it can be?

It's a great little i7 machine with 16GB RAM and is pretty peppy but unfortunately has only a 1280X800 display.
Click to expand...
On my 2011 I had the service battery thing for about a year and I just kept using it plugged in. Then I decided to gift it to a relative and I can’t remember what I did exactly but after swapping out the SSD for another the service battery notice went away. I don’t think I did a restore because it wouldn’t let me stay on high Sierra and I didn’t want to deal with updating from Mavericks or whatever it was again. But something I did reset that notification and now it’s gone.

I then downloaded coconut battery and it said my battery was still in good health or at least not damaged. Service battery notification hasn’t come back yet. Glad I didn’t buy a new one seems fine for now.
 
calliex said:
I was told at the Apple store in Pittsburgh that they will not service a 2012 laptop. You can not get the battery replaced there. It looks like the 3rd party battery replacements are a crapshoot. Some say the new battery they got did not last any longer the old one they had.
Click to expand...

Thats too much. Is it worth replacing ? will it work the same like original one ?
 
calliex said:
i have 2012 15in retina MBP. I bought it new and it is 8 plus years old. It is by far the best Mac I have ever had. The battery lasts about 1 hr and half and drops very quickly. It is at 835 cycles. Current Max is 6682 Orig max 8460
It old it needs replaced. Probably will get the MBP 16 as soon as get off my butt
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat, except most of my peripherals use USB-A and I don't think the manufacturers will make USB-C versions (Logitech G600, Logitech G13).

My 2012 MBP has all but become a desktop replacement for me. I tried getting a replacement battery, and servicing it myself, but it didn't even fit.

At this point, I don't know if it's even worth buying a new Macbook since I hardly use it without it being plugged in.
 
Adamantoise said:
I'm in the same boat, except most of my peripherals use USB-A and I don't think the manufacturers will make USB-C versions (Logitech G600, Logitech G13).

My 2012 MBP has all but become a desktop replacement for me. I tried getting a replacement battery, and servicing it myself, but it didn't even fit.

At this point, I don't know if it's even worth buying a new Macbook since I hardly use it without it being plugged in.
Click to expand...
I was going to get the battery replaced because I like that it has all the ports that I need. I have been looking at USSC adapters for a new one and the reviews of them is all over the place.
The battery replacement threads look like a crap shoot
 
:update on my service battery alert issue:

I returned the first replacement battery to the seller and ordered another battery on eBay but again didn't solve the problem....:(

So I backed everything up on Time Machine, wiped the computer clean and installed a fresh new copy of Catalina as a new installation (not a restored Time Machine backup).

I had planned on giving the machine to a family member to use.
To my astonishment the battery alert notification went completely away and it's holding a charge much better than it ever did. Not sure why but problem solved....:)

Go figure.....!
 
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