A1181 Won't Charge

[dbdjre0143]

Obviously, this isn't a PowerPC, but it seems like the folks in this section of the forum are also quite knowledgeable on early Intel stuff, so figured I'd ask here. I have an Early 2008 white Macbook which will not charge. The battery status is always "Not Charging" both with the original (OEM) battery and a new (Chinese) battery I bought from Amazon. I have attached CoconutBattery screenshots for each. Interestingly, both report their "Serial" and "Battery Failure" status as unknown. Might that be a clue? Thanks for the assistance!

EDIT: I forgot to mention I did already try an SMC reset. I also just reinstalled the previously missing AHT through a link found on the garden. The basic test didn't find any issues, so I'm running the extended test now.

New Battery:

Original Battery:

 

[eyoungren]

We support early Intels here.

My first guess would be the DC Inverter board. However, I am not very familiar with the inside of Intel Macs, so I just assume they still use those.

Might look it up and go from there.

 

[dbdjre0143]

Just wanted to confirm that the extended hardware test resulted in "No trouble found" as well.

@eyoungren - Thanks for the advice, I'll do a bit of digging from that. I also had read that the battery connector can be flakey on these, but I don't really know how to know what the root problem is. I hate throwing parts at a problem but sometimes its our only option.

 

[elf69]

I had replace the charger socket on a a1342, like the a1181 it is a plug in board and replaceable.

I was able kinda make it work by cleaning the contacts on the DC port.

 

[dbdjre0143]

@elf69 - Cleaning the contacts with alcohol was the first thing I tried.

I just read through the guides and replacing both the battery cable and the magsafe board appear to be pretty straightforward, so if they aren't too expensive I'll order them and give it a shot.

This machine is the last one I have left in a lot of 5 that I bought from ShopGoodwill to repair and sell. I'm already in the profit so don't want to spend tooo much on it, but I'd always rather sell a perfect working unit than one with issues. It's not a matter of the better value, I just like selling quality products.
[doublepost=1528383224][/doublepost]Just ordered both parts from eBay for a combined $11. I'm also gonna return the battery to Amazon just in case, since I have a feeling the original will charge up if everything is working properly since it is showing over 90% capacity in CoconutBattery.

 

[elf69]

hope you sort it.

shame ur in states as I got a scrap machine would have sent u the port.

 

[dbdjre0143]

hope you sort it.

shame ur in states as I got a scrap machine would have sent u the port.

Appreciate it anyways!

 

[MagicBoy]

Original magsafe charger, or chinese knock off?

 

[dbdjre0143]

Original magsafe charger, or chinese knock off?

Chinese knock-off but I confirmed it works correctly by using it on my wife's Late 2010 Macbook Pro. I also tried her charger (also Chinese, but different brand) with the A1181 to the same result.

 

[MrPilot]

Use paper tissue; remove battery then fold and wrap around the battery to make it fit more tightly inside the bay… that helped me.

 

[dbdjre0143]

Well, bad luck. I received the new MagSafe port and the new battery connector and installed both yesterday. The old original battery still shows the same info, and doesn't charge.
The battery status in the OS does show it as "Replace Now", and I can't remember if it said that before or not. I had already sent the new Chinese battery back to Amazon so as to avoid the scenario where the return window closes, so I went ahead and ordered another battery from a different seller.
Any other ideas for things I can check while I wait for that to arrive?
[doublepost=1529936478][/doublepost]

Use paper tissue; remove battery then fold and wrap around the battery to make it fit more tightly inside the bay… that helped me.

Appreciate the input. Mine have been fitting so tightly (at the corners of the latch end especially) that its already a little bit difficult to get them in place, so I don't think that's the problem for me.

 

[dbdjre0143]

Just wanted to update this thread to let everyone know the resolution, and in case someone runs into this in the future.
When the new Magsafe board and battery connector came in, I installed them, only to get the same behavior out of the old OEM battery. I had already returned the new aftermarket battery to Amazon so couldn't test that one.
So, I ended up ordering another (even cheaper ) aftermarket battery from Amazon, and it worked with no issue.
The only way to tell if I actually needed either of the internal components would be to open it back up and stick the old ones back in with the known-working battery, and that ain't happening. They'll have to chill in my parts drawer until I have another flaky A1181 lying around to mess with.