"Battery freeze" - Has anybody encountered this?

[Micky Do]

A couple of days ago I closed MacBook Air (2017 update, bought in 2018), leaving it in sleep mode. Upon opening it was dead, and could not be booted..... a bit of a hassle amid NZ's pandemic panic lockdown.

A gas station down the road in the small town I am stranded in has remained quite affable, in contrast to the bolshy attitude encountered at the local supermarket, and card only at other gas stations. The cashier contacted the technician, a mate of his I guess. I left the laptop at the gas station, where the tech later picked it up. Yesterday morning he called to say my laptop was fixed, and I could pick it up from his home.... less than 24 hour service! He was almost apologetic at billing me $NZ 110.00 for the job.....

Not a problem as far as I'm concerned. I don't have a smartphone, and credit on my old school flip-phone was due to expire in a couple of days. I am reliant on internet banking until the lockdown ends!

The tech said the problem was what he called "battery freeze", which he has occasionally encountered on laptops of all brands. He said that he was not sure why it occurs, though explained that it had something to do with the battery having some "intelligence" gone haywire. However he did know the cure, which was really all that mattered from my point of view.

He said that he disconnects the battery (a bit of a mission on a MacBook compared to other brands), then runs the computer without the battery (I guess directly off the charger). After that he connects the battery again, and it is good to go.

Has anybody else encountered this problem? Does anybody know why it occurs? And most importantly, is there any way of minimising the chance of it occurring?

Something I have noticed is that battery life had seemed to be down on usual expectations of late. Today drawdown seems to be back to normal.

 

[Audit13]

I'm not sure why it happens but it does.

If you have the correct screwdriver to remove the bottom casing, it easy to disconnect the battery.

Here's what I did when I encountered this problem:

1. remove the bottom casing;
2. disconnect the battery from the logic board;
3. install the bottom casing without inserting the screws;
4. open the lid;
5. connect the charger and don't touch any keys on the MacBook as it should boot by itself within 60 seconds;
6. after it has fully booted, shut it down;
7. re-connect the battery;
8. install the bottom casing without the screws;
9. attach the charger and do an SMC reset (press shift+control+option+power button);
10. press and hold down power until MacBook starts to boot;
11. shut down, install bottom screws.

 

[steve1960]

Happened to my daughter on her 2012 Mac Pro a couple of weeks ago. Working on battery, charge was almost zero, plugged a USB lamp in, laptop shut off and would not charge or boot up from the power supply. Orange blinking light on the Magsafe connector.

I gave her a slight variation on Audit13's instructions and it worked. It is not difficult to do, my daughter is not tech savvy at all. She did search for a video on You Tube so that she could visually see someone carrying out the procedure.

I have never seen this issue before myself but for prevention maybe don't run the battery too low before charging?

 

[Micky Do]

I'm not sure why it happens but it does.

If you have the correct screwdriver to remove the bottom casing, it easy to disconnect the battery.

Here's what I did when I encountered this problem:

1. remove the bottom casing;
2. disconnect the battery from the logic board;
3. install the bottom casing without inserting the screws;
4. open the lid;
5. connect the charger and don't touch any keys on the MacBook as it should boot by itself within 60 seconds;
6. after it has fully booted, shut it down;
7. re-connect the battery;
8. install the bottom casing without the screws;
9. attach the charger and do an SMC reset (press shift+control+option+power button);
10. press and hold down power until MacBook starts to boot;
11. shut down, install bottom screws.

Thanks for the clear instructions...... I'll have to get hold of the correct screwdriver..... and then it will probably / hopefully never happen again!

Happened to my daughter on her 2012 Mac Pro a couple of weeks ago. Working on battery, charge was almost zero, plugged a USB lamp in, laptop shut off and would not charge or boot up from the power supply. Orange blinking light on the Magsafe connector.

I gave her a slight variation on Audit13's instructions and it worked. It is not difficult to do, my daughter is not tech savvy at all. She did search for a video on You Tube so that she could visually see someone carrying out the procedure.

I have never seen this issue before myself but for prevention maybe don't run the battery too low before charging?

The tech did suggest shutting the Air down from time to time. I used to do that when my Mac Mini desktop was my mainstay. I ran the 2009 Mini mostly 24/7 for years, with nary a problem other than slowing down after 3 or 4 years. Blow out the dust, and it was back up to speed again.

At present, in an itinerant phase of life, I have not been shutting the Air down. Just going into sleep mode when closing it when not in use. I have never let the battery get low. For the past few locked down weeks I have mainly used it plugged in to the charger, so usually fully charged.

I look forward to settling down somewhere again sooner rather than later, and setting up the Mini again. I really do prefer using a desktop with a decent sized monitor, rather than a poky little laptop.