Battery Service Recommended?

[thecarrot]

Hey guys!

I just received my M1 base MBA in the mail and right out of the box my battery is showing as "Service Recommended". Obviously this makes no sense since it's a brand new machine. Does this mean I received a lemon or might I be missing something? Anyone else seeing this?

Thank you!

 

[Henk van Ess]

It’s almost the same battery as in the now older ones. Hence , check https://www.maketecheasier.com/fix-service-battery-warning-mac/

 

[revs]

I'd say give it a day or so, use it, and see if the issue persists. If it does, contact Apple - no point risking being stuck with a bad battery/lemon.

 

[jephdub]

Did you get this issue resolved? I'm getting the same issue on my new M1 Air. Showing 100% capacity with 5 cycle counts so everything looks new, but seeing service recommended. Is this a software issue?

 

[mattkuehn]

Did you get this issue resolved? I'm getting the same issue on my new M1 Air. Showing 100% capacity with 5 cycle counts so everything looks new, but seeing service recommended. Is this a software issue?

View attachment 1702632

I had/have the same exact issue on a new M1 Air, 8 or 9 cycles on the battery.

I took it in to Apple and they wanted to 'capture' my device and send it back to their engineering team. They're replacing a CTO 8/8/16G/512G with an 8/8/16G/1T build as they didn't have any stock of the 16G/512G.

I used an Anker USB-C -> USB-A/Ethernet/USB-PD hub once or twice. I saw a mention on one of the other M1 bricked threads that a guy used the same adapter and shortly after received the 'service battery' error. I can't say whether or not this happened before or after using the adapter and I'm not sure I ever applied USB-PD power through the dongle. I do know I only ever saw the service battery warning after updating to 11.1.

I assumed it was software but perhaps not?

FWIW: Apple support wanted me to do a clean install prior to bringing the device in. I did partition off and install a second 11.1 OS - same service battery error on the clean install.

 

[jephdub]

This is so odd. I haven’t used a hub with it yet so don’t think it’s that. Honestly everything seems normal outside of the warning. Thinking of just holding off and getting battery swapped prior to warranty expiring.

 

[mattkuehn]

This is so odd. I haven’t used a hub with it yet so don’t think it’s that. Honestly everything seems normal outside of the warning. Thinking of just holding off and getting battery swapped prior to warranty expiring.

Agreed. My battery life was quite frankly fantastic, with and without the warning present. I noticed absolutely no negative impact after the warning started showing.

I probably would have sat on the issue as well but I didn't buy Apple Care so I figured I'd get it fixed before my return window expired. Seriously contemplating buying AC on the replacement now though.

 

[jephdub]

wondering if it’s due to having my phone connected without it connected to plug and drawing power on a new battery. in your instance due to the hub drawing power?

 

[Argon_]

Agreed. My battery life was quite frankly fantastic, with and without the warning present. I noticed absolutely no negative impact after the warning started showing.

I probably would have sat on the issue as well but I didn't buy Apple Care so I figured I'd get it fixed before my return window expired. Seriously contemplating buying AC on the replacement now though.

Did you open the bottom case and see if the battery inflated?

 

[mattkuehn]

Did you open the bottom case and see if the battery inflated?

I did not. I contemplated opening it up and letting it sit with the battery disconnected but never did. I didn't see or feel any difference on the bottom of the case but I'm not sure if you would.

Apparently the SMC reset procedure for the M1 is to shut it down, let it sit for 30 seconds, and boot it back up. I tried this and I also tried running the battery down to 0, letting it sit for 5 hours and charging it back up. Neither of these had any impact on the warning.

 

[jephdub]

I did not. I contemplated opening it up and letting it sit with the battery disconnected but never did. I didn't see or feel any difference on the bottom of the case but I'm not sure if you would.

Apparently the SMC reset procedure for the M1 is to shut it down, let it sit for 30 seconds, and boot it back up. I tried this and I also tried running the battery down to 0, letting it sit for 5 hours and charging it back up. Neither of these had any impact on the warning.

Did Genius offer to replace battery or thoughts on the cause? Software or hardware issue?

I ran diagnostics and there were no issues found so thinking it might be a software bug

 

[Zazoh]

If the battery is acting normally, I'd submit as a bug to Apple and like you say, monitor it for warranty. I normally don't pay attention to battery info, but there have been many reports of weird things being reported in various monitoring pulls.

ioreg -w 0 -f -r -c AppleSmartBattery

For instance, mine is reporting amps like this
"InstantAmperage" = 18446744073709551458

 

[mattkuehn]

Did Genius offer to replace battery or thoughts on the cause? Software or hardware issue?

I ran diagnostics and there were no issues found so thinking it might be a software bug

They never offered to replace the battery, it seemed like they wanted to whole machine - which I found a little strange.

 

[jephdub]

They never offered to replace the battery, it seemed like they wanted to whole machine - which I found a little strange.

Well at least you got a free upgrade out of it. Thanks for the info.

 

[mattkuehn]

If the battery is acting normally, I'd submit as a bug to Apple and like you say, monitor it for warranty. I normally don't pay attention to battery info, but there have been many reports of weird things being reported in various monitoring pulls.

ioreg -w 0 -f -r -c AppleSmartBattery

For instance, mine is reporting amps like this
"InstantAmperage" = 18446744073709551458

Output of my machine just prior to dropping it at Apple:

+-o AppleSmartBattery <class AppleSmartBattery, id 0x100000624, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (47 ms), retain 7>
{
"PostChargeWaitSeconds" = 120
"built-in" = Yes
"AppleRawAdapterDetails" = ()
"CurrentCapacity" = 25
"PackReserve" = 130
"DeviceName" = "bq20z451"
"PostDischargeWaitSeconds" = 120
"OCVData" = {}
"LPEMData" = {}
"CarrierMode" = {"CarrierModeLowVoltage"=3600,"CarrierModeHighVoltage"=4100,"CarrierModeStatus"=0}
"TimeRemaining" = 176
"ChargerConfiguration" = 0
"IOGeneralInterest" = "IOCommand is not serializable"
"IOReportLegend" = ({"IOReportChannels"=((7167869599145487988,6460407809,"BatteryCycleCount")),"IOReportGroupName"="Battery","IOReportChannelInfo"={"IOReportChannelUnit"=0}})
"AtCriticalLevel" = No
"BatteryCellDisconnectCount" = 0
"UpdateTime" = 1608922217
"Amperage" = 18446744073709551257
"AppleRawCurrentCapacity" = 1049
"AbsoluteCapacity" = 0
"AvgTimeToFull" = 65535
"ExternalConnected" = No
"ExternalChargeCapable" = No
"AppleRawBatteryVoltage" = 11220
"BootVoltage" = 0
"BatteryData" = {"Ra03"=0,"Ra10"=0,"CellWom"=(0,0),"RaTableRaw"=(<0055005c004d004f005f00730054006400660065006b0070008400d601af02ab>,<00000061005100550067007b006100730071006c006f0077008900d601c202c4>,<0055006c005c0063007b008e006c007e007f0078007a007d009400df01bc02c3>),"Qstart"=0,"AdapterPower"=956350296,"DailyMinSoc"=25,"Ra04"=0,"Ra11"=0,"CellVoltage"=(3741,3742,3738),"PackCurrentAccumulator"=18446744073701878976,"PassedCharge"=370,"Flags"=16777217,"PresentDOD"=(72,72,72),"Ra05"=0,"Ra12"=0,"FccComp1"=4317,"ChemID"=10037,"iMaxAndSocSmoothTable"=<0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000>,"FccComp2"=4317,"PackCurrentAccumulatorCount"=312852,"DOD0"=(10624,10624,10624),"Ra06"=0,"ResScale"=0,"Ra13"=0,"WeightedRa"=0,"FilteredCurrent"=0,"RSS"=0,"CellCurrentAccumulatorCount"=0,"DailyMaxSoc"=90,"Ra07"=0,"Ra14"=0,"MaxCapacity"=100,"ChemicalWeightedRa"=0,"Ra00"=0,"BatteryHealthMetric"=0,"DesignCapacity"=4382,"Ra08"=0,"BatteryState"=<000000000000000043e40002c2000000>,"CellCurrentAccumulator"=(0,0),"AlgoChemID"=10037,"MfgData"=<00000000100200012735000003313731033030320341544c001b000000000000>,"ManufactureDate"=60680123267122,"ISS"=18446744073709551267,"Ra01"=0,"Soc1Voltage"=0,"QmaxDisqualificationReason"=0,"ChargeAccum"=0,"SimRate"=0,"Qmax"=(4593,4604,4622),"PMUConfigured"=0,"ITMiscStatus"=0,"StateOfCharge"=25,"Ra09"=0,"GaugeFlagRaw"=192,"CycleCount"=9,"Voltage"=11222,"SystemPower"=1081779212,"LifetimeData"={"Raw"=<00000000000502480000003600000000003ecc780000e447b24000000000000001d5001410fd0d3e32ef280608d0f5320a6ff407fc94fc0000d2000047730002>,"UpdateTime"=1608922217,"ResistanceUpdatedDisabledCount"=0,"TimeAtHighSoc"=<000000005b0000000000000000000000>,"TemperatureSamples"=18291,"TotalOperatingTime"=1143,"MaximumDischargeCurrent"=18446744073709548850,"MinimumPackVoltage"=10246,"MaximumPackVoltage"=13039,"MaximumChargeCurrent"=2256,"AverageTemperature"=18446744073709551570,"MinimumTemperature"=20,"RDISCnt"=0,"MaximumTemperature"=469},"Ra02"=0}
"BatteryInstalled" = Yes
"IOReportLegendPublic" = Yes
"AppleRawExternalConnected" = No
"KioskMode" = {"KioskModeLastHighSocHours"=0,"KioskModeFullChargeVoltage"=0,"KioskModeMode"=0,"KioskModeHighSocSeconds"=0,"KioskModeHighSocDays"=0}
"NominalChargeCapacity" = 4382
"FullyCharged" = No
"FullPathUpdated" = 1608922097
"ManufacturerData" =
00000000: 00 00 00 00 10 02 00 01 27 35 00 00 03 31 37 31 03 30 30 32 03 41 54 4C 00 1B 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........'5...171.002.ATL........
"ChargingOverride" = 0
"BatteryInvalidWakeSeconds" = 30
"ChargerData" = {"ChargingCurrent"=0,"NotChargingReason"=128,"ChargerStatus"=45194,"ChargingVoltage"=4299,"VacVoltageLimit"=4350,"ChargerID"=18446744073709551615}
"BootPathUpdated" = 1608609520
"DesignCycleCount9C" = 1000
"AdapterDetails" = {"FamilyCode"=0}
"MaxCapacity" = 100
"InstantAmperage" = 18446744073709551257
"GasGaugeFirmwareVersion" = 1
"AdapterInfo" = 0
"Location" = 0
"Temperature" = 3014
"AvgTimeToEmpty" = 176
"BestAdapterIndex" = 254
"DesignCapacity" = 4382
"IsCharging" = No
"PermanentFailureStatus" = 0
"Voltage" = 11220
"UserVisiblePathUpdated" = 1608922217
"CycleCount" = 9
"AppleRawMaxCapacity" = 4317
"VirtualTemperature" = 2819
}

 

[Argon_]

They never offered to replace the battery, it seemed like they wanted to whole machine - which I found a little strange.

Fascinating. Maybe it was a controller they were interested in, not the battery itself.

 

[sbuntin]

They never offered to replace the battery, it seemed like they wanted to whole machine - which I found a little strange.

Quite common with unexpected hardware issues on new models during the first few weeks. Odd that they captured a CTO, though. Usually they want only the stock configurations.

 

[cmaier]

Quite common with unexpected hardware issues on new models during the first few weeks. Odd that they captured a CTO, though. Usually they want only the stock configurations.

Years ago they captured a 17” MBP CTO of mine. I guess the engineers just want what they want.

 

[Macalway]

error

 

[neilmacd]

Oh dear, I’m seeing the same message. Only spotted it accidentally, battery performance is great.

Any updates on this?

 

[Apple_Robert]

Oh dear, I’m seeing the same message. Only spotted it accidentally, battery performance is great.

Any updates on this?

Run the Apple Diagnostics test and see what the results are.

Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support

Apple Diagnostics, formerly known as Apple Hardware Test, can check your Mac for hardware issues.

support.apple.com

 

[neilmacd]

No problems detected. But Battery, System Report and Coconut battery all have suggest otherwise!

 

[Apple_Robert]

No problems detected. But Battery, System Report and Coconut battery all have suggest otherwise!

Sounds like a bug of some kind. I would be more concerned if the Apple test showed otherwise.

 

[neilmacd]

Sounds like a bug of some kind. I would be more concerned if the Apple test showed otherwise.

I’m hoping you’re right. With stores shut in the UK I can’t even take it in to get looked at.

I’ll just have to keep an eye on it!

 

[s66]

If you have this: contact Apple as directly as you can. That's by far the best way to get a record that you have a problem within the warranty period/when the machine was still rather new.

Apple might give you a replacement/repair or
It might be something addressed in a future recall/repair program or
It might be fixed in a future software update.


Years ago batteries had huge problems with getting too cold. But I've never seen any of the mass failures on MBPs of any generation when it starts to freeze outside and work laptops are left to linger overnight in a car.