Dead MacBook Pro 2019 i9

[bogdanp1602]

Hello,

My MacBook Pro 15 2019 seems to be dead without any reason. It doesn’t respond to anything, no smc reset, no dfu revive, nothing. When I try to charge it, the right side seems hot.

Has anyone else experienced something like this? I asume it has something to do with the power rails.

I rarely use this machine, mostly when I travel(even less with COVID), so no overheating, no damage, no water spills. It is in perfect condition, it just decided to die doing nothing.

I will return it on Monday as it is in warranty, but I am really disappointed 😫 My previous MacBook lasted me for 8 years, and I actually used that one intensely. Kinda lost faith in this new generation of machines..

 

[robotica]

if you don't use it that much the battery might just be completely dead. Try leaving it plugged in and see what happens.

 

[bogdanp1602]

I already did for a few hours.. nothing, just hot on the right side..

 

[velocityg4]

If the battery drained all the way. Say it was left unplugged and sleeping. Then sat that way. The battery could have fallen into a deep discharge state. Even though the laptop hibernates before deep discharge. It still loses charge sitting there. Eventually the battery itself will go to sleep.

Anyways, a deep discharge state is damaging to lithium batteries. If the cells drop below 1.5v for a week. That is enough to completely kill them. I assume the Macbook's batteries have a sleep feature to try and protect them and a boost feature to try and revive them.

How to Awaken Sleeping Li-ion - Battery University

Learn what you can do to prevent a Li-ion battery to fall asleep

batteryuniversity.com

If it can't charge the battery at all. The Macbook won't turn on. I think the battery needs to hit a few percent charge before the computer will turn on. Even when on a power adapter.

 

[bogdanp1602]

last time I used it the battery was fully charged, it was just a week ago..

 

[velocityg4]

last time I used it the battery was fully charged, it was just a week ago..

Sounds a bit short for it to die. If you're unlucky. I guess a few days can do it. That's all I can guess as to what happened.

 

[bogdanp1602]

Yeah, I don't think it's the battery, being really hot in a single point on the right side of the chassis leads me to believe there's something wrong with the mainboard.. I don't ever remember being that hot on that side while charging. And usually after some time the power brick should have been hotter, but now it is barely warm.

Looking at the schematics online looks like that area is responsible for power delivery & management.

MacBook Pro 15" Touch Bar 2019 Teardown

Apple’s newest MacBook Pro is its fastest yet, featuring an optional eight-core processor—a first in a MacBook—and a mysterious new keyboard...

www.ifixit.com

Texas Instruments CD3215C00Z (likely power controllers)
338S00267-A0 (likely Apple PMIC)

Meantime I found some similar stories https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/582908/My+2018+MacBook+Pro+15"+is+dead

 

[960design]

Still under warranty?
If not, plug it in and leave it alone.
Give it 48 hours. It is possible something just got wonky in an OS update or app update and it needs time to slowly churn through it.

 

[bogdanp1602]

I just sent it, yup still under warranty. I just hope it doesn’t break again after it expires. Though I do have insurance on all our machines in my company, it’s still a hassle to get a fix/replacement in my area for Apple devices.