Help! My MacBook Pro Won’t Stay On

[Kathsr]

I recently upgraded my 2011 MacBook Pro with a new SSD and RAM. It’s been working better than new for two weeks. I also had to disable the GPU so it would use the main one and that has worked fine too. It boots up ok but then the screen goes black and it shuts down. I’ve been using a new cheap charger lately and although the computer has been plugged in and charging since yesterday the light was orange this morning. it was really warm too. On the menu bar it says the battery is at 100%. What’s going on?

 

[usagora]

I also had to disable the GPU so it would use the main one

I'm not sure what you mean by any of this. How did you "disable the GPU"? What is "it"? What is "the main one"?

Maybe reverse whatever you did here and see if that resolves it? If not, then I'd suspect the new RAM may be an issue - try reinstalling the old ram and see if that was the problem.

 

[zakarhino]

My instinct tells me the battery is damaged. I've had issues with MacBooks that turn off after a while (or instantly after booting) because the battery can't supply enough voltage to keep everything powered on. Keep in mind the laptop is always trying to run off of battery power even with the charger plugged in.

 

[Kathsr]

I'm not sure what you mean by any of this. How did you "disable the GPU"? What is "it"? What is "the main one"?

Maybe reverse whatever you did here and see if that resolves it? If not, then I'd suspect the new RAM may be an issue - try reinstalling the old ram and see if that was the problem.

Well you’re right, I was panic typing and didn’t make myself very clear. Thank you so much for responding.

 

[Kathsr]

My instinct tells me the battery is damaged. I've had issues with MacBooks that turn off after a while (or instantly after booting) because the battery can't supply enough voltage to keep everything powered on. Keep in mind the laptop is always trying to run off of battery power even with the charger plugged in.

I think you’re right. This computer has always had a hard time staying active when the battery gets below about 70%. I had been using a cheap charger on it and I think that’s what malfunctioned. Although it lit up when plugged in it made the computer hot and didn’t charge it. I replaced it with my old Apple charger (which is in pretty rough shape but still usable) and it’s fine now. Learned my lesson on cheap chargers. After 10 years I may still need a new battery. Checking the number of cycles on the battery it only has 202 on it out of a possible 1,000. Could there be another reason to have to replace it?

 

[usagora]

Well you’re right, I was panic typing and didn’t make myself very clear. Thank you so much for responding.

Well . . . so what did you mean? You've left me in suspense! It might help resolve your issue to clarify exactly what you changed on the computer.

 

[Fishrrman]

At 10 years old, it's really time to start thinking about a replacement.
(You can take the SSD back out, put it into an external enclosure, and re-purpose it)

 

[Kathsr]

Well . . . so what did you mean? You've left me in suspense! It might help resolve your issue to clarify exactly what you changed on the computer.

Ok....so one day my screen and graphics went nuts. So I disabled the dedicated GPU using instructions I found on Github. Replaced the SSD and upgraded the RAM. Better than new computer! Worked great for a couple of weeks but yesterday it started having issues with the screen going black, etc. This computer has had a history of the screen going black when the battery is at less than about 70%. When I picked up the computer to turn it on yesterday it was really hot and although it had been charging for a full day the indicator on the charger was still orange. The battery indicator in the menu bar said 100%. I was using a cheap charger and switched it out for my original Apple one. Within 1/2 an hour it had cooled off and the indicator turned green. I also noticed that I had not disabled the Automatic Graphics Switching in the Energy Preferences so it might have been trying to switch to a GPU that was no longer available. I should probably go ahead and replace the battery since it is 10 years old.