Macbook Pro Retina (Mid 2014) Won't turn on

[Krypza]

So my Macbook pro has suddenly decided to refuse to turn on/get past the load screen. Essentially it does a restart loop as soon as I plug in the charging cable without requiring any buttons to be pressed. The loading screen with the loading bar and apple logo pops up and gets about half way thru and then it dies for several seconds and repeats the startup process again and again never getting past the loading screen.

The charging cable has to be plugged in otherwise it wont even turn on at all. And as soon as the charging cable is unplugged the computer dies instantly.

I've tried a new charger, resetting PRAM and SMC, Safe mode with no luck. Also tried USB bootable flash drive and an External Hard drive. And it was able to get to the screen where you choose the boot drive but then dies a few seconds later.

Took it into an Apple store and the tech said they'd start by replacing the battery but cannot promise anything and said if theirs anymore issues it could run $1000+ to fix (more than the laptops worth)

I was thinking of ordering a battery and just doing it myself but was curious to hear if any others have experienced this or similar issue and know if it was fixed by a battery replacement or if you suspect there is a bigger issue?

Tidbit more info: The battery service warning had been active for quite a while saying to replace it on the laptop as it's still the original one from 2014

Video of issue (it just continues doing this restart on a loop never getting past the loading bar):

Would greatly appreciate any feedback/help,
Thanks!

 

[Audit13]

I have a mid-2014 13" Pro and it does exactly the same thing. Sometimes, it will boot to the desktop after two or three tries but it can take 20 to 30 tries at times.

Without the charger connected, the progress bar gets part way and just powers off. I have to press the power button to power it up again.

One thing that seemed to really help was loading the latest Catalina. After this, it would boot on the first try 9/10 times.

The battery on mine has 1,050 cycles and health is around 81%.

I changed the battery and it did not change its behaviour. Different SSD, charger, and WiFI card made no difference.

It's strange because, once it is fully booted, everything works.

The Apple store said it was a logic board issue and the cost of replacement was over $600.

I've been using it was the latest Catalina for over 2 months and it will usually boot after one to two tries.

 

[pshufd]

I have 2014 and 2015 MBPs. If they die, I would just replace them. I have not seen this problem on those systems though. Batteries seem to be fine on these old machines but they are plugged in almost all the time.

 

[Audit13]

I originally bought mine to use for parts for $180. It was in great shape and didn't want to dismantle it without trying to solve the issue myself.

I don't use this MacBook for anything except iTunes, surfing, and email. The cost of an entry-level MacBook is way more than I'm willing to spend at the moment. I like the keyboards on the first Retina Pros and the legacy USB ports. I know I will eventually have to give it up but, for now, I'll put up with the inconvenience of a $180 MacBook Pro not always booting on the first attempt.

I took it to my local Mac specialist. He thought it was the SMC and EFI chips which he replaced. It worked perfectly for the first 9 or 10 cold boots. After that, it started behaving exactly the same way. His policy was no fix, no pay. I took it home and noticed that it an older SMC and bootrom version which made sense since he replaced the chips. I then updated to the latest Catalina which updated the SMC and bootrom. Now, it usually boots on the first try.

After taking it apart, running diagnostics, switching SSDs and operating systems, I now have a MacBook that usually boots on the first try.