Okay, thank you for all your responses, my Macbook Pro is a 13" Mid 2009 Model, built in October. I went to the genius about eight months ago with this problem, and I forgot how they diagnosed it, but I didn't know how much I could trust their opinion so I came here. I am going to go back and see what they say again. I'll let you guys know.
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MacBook Pro turns off without the charger (Help please)
- Thread starter Kiroji
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Don't go anywhere. Just swap out the battery. There must be guides for it online. Read a guide, buy the battery, do the swap. You'll most likely need a new one anyway on a model that old, even if you'll need to do a logic board swap as well, which I doubt. The fact that the system loses the real time clock (date!) when you remove external power means that most likely the battery is dead. It's almost a dead giveaway, I'd say. Bad batteries can cause a lot of weird issues. I've had my MBP just shut down every time the battery went down to 75-80%, even though all of its parameters that are measured internally looked OK (low number of cycles, large available capacity, etc).
Swapping out the battery won't help if the logic board has a problem, as already indicated.
Apple doesn't sell the built-in batteries without installing them, and knockoffs are not to be trusted.
The battery is fully drained, not dead. The battery health is good, so once the logic board is replaced, the battery can be charged.
Which model MBP? With a removable battery, or built-in? If it was removable, it may have just needed calibration.
Do you remember how much time they spent on it? Did he took it from your, did a reboot in front of you, ran a few things? Showed you anything? like ran a hardware diagnostic and showed you, "See it says bad motherboard?"
OK go back. If you have an account with Apple, most likely they will recall that last visit before talking to you. If at all possible, I would like them to start from fresh as that first visit never happened, I want a second, fresh opinion.
If they say Mobo again, and if they say it fast that means they going by last's diagnostic, ask them, "Is not the battery?" see what they tell you.
When a battery finally fails, you can no longer trust the battery meter (professional experience). The only thing you can trust is the charge cycle count. From what I hear here, 800-1200 cycles and you are in the grey, wants to be changed area, depending on your usage and environmental.
Okay so I went again, and this time they said it was the battery. I don't know why the first time I went they would say its the logic board, but I do remember that they didn't run the tests they ran this time. Which is crazy to me but whatever what's done is done. Sorry for the confusion everyone, and thank you for helping me try to diagnose it. Where can I get a replacement battery for a reasonable price?
The built-in batteries should only be replaced by Apple. They don't sell the built-in batteries without installing them, for which they charge $129 (battery and installation cost included).
I wouldn't trust or recommend any non-Apple battery, due to the number of problems reported with "knockoff" batteries. Also, there is no assurance that knockoff batteries have the same charging technology that Apple uses, involving the battery, the MagSafe adapter and the Mac's logic board.
Battery Replacement
Replacing the built-in battery in your MacBook Pro
I had a 2009 Macbook 13" with the EXACT same problem. Only my problem was intermittent (for a while).
Genius Bar thought it was a bad battery, so they replaced it. But it kept happening. Macbook wouldn't recognize the battery and therefore wouldn't charge it, so therefore I couldn't use the Macbook unplugged. I could sometimes fix the issue by pulling out the battery and re-seating it. Then it would charge and stay powered for a little while. But after a bit, it would stop working and wouldn't recognize the battery anymore (would show an "X" in the battery icon on the menu bar).
They had to do something to the motherboard to fix it. But at that point I had sold it to a colleague so I could upgrade to a 15" Pro, so I don't remember any of the details. Sorry.
Solution found after years of searching ;-)
MacBook 2009 symptoms:
MacBook switches off with no warning when the power adapter was removed.
MacBook switches off with no warning when booting up with power adapter removed.
After dealing with the problem for almost two years and searching the internet from time to time for several days I still found no solution.
Tried resetting SMC, PRAM, and many things more
coconutBattery showed my battery in good health, now running fine for about an hour without shutting down, no power adapter connected.
Load Cycles: 84 (I almost never used the MacBook without power adapter and thought it could be the reason for the shutdowns, I never calibrated the battery)
Battery Status : Good
My solution found by accident today fiddling around with the Energy Saver Preferences Pane/Battery settings. I don't know, if all the changes I made are necessary, or just one changed setting. What I did:
1. Set Computer sleep to "Never"
2. Set Display sleep to "Never" (ignoring the warning for shorter display life)
3. Unchecked "Put hard disk to sleep when possible"
4. Unchecked "Slightly dim the display while on battery power"
Maybe someone tries all changes separately and finds the real culprit
MacBook 2009 symptoms:
MacBook switches off with no warning when the power adapter was removed.
MacBook switches off with no warning when booting up with power adapter removed.
After dealing with the problem for almost two years and searching the internet from time to time for several days I still found no solution.
Tried resetting SMC, PRAM, and many things more
coconutBattery showed my battery in good health, now running fine for about an hour without shutting down, no power adapter connected.
Load Cycles: 84 (I almost never used the MacBook without power adapter and thought it could be the reason for the shutdowns, I never calibrated the battery)
Battery Status : Good
My solution found by accident today fiddling around with the Energy Saver Preferences Pane/Battery settings. I don't know, if all the changes I made are necessary, or just one changed setting. What I did:
1. Set Computer sleep to "Never"
2. Set Display sleep to "Never" (ignoring the warning for shorter display life)
3. Unchecked "Put hard disk to sleep when possible"
4. Unchecked "Slightly dim the display while on battery power"
Maybe someone tries all changes separately and finds the real culprit
A dead CMOS battery requires a new logic board? Are you kidding me?! You simply spend 4 bucks for a new battery and replace the dead one with the new one. Perhaps Apple would recommend a new logic board, I mean why fix something yourself for 4 bucks and be self efficient, when you can pay Apple several hundred bucks to replace a good logic board with another? Also, the folks who always recommend going to the Genius Bar rather than provide useful information are idiots. Unless you have any actual helpful tips, there's absolutely no point providing your useless opinions on these sites. I bought a Macbook Pro that was shutting itself down every time during boot. Genuises at Genius Bar told original owner logic board was bad. Well, in less than 5 minutes I discovered it was a faulty keyboard that was causing the issue. Spent 20 bucks on a replacement keyboard, installed it, and viola! Worked like new. They'll tell you logic board is the cause even when it isn't. I wonder what would have happened had they replaced the logic board on that MBP. It would have still been a defective laptop, as the problem would have remained.
Did you actually read my response before necroing this thread? Apple has made these things increasingly difficult to service, which is why I included an ifixit link. If they are comfortable doing that repair, they have the link. Otherwise the genius bar is probably the next best option due to depot repair. Third party services vary quite a bit, and Apple authorized ones often have hourly labor rates and diagnostic fees.
PRecisely my kind of thinking. When plugged in it works when he unplugs it it dies and he thinks its not the batter. (on top of its not charging). Im sorry but please where is the common sense here. OF course it IS most likely the battery. (as that will also explain the reset on the date etc.)
COME ON!
P.s.: by battery I mean the main one or the one on logic board. I guess it might be both but that is to be tested.
