MBP15 will only start in safe mode (SMC-reset not working)

[Juuni87]

After only 560 cycles, the battery on my MBP 15" (A1286, Early 2011) were down to 10% capacity. Since the warranty was out, I went online and got a new battery. After installing the new battery and putting the Magsafe in (MBP power was off) I smelt something weird and immediately saw smoke coming out from underneath. As quickly as I could, I removed the magsafe and the now smoking and fire-sparkling battery from the MBP. I did not think it would cause any damage to the logic board or so, but apparently it did.

I have now put in the old battery (the one which previously had 10% capacity), but the MBP won't start. I've tried SMC-reset but it only starts spinning the fans for half a second making a small noise and then nothing happens. Still can't power the MBP on. From reading the forums, I am able to start the MBP by holding power button, removing battery and magsafe, replacing battery and magsafe and then letting go off the power button. The MBP then starts with fans going full speed, startup sound and startup screen going for approx 30 seconds before shutting off, almost as if the power went out. It will then immediately after boot up again in the same manner, and this will go on and on until I pull out the Magsafe.

What is weird is that I am able to boot into safe mode in this loop, although the fans will run at full speed, I am able to use safe mode like normal. I am now writing this message in safe mode with an uptime of over an hour. Battery is marked with an X saying it is not installed though.

From what I've understood, the fans going at this speed and power button not working means some sort of SMC error. How can I reset the SMC in any other way? Is there any other way to fix this? I am a little bit hopeful seeing as almost everything works in safe mode.

VERY THANKFUL for an answer!

 

[Juuni87]

Does anyone have an idea on what could be wrong? I've tried to SMC reset so many times but the HDD just lights up for one second before it dies

 

[Juuni87]

I've also tried PRAM-resets to no avail. Could the battery sensors be damaged?

 

[raptor402]

It might be possible that your keyboard is busted. Is your shift key stuck (not physically)?

Regards
Raptor

EDIT: Also, I think something to try would be to format your HDD and reinstall the OS. It might just be a software problem. Before that, try the Hardware Diagnostics Tool. It might give you a clue as to what's wrong.

 

[Juuni87]

Thanks for the answer!

The shift key is not stuck to my knowledge, I do have to press it to get into safe boot for example.

As for AHT test, I have tried that but mid-process it just reboots itself for no apparent reason so I have not had the chance to finish a full test.

I will eventually try to reformat everything but I am quite sure that something is wrong with the power functions of the SMC. Is there any other way to reset? Can I for example reinstall the firmware to reset everything?

 

[Dadioh]

After only 560 cycles, the battery on my MBP 15" (A1286, Early 2011) were down to 10% capacity. Since the warranty was out, I went online and got a new battery. After installing the new battery and putting the Magsafe in (MBP power was off) I smelt something weird and immediately saw smoke coming out from underneath. As quickly as I could, I removed the magsafe and the now smoking and fire-sparkling battery from the MBP. I did not think it would cause any damage to the logic board or so, but apparently it did.

I have now put in the old battery (the one which previously had 10% capacity), but the MBP won't start. I've tried SMC-reset but it only starts spinning the fans for half a second making a small noise and then nothing happens. Still can't power the MBP on. From reading the forums, I am able to start the MBP by holding power button, removing battery and magsafe, replacing battery and magsafe and then letting go off the power button. The MBP then starts with fans going full speed, startup sound and startup screen going for approx 30 seconds before shutting off, almost as if the power went out. It will then immediately after boot up again in the same manner, and this will go on and on until I pull out the Magsafe.

What is weird is that I am able to boot into safe mode in this loop, although the fans will run at full speed, I am able to use safe mode like normal. I am now writing this message in safe mode with an uptime of over an hour. Battery is marked with an X saying it is not installed though.

From what I've understood, the fans going at this speed and power button not working means some sort of SMC error. How can I reset the SMC in any other way? Is there any other way to fix this? I am a little bit hopeful seeing as almost everything works in safe mode.

VERY THANKFUL for an answer!

The System Management Controller (SMC) monitors all the sensors on the logic board and decides whether to startup or not. When you do the SMC bypass you are forcing it to start anyway. But since it then shuts off after 30 seconds it seems that the SMC is detecting something that it thinks requires an immediate shutdown. It is odd that safe mode allows it to work however.

The fact that it was precipitated by a bad battery and now does not detect the old battery suggests that it is some sensor in the battery circuit. There is a bootable test utility (not AHT) available that allows low level testing of the logic board. PM me and I will see if I can send that to you by email.

 

[Juuni87]

The System Management Controller (SMC) monitors all the sensors on the logic board and decides whether to startup or not. When you do the SMC bypass you are forcing it to start anyway. But since it then shuts off after 30 seconds it seems that the SMC is detecting something that it thinks requires an immediate shutdown. It is odd that safe mode allows it to work however.

The fact that it was precipitated by a bad battery and now does not detect the old battery suggests that it is some sensor in the battery circuit. There is a bootable test utility (not AHT) available that allows low level testing of the logic board. PM me and I will see if I can send that to you by email.

Thank you for your reply! Please excuse my late reply as I have been out travelling in remote places (North Korea internet is non-existant )

I have however managed to replace the battery with an original new one from an authorized retailer here in China. The MBP now starts but there seems to be a problem with the SMC/logic board as the battery charges very slowly (nearly 11 hours to charge from 10% to full). The computer also seems to respond/run much slower.

In Activity Control, kernel_task is using up around 270% of CPU. I tried to read some logs as seen below:

tail -f /var/log/kernel.log
Oct  7 12:20:28 Jonathan-Roxeheims-MacBook-Pro kernel[0]: SMC::smcReadKeyAction ERROR TA0S kSMCBadArgumentError(0x89) fKeyHashTable=0x0xffffff800c9ac000
Oct  7 12:20:28 Jonathan-Roxeheims-MacBook-Pro kernel[0]: SMC::smcReadKeyAction ERROR TA1S kSMCBadArgumentError(0x89) fKeyHashTable=0x0xffffff800c9ac000
Oct  7 12:20:28 Jonathan-Roxeheims-MacBook-Pro kernel[0]: SMC::smcReadKeyAction ERROR TA2S kSMCBadArgumentError(0x89) fKeyHashTable=0x0xffffff800c9ac000
Oct  7 12:20:28 Jonathan-Roxeheims-MacBook-Pro kernel[0]: SMC::smcReadKeyAction ERROR TA3S kSMCBadArgumentError(0x89) fKeyHashTable=0x0xffffff800c9ac000
Oct  7 12:20:28 Jonathan-Roxeheims-MacBook-Pro kernel[0]: SMC::smcReadKeyAction ERROR TA1P kSMCBadArgumentError(0x89) fKeyHashTable=0x0xffffff800c9ac000
Oct  7 12:20:28 Jonathan-Roxeheims-MacBook-Pro kernel[0]: SMC::smcReadKeyAction ERROR Tp1P kSMCBadArgumentError(0x89) fKeyHashTable=0x0xffffff800c9ac000
Oct  7 12:20:28 Jonathan-Roxeheims-MacBook-Pro kernel[0]: SMC::smcReadKeyAction ERROR Tp2P kSMCBadArgumentError(0x89) fKeyHashTable=0x0xffffff800c9ac000
Oct  7 12:20:28 Jonathan-Roxeheims-MacBook-Pro kernel[0]: SMC::smcReadKeyAction ERROR Tp3P kSMCBadArgumentError(0x89) fKeyHashTable=0x0xffffff800c9ac000
Oct  7 12:20:28 Jonathan-Roxeheims-MacBook-Pro kernel[0]: SMC::smcReadKeyAction ERROR Tp4P kSMCBadArgumentError(0x89) fKeyHashTable=0x0xffffff800c9ac000
Oct  7 12:20:28 Jonathan-Roxeheims-MacBook-Pro kernel[0]: SMC::smcReadKeyAction ERROR Tp5P kSMCBadArgumentError(0x89) fKeyHashTable=0x0xffffff800c9ac000

Any ideas on where these problems might stem from? I have not been able to start the AHT, I do not know why. Also tried several SMC resets to no effect.