SMC reset problems/ battery is not recognized

[Do_oM]

Good afternoon, hivemind! Here's something to chew in case any of you have some thoughts on possible solutions.

In short: my Macbook Pro does not recognise the battery (symbol has a cross through it), can not run without external power supply from magsafe cable, will not charge and will not SMC reset either manually (ctrl+option+shift+power method) or with the downloaded SMC firmware file through terminal.

The whole story: About a month ago there was a liquid spill in my backpack (soy sauce if you must know. the tastiest damage of all). Although my laptop and power supply were not saturated, I was wiping off the sauce off both. No immediate problems but within a week or so I noticed the magsafe power cable would sometimes not work immediately (after reconnecting or connecting first to another Macbook Pro and then back to mine, it would function with the green light again) and the taskbar shows no battery available.

I took it to the Apple store. They tested in the shop front and the test software showed everything running normally except the power of course.

So the techs took one look inside, discovered immediately there was possible liquid damage and instead of just possibly replacing the magsafe board/ akku, they charged me with the whole price of swapping out the entire logic board, magsafe board, battery even the casing (has a few dings in it from a hard life) costing almost the price of a brand new laptop @_@

After a while (2 weeks or so) I decided rather than simply forking out money and not having the time to track down a computer repair shop willing to have a crack at it I would have a look in on it myself and see what the damage was.

Sure there was some evidence of the spill on the battery case and some streaks on the underside of the battery (really minimal) but absolutely no signs of corrosion or ANYTHING on the logic board, magsafe board or any of the cable connections aside from some dust.

I dismantled the laptop carefully, cleaned the stains with a light brush and some isopropyl, checked all the connections, re-inserted the boards and closed everything up again.

Everything functions fine except the power!

I know from previous attempts on trying an SMC reset that apparently the SMC firmware version is false for the operating system/ macbook pro that I have (will clarify model and OS soon) but I don't know what the workaround is.

I have here a Macbook Pro 13inch (early 2011) Model A1278 to be more precise running OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 with the SMC version being 1.68f99

I have tried:

- Using different magsafe power supplies (no problem)
- Manual SMC reset (through keyboard, no response)
- From memory I tried re-installing the latest SMC version but encountered some kind of problem (would not install for one reason or another). I remember digging through a shitcreek of posts at the time on SMC bugs or incorrect versions but would appreciate more thorough advice if it's around here.
- Cleaned and checked all connections from the boards inside the macbook

I have yet to try the following:

- try to use my current battery in another Macbook
- try swapping my current battery with a new battery
- open up and see if there is liquid damage in the power supply of the cable (not the easiest to access -_-)
- formatting and re-installing the whole operating system
- take it into another computer repair shop and see if the can offer any other solution aside from swapping out the whole logic board (in which case I may as well consider upgrading my computer entirely).

Fan runs normally. Computer is not as peppy with speed as it was since 2011 (obviously could be for a number of reasons). Really EVERYTHING seems to functioning normal except for the battery.

I'm not a particularly cluey guy with computers so there may very well be a lot of obvious solutions/ reasons the more experienced of you with IT backgrounds/ repairs experience can provide. But I am a curious creature and do want to learn if there is a cost effective way to make repairs to this situation without just throwing money at it and still not knowing what happened.

To me, Average Joe no computer knowledge, the most obvious thing to try would be simply change the battery and see if that solves it but I also want to know exactly what the deal is with not being able to do an SMC reset.

Thanks a whole lot for your time. Cheers!

 

[DeltaMac]

It won't be a software issue - reinstalling the system would be a waste of your time.

Because there is evidence of a liquid spill, then a "flat-rate repair" option through the Apple store (much less expensive) is not available to you. That option will repair anything that would ordinarily be covered under warranty, but won't repair accidental damage, which unfortunately includes visible liquid damage, regardless of how minor that may appear to you.

SMC reset is here - for the task listed in that article, your Macbook has a non-removable battery.

Do the battery test lights on the side of your MacBook respond at all? The battery may be completely dead, so NO lights may not mean anything for your issue.
Next step is to try your battery in another MacBook, or even easier, try a different battery.

If that other battery is also not recognized, then there's not much left. The magsafe adapter won't help, but replacing the magsafe board (sometimes called the DC-in board) can be worth a try.
When THAT doesn't help, then you are left with only one choice - the logic board.
If you get to that point, then it's decision time.

What can you do that won't cost most of a new Mac?
You could try a third party shop.
You could replace the logic board yourself.

 

[Do_oM]

Okay. So I finally got round to ordering a brand new battery from a seemingly reputable seller. Switched the batteries. Same deal. It doesn't get recognised by the computer. The battery test lights don't work on my mac.

I still haven't been able to successfully do a SMC reset though and it's bugging me because maybe that makes all the difference. I have followed the instructions to the T for my mac model and many youtube videos watched but my mac just won't respond to it all.

Any ideas for a workaround to get the SMC up and running on a Mac?

 

[DeltaMac]

What is a "seemingly reputable seller"?
Replacement batteries, particularly for an older MBPro, can be a crapshoot.
The "reputable seller" is best when it is Apple.
Going on the cheap with replacement batteries is almost never a bargain.

However, your situation is probably still connected to your liquid damage.
Cleaning the inside thoroughly, as you did, is a good idea, but won't repair actual corrosion damage.

If you DON'T get the test lights on the side to work, REMOVE the main battery, then try the test lights again. You should see the indicator show one LED "chasing" back and forth (no battery recognized).
If you still don't get the test lights, then the logic board will need replacing - that's pretty much it.

The SMC reset does NOT give you any physical response that will tell you that it has been successful. You just push the buttons as directed, and hope for the best. The only indication that you will get is when the battery needs to charge, so would show an orange LED on the Magsafe connector. When you press the SMC reset sequence, the magsafe LED will briefly return to green, then back to amber, indicating that that battery is charging.
If your battery is not recognized, then the Magsafe LED will simply remain green. There's no way to tell if the reset completed. The keys to press are simple.
If you have tried a different battery, and you still don't get good results from charging, and the battery remains unresponsive, then you COULD try replacing the magsafe board, which is fairly simple to replace, and significantly less expensive than the logic board. If THAT doesn't help, then you have the last choice, replacing the logic board....

 

[simonsi]

...and its "not as peppy" because the MBP throttles with no battery as full cpu power requires more power than the charger can provide alone.

 

[dumsterdave]

Did you ever get this problem solved? I also have an early 2011 macbook pro with the exact same SMC version. I've tried to the the reset and nothing happened. I also have tried to swap batteries and even charged the old battery to 100% in another working macbook. I have no battery level lights. I've tried to manually install the smc update, but it says it is not compatible with my macbook (even though it says that v 1.7 is for macbook pro early 2011).

 

[haneefmrn]

I am having the same issue now. Installed a new battery, but still no battery detected, works perfectly fine with the power adapter but not in battery. When the battery is installed and connected to power, as I just unplug the magsafe the Mac continues to run on battery with blink and full speed fan.

Does anyone have a solution?

 

[DeltaMac]

I am having the same issue now. Installed a new battery, but still no battery detected, works perfectly fine with the power adapter but not in battery. When the battery is installed and connected to power, as I just unplug the magsafe the Mac continues to run on battery with blink and full speed fan.

Does anyone have a solution?

Which MacBook Pro do you have?
Do you get any LED on the Magsafe adapter? Does it ever show amber, not green?
When you have the battery installed, and you plug in the power adapter, do you get ANY lights on the battery level test indicator. It's on the side of your MBPro, with a test button that you can press (not all models have that), or might be on the bottom, depending on the model of MBPro that you have. While the charger adapter is plugged in, do the test lights show any pattern (such as flashing left and right, then back again, or all flash at the same time, or no lights at all?

 

[haneefmrn]

Which MacBook Pro do you have?
Do you get any LED on the Magsafe adapter? Does it ever show amber, not green?
When you have the battery installed, and you plug in the power adapter, do you get ANY lights on the battery level test indicator. It's on the side of your MBPro, with a test button that you can press (not all models have that), or might be on the bottom, depending on the model of MBPro that you have. While the charger adapter is plugged in, do the test lights show any pattern (such as flashing left and right, then back again, or all flash at the same time, or no lights at all?

[doublepost=1555258642][/doublepost]I have the 13” MacBook Pro late 2011.

No lights coming up on the battery life indicator lights.

The Mac is not able to detect the battery. The battery symbol cannot come on in system preferences.

The touchpad is working but it’s not able to detect it, I heard it’s a bug of some sort. But since it works not an issue.

The MagSafe charger always stays in green, never turns amber.

If I unplug the MagSafe, the computer stays on for a second and then goes to sleep and turns off.

The battery was a new one from OWC.

 

[DeltaMac]

Press the battery test button on the side of your MBPro. If you don't see ANY lights on the battery charge indicator, the logic board is the most likely cause, assuming the battery is good (and that it has some kind of charge.)

Be sure to also check in your System Information. The Power tab will show some information about your battery, and you should expect to see NO battery information, if your MBPro is not recognizing the battery.

Battery came from OWC. It's new. That does NOT necessarily mean the battery is GOOD.
OWC usually has good tech support, and they may be helpful. They might even ship out a replacement battery, just on the chance that the first is a bad one.

 

[DonkeyKongForPresident]

Battery came from OWC.

That's your problem. OWC sources their batteries from random Chinese suppliers and as you might expect the quality and function are hit and miss.

I'd buy a new one from iFixit

 

[Mutopiano]

Press the battery test button on the side of your MBPro. If you don't see ANY lights on the battery charge indicator, the logic board is the most likely cause, assuming the battery is good (and that it has some kind of charge.)

Be sure to also check in your System Information. The Power tab will show some information about your battery, and you should expect to see NO battery information, if your MBPro is not recognizing the battery.

Battery came from OWC. It's new. That does NOT necessarily mean the battery is GOOD.
OWC usually has good tech support, and they may be helpful. They might even ship out a replacement battery, just on the chance that the first is a bad one.

I am experiencing a very similar issue. It looks like the battery indicator lights are functioning correctly and display 5-6 lights. If it displays 5, the 6th slowly flashes (like it would when typically charging). Computer will not start without MagSafe plugged in.

Many threads have recommended to disconnect the Battery Indicator lights to see if they are the root of the issue. I tried this and it made no difference. To check that these lights are functioning correctly, I disconnected the battery and pressed the Battery Indicatory lights. They all flashed as they should when not connected to a battery.

I have tried a SMC reset to no avail. PRAM reset to no avail.

The MagSafe light is green most of the time when plugged in. It has been amber at certain points after being disconnected for more than a few minutes, leading me to believe that it is charging the battery.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DeltaMac]

What is showing in your System Information/Power tab?
There's a lot of information there about the health of your battery, such as the full charge capacity, number of charge cycles, voltage provided by the battery, etc.

 

[Mutopiano]

 

[DeltaMac]

There's no device or health information about the battery --- really strange!
How old is your MBPro?

You said that you disconnected the battery... Did you re-connect the battery before viewing your System Information?

Download and run Coconut Battery (although it looks like you are running an OS X version older than 10.12 (?) (?)

 

[Mutopiano]

Weird indeed! It is a mid-2011 MBPro. It has been out of commission for a couple of years, until I purchased a new HDD and installed. Replaced old thermal paste due to ongoing GPU issues (praise the 2011 GPU issues with the MBPro). Runs well enough now, but I cannot install newer OS because it "is not connected to a power source", even though the MagSafe is plugged in.

The battery was connected when I viewed the system information.

I am running OS X 10.7 currently, so Coconut Battery is out. Downloaded the knock-off Battery Health and it looks like everything is at 0's and unknowns.

 

[DeltaMac]

Is your magsafe adapter (the charger cord) an Apple part, or a third-party (non-Apple) part?
Is the battery original, or (again) a third-party replacement?

Open the bottom to get access to the battery connector. Is there any kind of damage or any build-up of corrosion, or anything physically about the connector, or that area of the logic board, that might not look like any kind of damage from moisture?
How does the magsafe connector look - particularly the connector where the magsafe plugs in?
I would suggest that you try replacing the magsafe connector (the "DC-in board" that holds the magsafe connector)

Last question:
Disconnect the battery. Will your MBPro power up from ONLY the magsafe connector power (no battery connected)?

 

[Mutopiano]

Both are original Apple parts.

After dissecting the logic board, there was no apparent corrosion or damage. The Magsafe port looks a little banged up, but not particularly damaged.

The MBPro powered up after disconnecting the battery and plugging in the Magsafe connector.

 

[DeltaMac]

Is there any difference in System Information/Power tab, battery connected, or disconnected?
My concern is that it SHOULD show something about the battery, even if would just be blank data.
Your screen shot doesn't even show that there is any provision, or possible connection for a hardware battery, other than a UPS, similar to what a desktop Mac would show.
The OTHER hardware that does not show is the magsafe adapter hardware. Not even mentioned on that hardware tab.

That's maybe why I would suspect that the DC-in board might fix that, as it might be a blown device, similar to a fuse, on that DC-in board.

 

[Mutopiano]

It looks exactly the same with the battery disconnected as it did when connected. I will give replacing the DC-in board a go and let you know how it goes.

Thank you for all of your help.

 

[Astron01]

My 2016 Retina MacBook started doing this a couple of weeks ago. Wouldn't start unless plugged in. Battery not showing up on the menu bar or in the system report. Looking at Settings -> Energy Saver, then clicking on 'show battery status in menu bar' would only show the battery for a second then disappear. Tried SMC reset, etc. Nothing worked. Installed last weeks OS update (10.15.4 Supplemental Update) and now it works. Apparently, the prior update screwed up the USB C port and this update fixed it.

 

[Mutopiano]

Is there any difference in System Information/Power tab, battery connected, or disconnected?
My concern is that it SHOULD show something about the battery, even if would just be blank data.
Your screen shot doesn't even show that there is any provision, or possible connection for a hardware battery, other than a UPS, similar to what a desktop Mac would show.
The OTHER hardware that does not show is the magsafe adapter hardware. Not even mentioned on that hardware tab.

That's maybe why I would suspect that the DC-in board might fix that, as it might be a blown device, similar to a fuse, on that DC-in board.

So, I just replaced the DC-in board and same deal. It is not detecting the battery or the MagSafe. Any thoughts?
*UPDATE* So after disconnecting and reconnecting the MagSafe while the battery was plugged in, I got it to display both the battery and the MagSafe. Below are the screenshots. Does this lend any insight?

 

[DeltaMac]

I will assume that the magsafe adapter is working OK. Now you have replaced the magsafe board, and you got the logic board to recognize both the battery, and the power adapter.
There is some data missing, such as Cycle Count.
So -- leave the battery connected, along with the magsafe adapter. Do BOTH an SMC reset, then an NVRAM reset. Hold the 4 NVRAM reset keys (Option, Command, P and R) while rebooting, until you hear the boot chime sound 3 times, then release the keys. Check in your System Information that the battery and magsafe adapter are still both showing in that Power tab. Shut your MBPro off using the normal Shut Down through the Apple menu. Leave it OFF and plugged in to power for 24 hours.
After that 24 hours, do you get ANY charge on the battery, and (important, I think) is there ANY number other than zero showing for Cycle Count on the battery? If so, what is showing, and what is the amount for Full Charge Capacity?
If you have a number there, is the battery fully charged to that amount (more or less)?
Hopefully you have a charge now. If everything is still zero, then most likely your battery simply sat too long without charging, and "all hope is gone" -- you need to replace the battery now.

 

[Mutopiano]

I will give that a go but I thought this was worth mentioning. I was deep into researching on Reddit and I found an interesting post. It recommended to unplug the battery, plug in the MagSafe, and once the MBPro booted and I had logged into MacOS, plug the battery again. It was only at that point the MBPro recognized the battery and the MagSafe. Upon restarting, the MBPro doesn't recognize the battery until I do this again. Further, the battery indicator light shows 6 solid green dots, and the MagSafe seems to shift between orange and green appropriately. This leads me to believe there is a problem with the way the MBPro perceives the battery, rather than the battery being faulty. But again, I am a novice here.

Does any of that information change your evaluation?

 

[DeltaMac]

I think the issue may just be that the battery is so dead that recognizing ("perceiving" is pretty close, I think) the battery could be on the edge, so you lose it.
So, to modify what I suggested - if the battery is recognized as existing, and something registers in your System Information, then simply leave the MBPro charging for a few hours. I would let it go undisturbed for 24 hours, just to see if ANYTHING changes. ANY charge, ANY change to the data in System Information/Power tab.

However, I suspect that if you get ALL the battery test lights, and those lights shine without flashing or "racing" from one end of the lights to the other, then that should indicate that the system thinks your battery is fully charged, even though it is not close to that condition. At that point, you should try a different battery, either a new replacement, or one that you know is good. (and I think your existing battery has failed. I might be wrong (?) )