Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

svenmany

macrumors demi-god
Original poster
Jun 19, 2011
2,548
1,734
Hey all,

Hoping you bunch have some wisdom to help me.

I have a mid-2018 MacBook Pro 15", running the latest Big Sur, 11.2.3. I just noticed that it won't successfully boot (kind of) when the power is disconnected. Usually my laptop is plugged in and I just disconnect it to work on battery power. This morning I actually tried to boot up on battery power - no go. It seems to be a battery problem or software bug in managing the battery. Here's what happens.

I'm running FileVault and I successfully type my password to unlock the disk and log in. Towards the end of the progress bar the screen goes dark. I leave the computer for a minute or so and the fans stop. If I briefly hit the power button, I see the black screen with an image indicating the battery is discharged. If I then plug it in, the screen comes on and I see that I am successfully logged in with the desktop displaying correctly. At this point the battery shows that it has sufficient charge. I can even unplug the power and work on battery from that point forward with no problem.

I generally work with "Optimize Battery Charging" turned on. I did turn it off and it made no difference.

Since I'm on Apple Care, I contacted Apple support. They did the usual things: reset SMC, PRAM, run a diagnostic, reinstall the OS, but didn't bother digging further. They've now asked that I send in my computer for repair. It's not the end of the world since I have surgery coming up which will require me to take time off anyway. But, I thought it best to ask here first, since it might be a software glitch that others have experienced and have ideas on how to solve.

Any thoughts?

Sven
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.