X battery, CPU errors, slow boot after SSD + Mavericks install

[simoncastic]

Hi,
Let me know if this isn't the right place for this post... new to here, just seems like a trustworthy forum for troubleshooting my problem.

A few days ago I installed an SSD in the main drive bay and the original HDD into a data doubler in the opti-bay into my Early 2011 MacBook Pro (15", 2.3gHz, 8gb OWC ram). The SSD is a 240gb OWC Extreme 6G, while the original HD is a 750GB Toshiba.

As I still need to use 10.6.8 for some things, I decided to keep that on the original HDD, and install Mavericks on the SSD.

I created a bootable Mavericks USB, and the install seemed to go pretty seamlessly and when I was inside Mavericks it all seemed very fast and stable. However, maybe an hour into me installing apps and making it how I wanted it etc (Google Chrome, wallpaper change, mouse settings, etc) I noticed that there's an 'X' on the battery icon and it indicates 'No Battery Available'.

Possibly related or possibly not, I replaced the battery fairly recently with a 'refurbished' genuine Apple battery from MacFixIt.

Along with this, kernal_task was using all of my CPU and slowing down everything, although that seems to have settled down for now.

I followed the install instructions faultlessly for putting in the data double, SSD, etc well – so I don't think the fault is there.

SO...

'No Battery Available' is still being displayed and the computer powers off if I unplug the MagSafe adaptor. I've reset the PRAM, SMC (power hold method, shft+cntr+optn+power etc) to no avail.

Any suggestions at all? There's a couple of threads floating around on the net with people experiencing the same issue, although no solutions that I know of or have found. The one 'solution' which was moving a system file didn't help either (which I promptly put back).

I've reversed the mod – optical drive back in, SSD and data doubler out – no luck. Booted up in Diagnostic mode and the short diagnostic page didn't report any problems, although in hardware list the battery is not listed.

I also booted up the laptop with the battery not connected and it operates exactly as if it was connected.

The computer is also slow to boot up now, and when I press the power on button the sleep light flashes a couple of times before booting.

AND finally, when using Pro Tools 10 on my old HDD, it's giving me a lot more CPU errors than before.

Any ideas? The fact that I installed Mavericks, SSD, data doubler etc seems to coincidental for it to be a problem with the battery alone.

ANY help whatsoever is appreciated. I have some sessions and lots of work to do on this laptop in the next couple of days, I really thought it was pretty failsafe if I kept 10.6.8 on the other HDD but now I'm not so sure.

Thank you!

 

[Mnowell69]

Hi,
Let me know if this isn't the right place for this post... new to here, just seems like a trustworthy forum for troubleshooting my problem.

A few days ago I installed an SSD in the main drive bay and the original HDD into a data doubler in the opti-bay into my Early 2011 MacBook Pro (15", 2.3gHz, 8gb OWC ram). The SSD is a 240gb OWC Extreme 6G, while the original HD is a 750GB Toshiba.

As I still need to use 10.6.8 for some things, I decided to keep that on the original HDD, and install Mavericks on the SSD.

I created a bootable Mavericks USB, and the install seemed to go pretty seamlessly and when I was inside Mavericks it all seemed very fast and stable. However, maybe an hour into me installing apps and making it how I wanted it etc (Google Chrome, wallpaper change, mouse settings, etc) I noticed that there's an 'X' on the battery icon and it indicates 'No Battery Available'.

Possibly related or possibly not, I replaced the battery fairly recently with a 'refurbished' genuine Apple battery from MacFixIt.

Along with this, kernal_task was using all of my CPU and slowing down everything, although that seems to have settled down for now.

I followed the install instructions faultlessly for putting in the data double, SSD, etc well – so I don't think the fault is there.

SO...

'No Battery Available' is still being displayed and the computer powers off if I unplug the MagSafe adaptor. I've reset the PRAM, SMC (power hold method, shft+cntr+optn+power etc) to no avail.

Any suggestions at all? There's a couple of threads floating around on the net with people experiencing the same issue, although no solutions that I know of or have found. The one 'solution' which was moving a system file didn't help either (which I promptly put back).

I've reversed the mod – optical drive back in, SSD and data doubler out – no luck. Booted up in Diagnostic mode and the short diagnostic page didn't report any problems, although in hardware list the battery is not listed.

I also booted up the laptop with the battery not connected and it operates exactly as if it was connected.

The computer is also slow to boot up now, and when I press the power on button the sleep light flashes a couple of times before booting.

AND finally, when using Pro Tools 10 on my old HDD, it's giving me a lot more CPU errors than before.

Any ideas? The fact that I installed Mavericks, SSD, data doubler etc seems to coincidental for it to be a problem with the battery alone.

ANY help whatsoever is appreciated. I have some sessions and lots of work to do on this laptop in the next couple of days, I really thought it was pretty failsafe if I kept 10.6.8 on the other HDD but now I'm not so sure.

Thank you!

So it could be the 'reconditioned' battery causing all the problems and the obvious fix for that would be to replace it with a genuine new battery.

All the slow-downs could be caused by faults with the 'permissions' i would imagine. Try to verify/repair permissions with the disk utility

 

[simoncastic]

So it could be the 'reconditioned' battery causing all the problems and the obvious fix for that would be to replace it with a genuine new battery.

All the slow-downs could be caused by faults with the 'permissions' i would imagine. Try to verify/repair permissions with the disk utility

Thanks, I totally agree. I'll be putting my old battery back in and atleast seeing if that fixes the 'X' problem.

Thank you about the tip with disk permissions - that didn't even come to my mind. I'll let you know how I go!

 

[Mnowell69]

You're welcome. The last option, the one which i usually end up doing is starting from new with a GOOD back-up.

 

[simoncastic]

You're welcome. The last option, the one which i usually end up doing is starting from new with a GOOD back-up.

Verified and repairs disk permissions and it didn't seem to make too much of a difference, certainly not in Pro Tools. I have always regularly made Time Machine backups, so I could restore from the backup I made just before the upgrade. Not sure if that would fix the error however.

Has anyone got an idea why the sleep light flashes a couple of times before boot?

 

[DeltaMac]

If the battery is not detected - then it's either a bad battery (hopefully trying your old battery may help decide about that) - or a faulty battery connection. Open up and do a close inspection of both parts of the the connector for bent/corroded pins, etc. Could also be the logic board, but the battery and connector is a quick first step.
You have several connectors on the logic board that are fairly close to where you were working. You should re-check each connector that you can reasonably access - even if you don't think you touched a particular connector.
The flashing sleep LED seems strange.
Try removing BOTH Ram sticks, then boot. It won't boot with no memory, but should show error flashes on that LED, or maybe beeps (not sure about your model) which should be different from your usual flashes. Disconnect from power, then insert just one RAM stick, and try to boot again. If you continue to get the odd flashes at the beginning of boot, then it's probably not RAM. If you boot with no LED flashes, shutdown again, and add the second RAM stick, and boot again.
Might be worthwhile to also try completely different RAM sticks as a test.
Did you try running the extended hardware test - not just the standard short test? They do run slightly different tests.
Finally, take to an Apple authorized service shop for a good checkout.

 

[simoncastic]

If the battery is not detected - then it's either a bad battery (hopefully trying your old battery may help decide about that) - or a faulty battery connection. Open up and do a close inspection of both parts of the the connector for bent/corroded pins, etc. Could also be the logic board, but the battery and connector is a quick first step.
You have several connectors on the logic board that are fairly close to where you were working. You should re-check each connector that you can reasonably access - even if you don't think you touched a particular connector.
The flashing sleep LED seems strange.
Try removing BOTH Ram sticks, then boot. It won't boot with no memory, but should show error flashes on that LED, or maybe beeps (not sure about your model) which should be different from your usual flashes. Disconnect from power, then insert just one RAM stick, and try to boot again. If you continue to get the odd flashes at the beginning of boot, then it's probably not RAM. If you boot with no LED flashes, shutdown again, and add the second RAM stick, and boot again.
Might be worthwhile to also try completely different RAM sticks as a test.
Did you try running the extended hardware test - not just the standard short test? They do run slightly different tests.
Finally, take to an Apple authorized service shop for a good checkout.

Cheers for the quick reply Delta.

I'll be swapping the battery out for the original as soon as the screwdriver arrives - if that provides me no luck then I'll take it into Apple. It is one month out of 3-year Applecare - apart from a bad MagSafe adaptor I haven't had any repairs done to it so with any luck they'll fix whatever is wrong with it for me.

Will do an extended hardware test tonight. Don't think I unseated any other cables as I checked that a couple of times but will give another go.

Unfortunately I don't have any other ram sticks to test with (I regretfully sold the old sticks that came out of the machine also).

I'll keep you updated when the next step comes along!

Cheers

 

[illusionx]

When I installed a bad battery into my 09 macbook, it would take forever to boot. So your system not detecting a battery is probably why it is booting slow...

 

[simoncastic]

When I installed a bad battery into my 09 macbook, it would take forever to boot. So your system not detecting a battery is probably why it is booting slow...

Cheers! You're right... installed the old battery back into the laptop, and although it says 'service battery' (it was 3 years old and hasn't been in the laptop for around a month), it's not displaying an X and the sleep light doesn't flash on boot.

I'll give Pro Tools a test, maybe the old battery was slowing down something there too...

For now, relief, and off to get a refund for the faulty battery!

 

[simoncastic]

Good news... took out the 'refurbished' battery, put the old one in - and while it is showing 'service battery' - there's no X anymore and best of all I can unplug the laptop from the AC adaptor.

Tried out some Pro Tools sessions that were giving me CPU errors when the refurbished battery was in, and now they are fine. Also, didn't notice the flashing sleep light either.

Will boot up in Mavericks and see how that performs now too!

 

[Mnowell69]

Hooray. A lesson for all of us looking for after market batteries.

 

[illusionx]

OP's battery is actually an original one, but taken out of another laptop. ifixit probably had it for too long and drained itself down and rendered it dead.

 

[simoncastic]

OP's battery is actually an original one, but taken out of another laptop. ifixit probably had it for too long and drained itself down and rendered it dead.

Yep. Either it was sitting on the shelf for way too long, or it was a problem with the chip or something electronic inside the battery. Either way, glad it was the battery and not the logic board or something expensive.

Onto migrating most of my stuff over to Mavericks from SL now... expect a couple more threads, haha. Cheers again for the help everyone.

 

[ha1o2surfer]

I think a macbook will throttle when it doesn't detect a battery installed.