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battery or charger ? (macbook)


MadAbbott

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Wondered if any one can easily see which has the problem (and hopefully save me a trip to an apple "genius"!)

 

An original and now a "fake" charger have both died in the space of a week that served me well for at least 5 years. The original is completely done but the fake "charges" - when I say "charges", the laptop shows the charging symbol but stays on whatever percentage it was on when I connect it (now down to 2%). If I disconnect charger the percentage drops. The light on the charger that is normally red when charging and (green when fully charged) has stopped coming on at all at the same time I noticed the percentage can't increase.

 

I don't have any other charger I can test it with unfortunately, am I missing a really obvious way of telling if I need new battery or charger? thanks !

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Could it be your battery? Last week I got an X over my battery. It dies when I unplug it. Took it to the indie Mac repair place I like and they said definitely not the charger--the battery. I ordered a replacement... supposedly there is only one quality 3rd party battery which is what I ordered even though it's only $50 cheaper. ($150 for Apple's battery). Wish I could remember the brand. Anyways, maybe try your chargers on someone else's Mac and see if it works. That should tell you it's either the battery or you've damaged the connection port on your Mac.

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yeah cheers I was thinking last night, it's probably got to be the battery, largely because when I press the battery indicator light thingy on the side only one of the lights come on and flashes rapidly, suggests it's got no juice!

 

Yeah I've tried original and knock off batteries and both have been fine, I didn't have to open up my last macbook to install a replacement but this it looks like i need to, but I'm sure there's a billion tutorials on you tube for that!

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I fucked around with this issue for so long and it turned out I had a fucked logic board, ended up having to replace the whole computer. I'm not saying that's what your problem is, but I know a lot about the issue now!

 

Have you tried just disconnecting the charger for 5 mins? There's a thing in there that "resets" if you disconnect it from the wall, and computer. That's prob the first thing you could try.

 

You can find out the status of the battery if you hold alt and click on the battery in the top right, mine says normal... Can't remember what it says if it's fucked but it'll be obvious if that's the problem.

 

It's really easy to replace batteries though if that is your problem. Like, you don't even need to watch a tutorial really.

 

In my research I also found out some funny things that can go wrong like chargers getting mixed up etc. As in, 15 inch Macbooks don't work with 13 inch Macbook chargers (but 15 inch chargers do work on 13 inch). It's probably unlikely to be your problem but I read about some people mixing up chargers by mistake and not realising that this could be an issue.

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ahh thanks Si, I actually had a buggered logic board on my previous laptop before so appreciate how costly that is, it's often easier to get a new one! It could well be the issue though as this one is prob 5 years old and has been saying "a graphics problem has been detected" for about 2 years now lol

 

It's down to 1% now so I fear once that hits zero I'm not gonna be able to turn it on so don't want to let it run down completely but will def try the other tips, much appreciated!

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I fucked around with this issue for so long and it turned out I had a fucked logic board, ended up having to replace the whole computer. I'm not saying that's what your problem is, but I know a lot about the issue now!

 

Have you tried just disconnecting the charger for 5 mins? There's a thing in there that "resets" if you disconnect it from the wall, and computer. That's prob the first thing you could try.

 

You can find out the status of the battery if you hold alt and click on the battery in the top right, mine says normal... Can't remember what it says if it's fucked but it'll be obvious if that's the problem.

 

It's really easy to replace batteries though if that is your problem. Like, you don't even need to watch a tutorial really.

 

In my research I also found out some funny things that can go wrong like chargers getting mixed up etc. As in, 15 inch Macbooks don't work with 13 inch Macbook chargers (but 15 inch chargers do work on 13 inch). It's probably unlikely to be your problem but I read about some people mixing up chargers by mistake and not realising that this could be an issue.

 

Oh no! That's my fear with my current macbook since I've not got the new battery in I don't know. That is the worst luck if so. The last one my video processor died which was connected to the motherboard (I'm half talking out my ass here but something like that)... needless to say I was fucked. Now I'm super paranoid because I probably can't get another pro with firewire... think the one I have was the last.

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If anyone is interested that 3rd party Mac battery is a NuPower Battery made by Newertech. Supposedly the only quality 3rd party one out there.

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I fucked around with this issue for so long and it turned out I had a fucked logic board, ended up having to replace the whole computer. I'm not saying that's what your problem is, but I know a lot about the issue now!

 

Have you tried just disconnecting the charger for 5 mins? There's a thing in there that "resets" if you disconnect it from the wall, and computer. That's prob the first thing you could try.

 

You can find out the status of the battery if you hold alt and click on the battery in the top right, mine says normal... Can't remember what it says if it's fucked but it'll be obvious if that's the problem.

 

It's really easy to replace batteries though if that is your problem. Like, you don't even need to watch a tutorial really.

 

In my research I also found out some funny things that can go wrong like chargers getting mixed up etc. As in, 15 inch Macbooks don't work with 13 inch Macbook chargers (but 15 inch chargers do work on 13 inch). It's probably unlikely to be your problem but I read about some people mixing up chargers by mistake and not realising that this could be an issue.

 

Oh no! That's my fear with my current macbook since I've not got the new battery in I don't know. That is the worst luck if so. The last one my video processor died which was connected to the motherboard (I'm half talking out my ass here but something like that)... needless to say I was fucked. Now I'm super paranoid because I probably can't get another pro with firewire... think the one I have was the last.

 

 

 

You can get a firewire to thunderbolt adapter man. That's what I ended up doing. Although if you get the 2016 model you're fucked, you'd have firewire --> thunderbolt --> Usb C adapters lol. I ended up just buying a fully kitted out 2015 model as I didn't want to be an early adopter and have dongles coming out my ass.

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Yeah that's a possibility but my Apogee doesn't like being daisy chained to my Lacie external. So currently I have the Lacie on the FW and apogee using the dongle converter.

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