Broke MacBook or PSU?

Domo · 26 Jun 2020 at 15:20

Today my 2012 MacBook Pro wouldn’t turn on. Symptoms as follows:

- No power
- Battery area is hot
- LED on MagSafe 2 connector displays orange all the time
- Apple logo on outer lid does not light up

I tried the following:
- Attached lightening cable to USB but no charge is reaching my phone
- Swapped out the PSU for another Mac but made no difference
- I was unable to swap out the cable from the PSU to the laptop since my old laptop is MagSafe 2 and the other is USB Type C

Noteworthy: The cable right before the MagSafe connector is badly frayed. However the LED is on and the laptop is hot which I assume indicates the laptop is drawing power.

Is it worth buying a new PSU? Or is the laptop stuffed?

Deleted member 77746 · 26 Jun 2020 at 15:22

Find someone with a 2012 Macbook Pro that can let you use their charge to see if it comes on with a different charger.

Domo · 26 Jun 2020 at 15:30

mrbell1984 said:
Find someone with a 2012 Macbook Pro that can let you use their charge to see if it comes on with a different charger.

That’s the most logical approach but I’ve not been able to source one. Seems It’s just me with a pre 2015 MacBook Pro amongst friends and family. To compound the issue it’s the 2012 Retina and requires the 85w PSU ‍

Deleted member 77746 · 26 Jun 2020 at 15:31

Domo said:
That’s the most logical approach but I’ve not been able to source one. Seems It’s just me with a pre 2015 MacBook Pro amongst friends and family. To compound the issue it’s the 2012 Retina and requires the 85w PSU ‍

I am fairly sure Apple will diagnose it for you and tell you what you need.

Domo · 26 Jun 2020 at 16:23

mrbell1984 said:
I am fairly sure Apple will diagnose it for you and tell you what you need.

I can’t argue with that!

I was hoping someone would say the frayed cable is the culprit validating a 30 min trip to PC World. It’s a work laptop and I’ve already lost a day (home working, don’t fancy a 2 hour trek into the London office which can only take place after a bunch of H&S form filling and sign-off). The Apple route will take even longer but I can call them at least. Thanks.

Deleted member 77746 · 26 Jun 2020 at 16:26

Domo said:
I can’t argue with that! I was hoping someone would say the frayed cable is the culprit validating a 30 min trip to PC World. It’s a work laptop and I’ve already lost a day (home working, don’t fancy a 2 hour trek into the London office which can only take place after a bunch of H&S form filling and sign-off). The Apple route will take even longer but I can call them at least. Thanks.

Nobody will be able to tell you on here apart from guess. Unless you got the tools there are so many answers. Someone on here in Surey might have a charger you could meet up maybe and test? Ask in the MM if you have access to it.

alex24 · 26 Jun 2020 at 16:35

Obviously the other suspect is the battery. Is it original?

Domo · 26 Jun 2020 at 17:29

alex24 said:
Obviously the other suspect is the battery. Is it original?

Yep. It’s the original. Is it true they’re soldered in place and subsequently not swappable by end users?

Deleted member 77746 · 26 Jun 2020 at 17:33

Is it this model?

Domo · 26 Jun 2020 at 18:30

mrbell1984 said:
Is it this model?

No later. It’s the thinner 15” MacBook Pro Retina. No optical drive. I’ll take a screwdriver to it later

Deleted member 77746 · 26 Jun 2020 at 18:32

Domo said:
No later. It’s the thinner 15” MacBook Pro Retina. No optical drive. I’ll take a screwdriver to it later

What model do you own? Don’t do it! Until you look up the model. It should be on the box or underneath the laptop in small letters.

dirtybeatfreak · 26 Jun 2020 at 20:02

Batteries are glued to the top case in the model you describe. They 'can' be changed out but its generally not worth it, not sure how available the batteries are in the 3rd party market.

Unplug the battery inside and try power the device on from the Power on pads on the Logicboard. (This will help take out anything else that may be affecting it not powering on. A quick google should bring up the location)

Domo · 28 Jun 2020 at 10:38

New PSU arrived today. The laptop started and I even managed to log onto the desktop. An error appeared regarding the shutdown and just as I started to copy and paste the laptop switched itself off again.

The weird thing is, when I power it back on the fans spin at full RPM. Nothing else is going on. No activity whatsoever. And yet the laptop is cool to the touch.

I switch if off and on again and the same thing. Just the fans.

Looks like I’ll have to bite the bullet. Sad thing is it will be a Windows PC next and not even a half decent one. Sad times.

Domo · 28 Jun 2020 at 13:17

alex24 said:
Obviously the other suspect is the battery. Is it original?

Full marks! I started up in safe mode and switched off discrete GFX (some Google Fu suggested it might be the discrete GPU) then installed a battery health app. It reports no battery installed - further confirmed by the fact the little LED on the power connector is now off (not showing orange or green).

Now the battery has seemingly packed up completely, the laptop seems stable running off the mains*

* As a test I just removed the power connector and the laptop remained on. What the hell if going on with this thing? Factory reset?

dirtybeatfreak · 28 Jun 2020 at 18:52

Domo said:
Full marks! I started up in safe mode and switched off discrete GFX (some Google Fu suggested it might be the discrete GPU) then installed a battery health app. It reports no battery installed - further confirmed by the fact the little LED on the power connector is now off (not showing orange or green).

Now the battery has seemingly packed up completely, the laptop seems stable running off the mains*

* As a test I just removed the power connector and the laptop remained on. What the hell if going on with this thing? Factory reset?

I take it you have already tried an SMC reset? If not do one of those. If you can get it working on mains, plug the battery back in, connect to internet via cable and hold d and power it on. Will carry out a basic diagnostic which may give you some clues. The fans running at full speed are usually an indicator a sensor has failed somewhere.