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Macbook power related problems

  • September 6, 2016
  • 6 replies
  • 42 views
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I have an aging fleet of Macbook Pros (mid 2012) that have developed a problem since upgrading to 10.11 El Capitan. The computer will try to boot and power on, but never get to the gray screen, it stays at the black screen. The fan runs, the computer gets hot if left trying to start, but it never boots and holding down the power button is needed to get it to stop. The only way to get it to boot is to take the bottom case off, unplug the battery, drain the logic board capacitors with the power button and then plug the battery back in. It will then boot right up.

I'm virtually sure it is not a hardware problem since it never occured prior to 10.11. My gut tells me that it is somehow related to letting the battery die with El Cap, but I'm not sure about that. I've seen it about 30 times in the last 3 months since upgrading to El Capitan, and am now starting to see it happen a second time on computers it has happened on before.

Anyone have any helpful suggestions?

6 replies

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  • al_platt
  • Contributor
  • September 6, 2016

Hi,

assume you've tried an SMC reset on the affected units?

Could it be that these are units affected by the GPU issues that Apple run a repair extension programme on?

I had 3 MBP's fail, 2011 and 2 x 2012 with the same thing. SMC resets fixed short term but in the end all logic boards needed replacing.

Exact same symptoms. I'd get them (if possible) to an Apple Store or repair centre as they can run a test to see if they're covered by the programme.

https://www.apple.com/uk/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

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  • jhuhmann
  • Author
  • Contributor
  • September 6, 2016

Unfortunately our model isn't included in the affected products.

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  • htse
  • Contributor
  • September 6, 2016

Are these 13-inch MacBook Pro (Mid 2012)? You may want to look at the SMC Version
. An SMC Update from 2013 corrected for power on issues after the low battery.

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  • jhuhmann
  • Author
  • Contributor
  • September 6, 2016

They are "MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)", but the most recent computer was already at that SMC version. I feel like it's got to be something related to 10.11 because I've never had it happen prior to the upgrade.

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  • Nix4Life
  • Honored Contributor
  • September 6, 2016

I'm also in K-12 and have had the same model since 2012. I did have similar issues doing in place upgrades for 10.10.3 to 10.10.5, but just did a clean install of 10.11.5 and 10.11.6 on about 300 machines the past few months with no problems. Are you doing a clean install? what version of El Cap ?

Larry

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  • jhuhmann
  • Author
  • Contributor
  • September 7, 2016

Most have been a clean install of 10.11.5, some have been 10.11.6. I made the package with AutoDMG, so it's a clean never booted image.

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