2018 6-core Intel MBP -- not charging?

[sjinsjca]

This laptop (2.9 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i9, 32GB, 1TB SSD, 15" display) has been a faithful and well-traveled servant for going on six years now. But in the past couple of days it has not been charging when in use. I've tried several different chargers, all known-good, and the behavior is identical for each: If I use the machine, it gradually discharges even when plugged-in. It will eventually charge if I shut it, but then the cycle repeats next time I use the machine.

Battery health is shown as "normal" at 581 cycles in the System Report. I've followed iFixit's instructions for resetting the parameter RAM etc for this T2-equipped machine; no change.

Any suggestions? I'd love to get a couple more years out of it.

 

[Bigwaff]

It will eventually charge if I shut it, but then the cycle repeats next time I use the machine

Does “shut it” mean close the display or turn it off?

 

[sjinsjca]

Does “shut it” mean close the display or turn it off?

Yes, close the display. That sleeps the machine, and it will charge. So I can use it in brief spurts.

At the moment I'm using it on just the battery, and (1) it's running down quickly (with nothing suspicious showing in Activity Monitor), and (2) it says it is connected to the charger! It's not.

I'm fearing this lovely machine may be reaching the end of its road...

 

[chrfr]

Yes, close the display. That sleeps the machine, and it will charge. So I can use it in brief spurts.

At the moment I'm using it on just the battery, and (1) it's running down quickly (with nothing suspicious showing in Activity Monitor), and (2) it says it is connected to the charger! It's not.

I'm fearing this lovely machine may be reaching the end of its road...

Did you do an SMC reset or just an NVRAM reset? It’s not impossible that the battery (or other hardware) is just failing at this point.

 

[tamara6]

Have you tried changing the USB charging cable? Mine was displaying odd behavior (only charging in some ports, sometimes not charging at all) until I bought a new cable, and now all is well again.