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macbook pro 2019 entry level battery issues
- Thread starter leoshaun
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Yeah, it seem pretty obvious what is causing that. I guess SMC reset is just way to work around to avoid actual problem but does not cure it.
You see charge cycles increasing crazy fast in your machines?
In mine it has stabilized to around 75-80% per charge cycle. I guess that simply translates to that battery health is only below 80%.
You see charge cycles increasing crazy fast in your machines?
In mine it has stabilized to around 75-80% per charge cycle. I guess that simply translates to that battery health is only below 80%.
Sorry I don't have time to spend on battery debugging. This is something apple employees should have done since they're the ones that receive salary, not me. I am actually debating whether to keep it OR return and re-buy in September before the student discount expires. If I keep it my plan is to use it for as long as possible and before the 1 yr warranty lapses go and get a new battery. What I am afraid of though, that they will somehow fix this hardware issue with a software patch and refuse the new battery, thus I will be stuck with a lemon battery forever.
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Most (all?) of the problem batteries appear to have been from machines with the standard 1.4/8/128 or 1.4/8/256 configurations. All the folks with CTO builds appear to be having no issues.
I agree, it is not our job to do but what you gonna do, these are what they are. Then again how much time you have already spent getting machines replaced one after another?
From reports about serial numbers and battery issues, it seems this has been going on for a while so I doubt waiting for September makes no difference. I would not hold my breath for any official statement either, unless some safety issues arise later which makes situation different. Then again, who knows if this is just some sw bug is some hw parts that gets fixed later. Maybe just look up tables used to estimate battery are wrong.
Anyway, isn't it so that when keyboard is replaced they will change whole top case? Since from what I saw in Fixit review battery is also glued to top case, so wont we get new battery with each keyboard replacement, so that would essentially give 4 year for battery too?
Have all your three units had the same brand battery (which brand)?
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Define all the folks? Have you seen more than one CTO owner testing their machines with ways described in this thread?
I'm not sure how many peoples even ever test how low they can take the battery let alone measure how much actual battery percentage they can get until charge cycles increases. Not complaining is no guarantee there is none.
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Only talking about the case where machine shuts down when the battery is at some % that is >> 0%. It seems like there have been several complaints from folks with standard configs but none from folks with CTO configs. I have seen 2 so far about CTO config being fine and none saying they exhibit this problem.
As to the cinebench testing, I'm not following that one as closely. I agree with your sentiment on getting more test data. But it looks like the problem affects both DSY and Simplo batteries?
Yeah, but only two don't make all. Could be just that folks ordering CTO machines don't much waste time on testing this.
I'd say these things are all more or less related, peoples are just more or less concentrating issues they find important to them.
I've seen also some reports from owners with DSY battery but much less rarely and there is at least one in this thread who got unit with DSY battery and never seen any of these issues anymore (returned ones were with SMP). Again impossible to draw any conclusions from these.
I know one guy from different forum who ordered 16/128, did two "full to empty" cycles and had zero issues.
Could be just luck or then not. I guess with CTO you get the newest battery and it has not been sitting in storage for a long. But again if battery degrades so fast (in case this has anything to do with battery mf date), then you don't think your are not gonna have this problem after few weeks with CTO unit...? Again just a wild guess. I think issue might be battery and battery monitoring sw look up tables do not meet, for reason that I can only guess.
I appreciate your sentiment and trying to trace the problem, but you cant make statements like this.
On the flip side, you could argue that maybe 5 people have issues with shutdowns but that doesn't mean all.
Not all CTO buyers are enthusiast closely following a forum for the base model MacBook Pro to report results to your tests.
It could also be that the ones who you claim have not done the test, have no issues and no need to come on here to report that they have no issues.
@ghanwani statement makes sense. The ones with CTO like me don't have this issue so from the sample that tis available it seems to be the stock models with this issue.
Well, I used word could. Anyway, using the same analogy, I say you cannot either make statement like you just made.
Can you enlight me what you think is the reason CTO units do not suffer from this? They are better parts for some reason or what? If you think they are build from the better parts, then why they cost the same as stock units with the same configuration?
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Well, used word could. Anyway, using the the analogy I say you cannot either make statement like you just made.
Can you enlight me what you think is the reason CTO units do not suffer from this? They are better parts for some reason or what? If you think they are build from the better parts, then why they cost the same as stock units with the same configuration?
What I said may have come off the wrong way, I wasn't having a go at you, I was merely trying to put a bit more reasoning into action.
I cant enlighten you as to the reason why as anything I say will be pure speculation.
I was just saying that we have a certain sample size and that tells us CTO models are not affected. You mentioned there was 2 people (one being me I assume) that don't have issues with CTO machines. There was one other reported here a few posts ago. Plus one more that I know off that isn't on the forum. So that's 4 CTO owners with no issues vs 4 stock model users that do?
We cant speculate any further as we simply do not have any more information available to us.
Do I think people should have this problem? absolutely not, we bought the same grade computer we should have the same parts.
I did not mean to sound so "grumpy" either but, yeah I agree that we can only make assumptions what could cause this. Anyway, I think these few CTO units of course are encouraging that none of them so far reported seeing battery issues, but again I think CTO units are so much less common that sample is just too small.
If battery mf date, like one above suggested seeing correlation with, could be something like battery self discharge/resistance and battery meter confusion causing issue where meter goes out of whack. CTO units as being shipped directly to customer after manufacturing of course lessen such occurrence, if it has anything to do with that. Again pure speculation and did not seem to affect my unit which had something like 1,5 month old battery when I got it.
Also one peculiar thing that might be common with shut down issue units, is that did they all came with 100% battery charged out of the box? I've seen quite many mentioning that, so that might be also one clue.
Mine came with typical about 80% charge as Apple gear usually does, and I used it without charging until 26% without problem.
If battery mf date, like one above suggested seeing correlation with, could be something like battery self discharge/resistance and battery meter confusion causing issue where meter goes out of whack. CTO units as being shipped directly to customer after manufacturing of course lessen such occurrence, if it has anything to do with that. Again pure speculation and did not seem to affect my unit which had something like 1,5 month old battery when I got it.
Also one peculiar thing that might be common with shut down issue units, is that did they all came with 100% battery charged out of the box? I've seen quite many mentioning that, so that might be also one clue.
Mine came with typical about 80% charge as Apple gear usually does, and I used it without charging until 26% without problem.
Happy to report my battery has been great the last three discharges. Getting 8.5 hours mixed usage, no drops running cinebench, no random shutdowns, and no accelerated cycle counting. Seems it needed a little bit extra time to calibrate. Or something. I don't know.
In any event I'm quite happy with my machine now. Other than the dreaded touchbar, anyway
In any event I'm quite happy with my machine now. Other than the dreaded touchbar, anyway
Interesting that everyone else see their machines getting better. Mine just lost overnight about 25% charge when it was powered off.
I’m pretty sure nobody notice trackpad being slightly tilted when sliding finger around edges and feel the trackpad height in relation to aluminum chassis?
I mean when you keep your fingertip placed half on the trackpad and half of the chassis and then slide it around the edges all around. Seem to be s bit different depending on if machine is hot or cold when just powered on, but just minimal amounth that would be impossible to notice unless trackpad was placed almost flush to chassis in one corner and when it just goes up some 0.0X millmeters when hot.
I’m pretty sure nobody notice trackpad being slightly tilted when sliding finger around edges and feel the trackpad height in relation to aluminum chassis?
I mean when you keep your fingertip placed half on the trackpad and half of the chassis and then slide it around the edges all around. Seem to be s bit different depending on if machine is hot or cold when just powered on, but just minimal amounth that would be impossible to notice unless trackpad was placed almost flush to chassis in one corner and when it just goes up some 0.0X millmeters when hot.
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It probably had 2 cycles when you got it so I don't see any issues.
There usually should not be more than 1 charge cycle when it is new. Actually most Apple gear I've had came with 0 cycles out of the box. My MBP came with 1 cycle on the counter out of the box. The only time I've seen 2 cycles on the counter was when I bought iPhone X (brand new sealed retail unit for official dealer) at the end of last year. It obviously had interesting history as manufacturing date based on the serial was earlier than what the date marking on the box said. So obviously it had been charged again at the factory for some reason. BTW. that unit has had always very weak battery.
But since poster said he ran battery from 100% to 4% machine may be counting cycles faster than actual 100% use. Mine seem to have accumulated 1 cycle increase in about every 50% to 90%, speed seems increasing all the time.
Also it is usually uncommon to receive machine with battery 100% charged. Usually Apple gear seem to come with about 80% charged battery.
So, I'd say keep the close eye on the battery performance if you also see any peculiar things with it, like noticeable FCC fluctuation under high cpu load or similar. That seems to be also rare issue only few are suffering from.
I made that mistake I kept ignoring all these red flags with mine as there was not much comments about battery back when I got mine (tried to convince myself they are normal for this model) and now it is too late to return and since battery is over 80% capacity it is not considered faulty... Battery life has taken a big downfall in past few days in my unit, it was much better than now just few days ago.
Anyway you mentioned your ran over 10 hours on first charge is actually very good. For example mine has just fall 100% to 37% in just about 4,5 hours running Safari. It used to be more.
But since poster said he ran battery from 100% to 4% machine may be counting cycles faster than actual 100% use. Mine seem to have accumulated 1 cycle increase in about every 50% to 90%, speed seems increasing all the time.
Also it is usually uncommon to receive machine with battery 100% charged. Usually Apple gear seem to come with about 80% charged battery.
So, I'd say keep the close eye on the battery performance if you also see any peculiar things with it, like noticeable FCC fluctuation under high cpu load or similar. That seems to be also rare issue only few are suffering from.
I made that mistake I kept ignoring all these red flags with mine as there was not much comments about battery back when I got mine (tried to convince myself they are normal for this model) and now it is too late to return and since battery is over 80% capacity it is not considered faulty... Battery life has taken a big downfall in past few days in my unit, it was much better than now just few days ago.
Anyway you mentioned your ran over 10 hours on first charge is actually very good. For example mine has just fall 100% to 37% in just about 4,5 hours running Safari. It used to be more.
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Those who "fixed" their unexpected shut down issues by doing SMC reset, how is it working in the long term?
I saw some other forum that this fix turned out to be just a temporary solution and problem come back again later.
I haven't done SMC reset on my unit since mine has not suffered from this issue (which is a miracle as mine seem to be plagued with other small issues) but I noticed that latest big Mojave update (the one released this week) may have done something. It did not change right after applying, it but suddenly dropped battery charge 25% over night when it was powered off!! Then seemed to work but issue with Cinebench or similar load test resulting FCC drop was still there.
Anyway, after charging it again later and left it plugged on charger for additional 2 hours I noticed some change. This time battery level started to drop almost immediately after unplugging charger (lately it has took 1,5-2 hours before it has dropped under 100% for the first time) and then later on I have ran 2 CB tests at about 70% and 45% (or so) battery and there was no FCC drop (this is the first time I see this). However battery charge level drop very fast, in about 4 hour 20 minutes battery has dropped from 100% to 40% (that include 2 CB runs, so total about 7% wasted there). I used to get much more use until battery dropped to 40% earlier.
So I'm not sure if the latest Mojave update did bring some "band-aid" for battery issues or not because it could have been just some coincidence what I'm seeing with mine as it did not change immediately after applying update but much later after charging in again few days later.
Anyway, I need to keep an eye on this, as I think what this may have done is related to that 25% over night charge level drop, maybe battery is really only 75% "health" despite of what it claims it to be, and it just compensate battery meter to that.
I saw some other forum that this fix turned out to be just a temporary solution and problem come back again later.
I haven't done SMC reset on my unit since mine has not suffered from this issue (which is a miracle as mine seem to be plagued with other small issues) but I noticed that latest big Mojave update (the one released this week) may have done something. It did not change right after applying, it but suddenly dropped battery charge 25% over night when it was powered off!! Then seemed to work but issue with Cinebench or similar load test resulting FCC drop was still there.
Anyway, after charging it again later and left it plugged on charger for additional 2 hours I noticed some change. This time battery level started to drop almost immediately after unplugging charger (lately it has took 1,5-2 hours before it has dropped under 100% for the first time) and then later on I have ran 2 CB tests at about 70% and 45% (or so) battery and there was no FCC drop (this is the first time I see this). However battery charge level drop very fast, in about 4 hour 20 minutes battery has dropped from 100% to 40% (that include 2 CB runs, so total about 7% wasted there). I used to get much more use until battery dropped to 40% earlier.
So I'm not sure if the latest Mojave update did bring some "band-aid" for battery issues or not because it could have been just some coincidence what I'm seeing with mine as it did not change immediately after applying update but much later after charging in again few days later.
Anyway, I need to keep an eye on this, as I think what this may have done is related to that 25% over night charge level drop, maybe battery is really only 75% "health" despite of what it claims it to be, and it just compensate battery meter to that.
There usually should not be more than 1 charge cycle when it is new. Actually most Apple gear I've had came with 0 cycles out of the box. My MBP came with 1 cycle on the counter out of the box. The only time I've seen 2 cycles on the counter was when I bought iPhone X (brand new sealed retail unit for official dealer) at the end of last year. It obviously had interesting history as manufacturing date based on the serial was earlier than what the date marking on the box said. So obviously it had been charged again at the factory for some reason. BTW. that unit has had always very weak battery.
But since poster said he ran battery from 100% to 4% machine may be counting cycles faster than actual 100% use. Mine seem to have accumulated 1 cycle increase in about every 50% to 90%, speed seems increasing all the time.
Also it is usually uncommon to receive machine with battery 100% charged. Usually Apple gear seem to come with about 80% charged battery.
So, I'd say keep the close eye on the battery performance if you also see any peculiar things with it, like noticeable FCC fluctuation under high cpu load or similar. That seems to be also rare issue only few are suffering from.
I made that mistake I kept ignoring all these red flags with mine as there was not much comments about battery back when I got mine (tried to convince myself they are normal for this model) and now it is too late to return and since battery is over 80% capacity it is not considered faulty... Battery life has taken a big downfall in past few days in my unit, it was much better than now just few days ago.
Anyway you mentioned your ran over 10 hours on first charge is actually very good. For example mine has just fall 100% to 37% in just about 4,5 hours running Safari. It used to be more.
will keep an eye on battery statistics and behaviour over the next weeks. Thanks for the info
OK, battery meter definitely seemed to act different way now. Not sure if this has something to do with the latest Mojave update, but I don't see what else could have changed something after using the machine for 1.5 months without seeing any change until now all the sudden... I have to keep an eye on this and see if it stays like that after charging it again. Also looks like running times on battery are worse now.
Definitely something has changed in my unit after the latest Mojave update last week. Not sure it that was the reason or not, as the change I'm noticing did not happen immediately but next days after charging the machine again.
Anyway, the good things are so far that battery meter seems to act more reasonable so that charge level from 100% (in Coconut, or course as it shows the actual real charge level) drop almost immediately (it was before update in situation where I could run it for 1,5-2 hours until it dropped under 100% the first time). Also full charge capacity does not seem to drop under high load like Cinebench test but stays pretty steadily where is was before running the test. Also charge cycle counting seems more reasonable in percentages as I got just little over 92% of use until it increased the last time.
Then the bad things. Battery life in generally is now very poor, I just got under 5 hours until battery went from 100% to about 36%!!!. Also while charge cycle counting seems more reasonable in percentages, when I compare actual running time on battery to the time where I had it increasing crazy fast (like around 60% or so), the actual time in hours is much less now (just below 7 hours per 1 charge cycle increase now). Also under high load test (Cinebench) the total charge level drop is somewhat higher than before when FCC used to do huge dips.
As to sum up. Is seems as if it does not allow to use full capacity of the battery any more, or battery just has lost its capacity in just 24 charge cycles (which is possible too these days). Is it simply possible that they adjusted something so that you cannot run battery as low as before to "fix" issues where some peoples saw their machine suddenly turning off when battery meter was still showing around 20 to 45% charge left?? Mine never seemed to have that problem with turning off but I could see battery voltage getting very low at low charge percentages and that FCC fluctuation got crazy high at the lower charge levels. I also never done SMC reset in my unit. Definitely looks like it does not allow to run battery as low as before...
It would be nice to hear if anyone else has been keeping an eye on their units and saw any charge happening recently? Probably again something nobody else is seeing with their machines...
Anyway, the good things are so far that battery meter seems to act more reasonable so that charge level from 100% (in Coconut, or course as it shows the actual real charge level) drop almost immediately (it was before update in situation where I could run it for 1,5-2 hours until it dropped under 100% the first time). Also full charge capacity does not seem to drop under high load like Cinebench test but stays pretty steadily where is was before running the test. Also charge cycle counting seems more reasonable in percentages as I got just little over 92% of use until it increased the last time.
Then the bad things. Battery life in generally is now very poor, I just got under 5 hours until battery went from 100% to about 36%!!!. Also while charge cycle counting seems more reasonable in percentages, when I compare actual running time on battery to the time where I had it increasing crazy fast (like around 60% or so), the actual time in hours is much less now (just below 7 hours per 1 charge cycle increase now). Also under high load test (Cinebench) the total charge level drop is somewhat higher than before when FCC used to do huge dips.
As to sum up. Is seems as if it does not allow to use full capacity of the battery any more, or battery just has lost its capacity in just 24 charge cycles (which is possible too these days). Is it simply possible that they adjusted something so that you cannot run battery as low as before to "fix" issues where some peoples saw their machine suddenly turning off when battery meter was still showing around 20 to 45% charge left?? Mine never seemed to have that problem with turning off but I could see battery voltage getting very low at low charge percentages and that FCC fluctuation got crazy high at the lower charge levels. I also never done SMC reset in my unit. Definitely looks like it does not allow to run battery as low as before...
It would be nice to hear if anyone else has been keeping an eye on their units and saw any charge happening recently? Probably again something nobody else is seeing with their machines...
This is so annoying and sad. Why don't you go to Apple and report the issue?Definitely something has changed in my unit after the latest Mojave update last week. Not sure it that was the reason or not, as the change I'm noticing did not happen immediately but next days after charging the machine again.
Anyway, the good things are so far that battery meter seems to act more reasonable so that charge level from 100% (in Coconut, or course as it shows the actual real charge level) drop almost immediately (it was before update in situation where I could run it for 1,5-2 hours until it dropped under 100% the first time). Also full charge capacity does not seem to drop under high load like Cinebench test but stays pretty steadily where is was before running the test. Also charge cycle counting seems more reasonable in percentages as I got just little over 92% of use until it increased the last time.
Then the bad things. Battery life in generally is now very poor, I just got under 5 hours until battery went from 100% to about 36%!!!. Also while charge cycle counting seems more reasonable in percentages, when I compare actual running time on battery to the time where I had it increasing crazy fast (like around 60% or so), the actual time in hours is much less now (just below 7 hours per 1 charge cycle increase now). Also under high load test (Cinebench) the total charge level drop is somewhat higher than before when FCC used to do huge dips.
As to sum up. Is seems as if it does not allow to use full capacity of the battery any more, or battery just has lost its capacity in just 24 charge cycles (which is possible too these days). Is it simply possible that they adjusted something so that you cannot run battery as low as before to "fix" issues where some peoples saw their machine suddenly turning off when battery meter was still showing around 20 to 45% charge left?? Mine never seemed to have that problem with turning off but I could see battery voltage getting very low at low charge percentages and that FCC fluctuation got crazy high at the lower charge levels. I also never done SMC reset in my unit. Definitely looks like it does not allow to run battery as low as before...
It would be nice to hear if anyone else has been keeping an eye on their units and saw any charge happening recently? Probably again something nobody else is seeing with their machines...
For many reasons and not least for that I don't want to send my unit for abused and kicked around (my experience with every manufacturers service center is that product never comes back without some additional marks or some other build quality issues) if this turns out to be some other than hardware issue after all. Just too many peoples seem to have odd battery issues with this model. Just check Apple discussion forum, it has several new threads about battery problem every day...