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User profile for user: purplearth_Z
purplearth_Z Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

MacBook Pro, battery suddenly drops from 90+% to 7%

Is there something in the "metering" hardware/software that could cause this?


I get a reverse of this symptom when I plug the charger in. It never gets to 20% before it suddenly says it's full (100%). If I decide to run on battery, I'll start at 98-100%, and before it gets to 90 it suddenly drops to 7% (lately it's been dropping to 2%).


I suspect my battery is toast and is due for a refresh, but I've had experiences where that doesn't fix it. So I'd like to know if there are other possible causes for these symptoms, and how I can rule them out.


Thanks in advance.

MacBook Pro 15″, OS X 10.11

Posted on May 24, 2021 2:25 PM

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User profile for user: MrHoffman
MrHoffman
Community+ 2024
User level: Level 10
124,405 points

Posted on May 24, 2021 2:51 PM

Bad battery seems quite possible, particularly on a Mac still running OS X 10.11; a fairly old Mac…


Check your battery cycle count, and battery health information:

Click or tap > Determine battery cycle count for Mac notebooks - Apple Support


Reset the NVRAM and SMC, and test again:

> Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

> How to reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support


If your Mac supports it, I’d suggest an upgrade from OS X 10.11, too:

> How to get old versions of macOS - Apple Support


Apple does offer battery swaps for many Macs, if you wish to preserve this Mac a little longer.

> Mac Repair - Official Apple Support

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User profile for user: MrHoffman
MrHoffman
Community+ 2024
User level: Level 10
124,405 points

May 24, 2021 2:51 PM in response to purplearth_Z

Bad battery seems quite possible, particularly on a Mac still running OS X 10.11; a fairly old Mac…


Check your battery cycle count, and battery health information:

Click or tap > Determine battery cycle count for Mac notebooks - Apple Support


Reset the NVRAM and SMC, and test again:

> Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

> How to reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support


If your Mac supports it, I’d suggest an upgrade from OS X 10.11, too:

> How to get old versions of macOS - Apple Support


Apple does offer battery swaps for many Macs, if you wish to preserve this Mac a little longer.

> Mac Repair - Official Apple Support

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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
59,852 points

May 25, 2021 7:53 PM in response to purplearth_Z

Apple has a lot of free battery replacement programs (some publicly acknowledged and some that are not).


Here is one specifically for the 2016/2017 non-Touchbar model:

https://support.apple.com/13-inch-macbook-pro-solid-state-drive-service


Here is one for the older Magsafe MBPro 15" (2015) model:

https://support.apple.com/15-inch-macbook-pro-battery-recall


FYI, here is the current list of the publicly acknowledged free repair programs for various Apple products (some products have multiple programs available):

https://support.apple.com/service-programs

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MacBook Pro, battery suddenly drops from 90+% to 7%

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