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Macbook Pro 2015 battery suddenly drops from 50% to 0% ZERO.

I recently bought a 2015 MBP from a private seller. The battery says it only has 4 cycles which leads me to believe they put a new battery in before selling it (I vaguely remember them saying something about this):



It's been running fine (mostly in clamshell mode/plugged into power) but today while using it portable the battery suddenly dropped from around 50% to 0% and the system shut down, right in the middle of copying a large file from an external USB HDD I might add:



Does anyone know what might have caused this? Is it a known fault? Did the previous seller put a bad battery in? Or is it something to do with me connecting the USB HDD?? It shouldn't happen like this....

MacBook Pro

Posted on Jan 25, 2022 12:31 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 25, 2022 3:19 AM

Hi,

Resetting SMC could solve the power related issues.

How to reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support

If it doesn't help, try to check your MacBook Pro battery with Apple Diagnostics if it reports battery related error.

Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support

Apple Diagnostics reference codes - Apple Support


3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 25, 2022 3:19 AM in response to peanutismint

Hi,

Resetting SMC could solve the power related issues.

How to reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support

If it doesn't help, try to check your MacBook Pro battery with Apple Diagnostics if it reports battery related error.

Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support

Apple Diagnostics reference codes - Apple Support


Jan 25, 2022 5:59 PM in response to peanutismint

The previous owner installed a third party battery in the laptop since the manufacturer is listed as "TOP". Unfortunately the quality of third party Lithium-ion Batteries is extremely poor even when purchased from a respected vendor such as OWC or iFixIt. Your best option is to replace the battery with one from OWC, but it is a difficult & risky process since the battery is glued to the underside of the palmrest & trackpad. Be very careful not to physically damage the battery since it can be easily bent and punctured which may result in a fire. OWC has instructional videos on their product page showing how to replace the battery (it always looks easier than it is).

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Apple/Laptop/Batteries


The Apple Diagnostics will most likely report an error with the battery just because it is a third party battery.


Also, I hope you performed a clean install of macOS by first erasing the whole physical drive before reinstalling macOS so that you have a factory fresh OS and file system. You never know what nasty surprises may have been left behind. Performing a clean install will instantly tell you whether a firmware lock has been enabled and perhaps even whether the laptop is still being managed by a previous owner. Here is what the previous owner should have done before selling the Mac:

What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support


Even if the previous owner performed a clean install, I still highly recommend users do their own clean install just to be sure it was done and done correctly.

Feb 11, 2022 12:29 AM in response to peanutismint

I have the same issue. If I remove my charger, the MBP stays on for random periods of time and then just dies. It might be 2 mins or 20 mins or 2 hours; there's no telling. I tried an SMC reset and all that but no luck. I've only had this computer about 2 years and never had any issues. I believe it's a software problem. The system shows the battery condition is normal and cycle count 475.

Macbook Pro 2015 battery suddenly drops from 50% to 0% ZERO.

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