MacBook Pro won't charge while in use
Symptom: while plugged into a charger with plenty of available power, the MacBook battery menu bar icon shows the "plug" symbol and will not charge the battery. The MacBook will simply run until the battery dies, even if plugged in. I note that the chargers involved don't get warm, they are not delivering power to the MacBook.
If the battery icon in the menu bar is observed, one can see that it momentarily shows the lightning bolt (charging) symbol, then reverts to not charging (plug symbol). This happens every few seconds.
Workaround: put the MacBook to sleep. It will charge during sleep, but will revert to bad behavior once in use and drain the battery again.
Upshot: there is no way to use the laptop for extended periods while connected to power.
What has been done:
- Reset SMC and NVRAM (no change)
- Reinstall macOS Sonoma (no change)
- Try different chargers and cables (original Apple 60w, Anker 60w, 87w CalDigit TS3+ ThunderBolt hub, no change)
Notes: if booted into Recovery Mode, battery charging works normally.
This is my wife's 2019 MacBook Pro 13". It has an Intel I5 CPU and 16GB RAM running macOS 14.2, and has been working fine until now. She does not strain this Mac at all, and just runs Mail, Calendar and Microsoft Word all day.
Is this familiar to anyone?
I'm stumped and about to call Apple for a repair.
MacBook Pro (2017 – 2020)