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Display & battery issue – what is going on?

I dropped my MacBook Pro onto the floor from knee-height. And the problems began…

Day 1

  • The backlight died  — I could boot up, but the screen was black. When I switched on, I got 5 seconds of backlight (i.e, on the startup screen) and then nothing.
  • It was also temperamental: horrible slow-churn noise at startup; and I could see by shining a torch that it was sometimes booting into New Computer mode (Select language, etc). Sometimes, it was switching itself off on its own. The keyboard was also sometimes unresponsive
  • Attaching a monitor, it showed life for about 20 seconds … But then the same again: The external display died, it said “No display” on the monitor.

I posted the issue to iFixit (see Can I just switch in a new logic board with no problems?) and Dan surmised that it was a battery issue. So I switched in an old battery from a spare A1278 MBP and, BINGO, the backlight came back on.

Problem solved!.…. But then

Day 2:

I bought a brand new Runpower battery as a fresh replacement.

  • I put it in the dropped MBP and … er, nothing … no power. Even with the Magsafe plugged in, the computer wouldn’t even boot up. Odd. Worrying.
  • Was the new Runpower battery faulty? No. I put in my spare A1278 MBP and it had 72% charge and powered that laptop up fine. Tried it again in my dropped MBP … No sign of life.
  • Was it my dropped laptop? No. I put the spare A1278’s battery in my dropped MBP … and the dropped MBP worked fine again. So it was just the brand new Runpower battery that wouldn’t work in it (even though it would work in my spare A1278)

But… Then, while trying to work out what was happening there:

Day 3:

The ‘faulty’ laptop (now with my spare battery in it) became incredibly touch-sensitive. If I moved it even slightly, or touched the left side of the keypad, the display would go off. Backlight issues again! Gahhh. And again, it would sometimes just shut itself off.

And then today…

Day 4:

  • Suddenly, for no reason, it seems to be working again fine! No touch-sensitivity. It’s like my old Macbook Pro again.
  • The fans are going crazy whenever I’m using it. But other than that, it’s working.
  • AND it now works with not just my spare battery but also the brand new Runpower battery! AND with the original battery from when I dropped the laptop - the one that had “caused the issues” in the first place!

Does anyone know what on earth is going on here? I can’t feel that this is properly fixed, but I don’t know what’s happening.

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In response to Dan’s request on my original thread (Can I just switch in a new logic board with no problems?), here are image captures of battery information:


BATTERY “A”: The battery that was inside the laptop when I dropped the laptop

The laptop & backlight do now work with this battery in (for some reason). But

• it makes a strange sound (long, slow whirring) when you switch on the laptop

•  the fans are running very loud.

• The Magsafe is amber — but I think it always has been like that. (Because it’s a non-OEM battery?)

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BATTERY “B”: The battery from my spare A1278 MBP.

• I believe this is an Apple OEM battery.

• Laptop works fine with this battery in.

• Magsafe is green.

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BATTERY “C”: A brand new Runpower battery I purchased last week

Laptop initially would not recognise this battery when I first purchased it – it wouldn’t boot up. Now, suddenly, it works. But:

• the fans are running very loud

• the Magsafe is orange

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