Why Is My MacBook Pro Not Charging? (Explained)


Why Is My Macbook Pro Not Charging

The mobility of a MacBook Pro is one of the advantages, but what happens if your battery isn’t charging? When you plug in your laptop’s power and the charging indicator does not illuminate, it may be quite aggravating. Unfortunately, this often occurs when you least expect it. There are a variety of reasons why your Mac charger isn’t working. First and foremost, what is causing your MacBook Pro to not charge?

Why Is My Laptop Not Charging?

The power supply has failed, or the charger cable is broken. Another reason is that your Mac’s battery is overheating due to a software flaw, wrong settings, or the electrical outlet not working.

How to fix MacBook Pro not charging

To begin troubleshooting your MacBook’s battery not charging, follow these steps:

Perform a hardware inspection: Ensure that your power sockets are working properly. Next, check whether the cable has any breaks or black stains. The problem may stem from a faulty cable. Finally, you should check the ports for foreign items or dust buildup. Using a toothpick, you may clean off any material that may be blocking the connection.

Make sure Mac’s power adapter is properly connected: Apple’s adapter is made up of two parts: a rectangular component and a plug that may be removed from the wall. You can try reassembling your Mac’s battery if it doesn’t charge.

Restart your MacBook if necessary: A simple restart of your laptop may be all that is required to enable the hardware to rest and restore functionality to your Mac charger. When you see the Apple logo in the upper right corner of your screen, click Restart to restart your device.

Allow your laptop to cool down: If your computer is overheating, it may harm your device’s battery life. Whenever the thermal sensors in your laptop detect an unusually high internal temperature level, they will prevent access to the power supply. If your laptop is hot when you use it, turn it off, or use an external fan to assist in cooling it down if necessary.

If you’ve followed the above methods and your laptop is still not charging, follow these steps to fix the battery.

Perform an SMC reset (Mac removable battery).

It’s possible that resetting the SMC on your MacBook Pro might solve your battery’s charging issues. A sophisticated microprocessor manages batteries on Mac’s logic board, known as the System Management Controller (SMC).

Resetting the battery on a new MacBook Pro will depend heavily on the kind of laptop you have. The bottom of your gadget will have a rectangular portion if it was manufactured before 2012. 

Resetting the SMC on such a laptop is as simple as the following:

  • Close the lid of your MacBook.
  • You should remove the battery.
  • Hold the power button down for five seconds.
  • Switch on your Mac by reconnecting the battery pack.

How to reset the SMC (new Mac)

You’re not alone if your Mac doesn’t have a detachable battery. The SMC may be reset using a keyboard shortcut in this case:

  • Put your MacBook to sleep.
  • Connect your Apple laptop’s charger to the wall outlet.
  • Press the power button for four seconds while pressing control, shift, and option simultaneously.
  • Restart your computer by pressing the power button a second time.

How to reset SMC (T2 chip MacBook)

To begin with, follow Apple’s advice and see if you can figure out the problem without performing a reset. 

  • Ten seconds after shutting down your Mac, press and hold the power button. 
  • Afterward, reboot your Mac and try again.

Reset the SMC if the problem persists. 

  • Shut down the Mac, and then on the right side of the keyboard, hit control + option + shift. 
  • Hold the button for seven seconds, then press the power button. 
  • Press and hold four keys on your keyboard for the next seven seconds to complete the task. Then, release all your keys and switch on your Mac once again.

The SMC reset process for a desktop Mac with a T2 chip is slightly different. 

  • Disconnecting from your computer is the first step.
  • Put the cable back into the outlet and wait 15 seconds before using it again. To restart your Mac, wait a few seconds.

Restart your Apple Mac to restore the SMC to its default settings.

  • Do a health check on your battery. 
  • If you often use your MacBook’s battery, it may deplete more quickly. 
  • As a result, it’s critical to keep an eye on battery health. 
  • You may do this by holding down the Option key while clicking the battery symbol in the menu bar.

Examine the charger and the cable.

If your Mac doesn’t charge when plugged in, check your charger and cable for damage. Then, make sure the problem isn’t with the charger or cable by charging your Mac with a different one.

Examine the chargers.

Then examine your ports for debris or damage. If the ports show indications of wear, service your Mac. Try a new charger if your charging ports seem good, but your Mac still won’t charge. Try charging your charger with another Mac; if the other device charges, the issue is with your Mac.

How to extend your Mac’s battery life

You can do a few things or use the software to help keep your Mac’s battery lasting longer and avoid the MacBook Pro not charging issue. One idea is to let your laptop entirely deplete its battery before recharging it periodically. Don’t leave your MacBook plugged in all the time.

How to maintain and prevent MacBook Pro problems.

Prevent future Mac charger failures. This system monitoring tool will help you avoid Mac troubles. For example, if your battery seems to be draining too rapidly, check your settings:

  • Select Energy Saver from the System Preferences menu.
  • Ensure that the “Turn display off after” sliders in both the Battery and Power Adapter tabs are set to the smallest comfortable value.
  • Select “Put hard drives to sleep whenever feasible” from the drop-down menu.
  • “Slightly dim the display while using battery power” should be checked.

AlDente Pro: If you receive the “Service Battery” MacBook Pro indicator, your Mac is probably broken. Try AlDente Pro, battery management, to maintain battery health better and reduce Mac servicing frequency. The software allows you to establish charging restrictions, minimize overheating, and even prevent overcharging when plugged in!

iStat Menus: It frequently monitors your Mac. For example, this hidden tool will let you monitor your battery use. iStat Menus is a powerful system monitor for your Mac menu bar that displays crucial information like CPU load, disc utilization, temperature, battery life, and cycles. With this data, you may rapidly identify the issue and propose a remedy.

Endurance: Another crucial tool for extending your Mac’s battery life. It works by gradually darkening the screen, slowing down processing speed, sleeping dormant applications, and reducing Flash’s battery consumption. You may also manually alter any indicators to achieve the desired results without changing your process. Set Endurance to activate only when your battery level reaches a certain level.

Conclusion

Some of the tools you may use to extend the life of your MacBook’s battery are AlDente Pro, iStat Menus, and Endurance. Also, if you’re planning on taking your laptop on a lengthy flight or train trip, these tools will come in useful.

Eddie Mcfarren

Eddie Is no stranger to technical writing after spending years in Networking, IT Infrastructure management, and online content marketing. He is an avid researcher, Software and apps dev tester who spends hours solving problems behind the scenes. Get in touch with him via social media and you can email him via contact@gawkygeek.com

Recent Posts