Sequoia 15.7.2 Update - Killed 2019 16" MacBook Pro Battery Charging and Battery Metrics

nashville-bill wrote:

I don't know how you can state: "If the condition existed pre-Sequoia or early Sequoia then it was not related to the 15.7.2 update."

Easy ... it's just logic. Since the condition existed before 15.7.2 even came out, why would one blame the 15.7.2 update?

I was at wit's end. I then turned my attention to the power supply. I had my Belkin Thunderbolt 4 power cable connected to the laptop and to the USB-C port on an external third-party power supply. I took the original Apple power supply ("brick") -- which I had not been using -- and plugged it into the third-party power supply. Then I plugged the Belkin cable into the brick's charging port.

It's been three days now. All the problems and erratic performance have ceased. The battery remains fully charged and recharges when connected to the OEM MacBook Pro charger/power supply.

So yours was also a hardware problem (this time, the power supply). To blame 15.7.2 makes no sense in that case.

exnihlo wrote:

... he said it was a loose connector on the battery pack. Why a connection so important doesn't have a clip-to-lock feature or some other way to make it more secure is beyond me. Why this electrical connection failed the exact moment my laptop rebooted to Sequoia 15.7.2 - never to charge again is also beyond me.

I am glad you posted about what the root cause turned out to be. I think you had it figured out actually -- these connections can weaken over time with many thermal cycles, as you and the Apple technician pointed out, and can be exacerbated with the older Intel laptops. When a demanding sustained activity, such as OS update or upgrade takes place, the associated thermal cycles and stress can cause the weakened solder joint or connection to fail. This sort of "coincidence" is reported in Apple Discussions all the time but in fact they aren't necessarily just coincidences.

Intel-based I9 units come in all the time with thermal motherboard or battery damage from that I9 getting too hot from heavy usage and/or bad ventilation situations.

We have two of these 2019 16" MacBook Pro Intel units and they can get quite hot in heavy use, especially the bottom side.

I agree with you that design of these tightly enclosed laptops should take this into account.

Back in 2019, these were top of the line state of the art. The design and technology (and the chips utilized) have come a long way since then, with many improvements. I will not be surprised if mine wears out also. I will be replacing it with a new laptop soon anyway since these older Intel laptops cannot go past Tahoe.

There have been 15 releases of Sequoia since v15.0 was released. Somewhere just before or in one of those early releases my MacBook Pro experienced the "not charging the battery syndrome." There were numerous DIY fixes suggested on this forum and other sites. Nothing worked. One of the Sequoia updates fixed the problem, I don't know which one it was. Heck, there were Sequoia releases occuring weeks apart, some releases were days apart. I don't know how you can state: "If the condition existed pre-Sequoia or early Sequoia then it was not related to the 15.7.2 update." I can bear witness that after installing 15.7.2, the battery would not charge while in use or while in sleep mode. It also caused erratic problems, for example, the touch bar started cycling through modes and functions, Chrome kept locking up, and the MacBook Pro would intermittently crash. I tried all the suggestions this site offered. Nothing worked.

I was at wit's end. I then turned my attention to the power supply. I had my Belkin Thunderbolt 4 power cable connected to the laptop and to the USB-C port on an external third-party power supply. I took the original Apple power supply ("brick") -- which I had not been using -- and plugged it into the third-party power supply. Then I plugged the Belkin cable into the brick's charging port.

Viloa! It's been three days now. All the problems and erratic performance have ceased. The battery remains fully charged and recharges when connected to the OEM MacBook Pro charger/power supply.

nashville-bill wrote:

You need to study up on "cause-and-effect."

I don't think so.

I then turned my attention to the power supply. I had my Belkin Thunderbolt 4 power cable connected to the laptop and to the USB-C port on an external third-party power supply. I took the original Apple power supply ("brick") -- which I had not been using -- and plugged it into the third-party power supply. Then I plugged the Belkin cable into the brick's charging port.

From what you wrote above, it appears that your "external third-party power supply" was the cause because when you used an Apple power supply your problem went away.

Cause and effect: the third party power supply was not compatible with 15.7.2. When a compatible Apple power supply was utilized, the issue resolved.

Viloa! It's been three days now. All the problems and erratic performance have ceased. The battery remains fully charged and recharges when connected to the OEM MacBook Pro charger/power supply.

Lesson learned: third party hardware can cause problems unless compatible with the MacOS. In this case, 15.7.2.

So just to clarify ... it was NOT the 15.7.2 update that "killed" your Mac, to the contrary, there was a loose connection (hardware) that a technician addressed and resolved. Not related to 15.7.2 update. My employer has thousands of Mac laptops in use with Sequoia (15.7.2) and Tahoe and they are charging and behaving fine.

Also ...

exnihlo wrote:

Has anyone else experience this issue as of yet with the latest Sequoia 15.7.2 Update

nashville-bill wrote:

Same issue started when for me when I updated my 2020 MacBook Pro Four Thunderbolt-3 ports to 15.7.2. This was also a condition that occured pre-Sequoia or early Sequoia

If the condition existed pre-Sequoia or early Sequoia then it was not related to the 15.7.2 update.

The_Old_Crank wrote:

Good day to all..

Unfortunately, for me, I find myself suffering from almost the same scenario/problems as the author.

If that is true, then, like the author, your computer needs a hardware repair.

The problem did not exist with 15.7.1, 15.7, 15.6.1, 15.6, etc. The laptop functioned normally -- problem free -- without having to make any hardware change until 15.7.2 was installed. That was not a coincidence (which is a simpler way of saying Post hoc ergo propter hoc does not apply). There was a correlation between the software update and the problem. Testing and trial-error resulted in a workaround that enabled the laptop to function.

Apparently, some portion of the Mac OS code was changed -- either accidentally or on purpose -- to cause the problems people are encountering with the failure of the battery to suddenly quit charging. We’ll never know because Apple doesn’t do recalls that explain the problem, they just issue updates — but only if a critical mass of users bring it to their attention.

nashville-bill wrote:

The problem did not exist with 15.7.1, 15.7, 15.6.1, 15.6, etc. The laptop functioned normally -- problem free -- without having to make any hardware change until 15.7.2 was installed. That was not a coincidence (which is a simpler way of saying Post hoc ergo propter hoc does not apply). There was a correlation between the software update and the problem. Testing and trial-error resulted in a workaround that enabled the laptop to function.

Apparently, some portion of the Mac OS code was changed -- either accidentally or on purpose -- to cause the problems people are encountering with the failure of the battery to suddenly quit charging. We’ll never know because Apple doesn’t do recalls that explain the problem, they just issue updates — but only if a critical mass of users bring it to their attention.

Or, at some point, your hardware developed a fault, as it did for the original poster.

The original poster noted: I found it very odd as a 20 year network engineer that the charging failure started the moment my laptop rebooted and completed the installation of Sequoia 15.7.2. Zero issues with charging...existed before this upgrade. My situation parallels their situation.

The repeated suggestion that a hardware failure/malfunction occurred exactly at the moment the 15.7.2 update rebooted is a prime example of post hoc ergo propter hoc: a causal relationship has erroneously been assumed from a merely sequential one.

The hardware adjustments are workaround solutions to circumvent or overcome the sotware flaws, not the other way around.

This battery charging issue goes back to Sequoia 15.1.

No AC Charging After Upgrade to Sequoia 15 - Apple Community

Good day to all..

Unfortunately, for me, I find myself suffering from almost the same scenario/problems as the author.. My 13-inch, 2019, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports, MacBook Pro suddenly stopped charging when in use while charging with the Apple 60-watt charger adapter and using Apple UBB-C chord directly after installing the updates for the Sequoia 15.7.2 OIS and rebooting my laptop. Almost immediately after I begin using the laptop, while attached to the charging adapter, the lightning bolt icon within the battery icon changes to the plug icon within the battery icon in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.. I am a disabled, mobility-limited senior, with no real tech savviness whatsoever and after multiple attempts to perform the various "quick fixes" the Apple self-help window suggested, I remain unable to continuously charge my laptop while attempting to actually make use of it.. This is something of a life and death situation for me as I live alone, have severe visual impairments that make my cellular device essentially useless outside of placing actual phone calls and because I have no family, immediate or extended, live in an elevator-less 4rth floor NYC walk-up where the other tenants are in constant rotation & have problems walking this laptop is my most readily accessible means of communication with most of the outside world.. And despite having explained all of this to Apple's customer service personnel, they seemed unmoved and/or unbothered by my pleas for tech assistance over the phone.. I explained that my mobility and other health issues make traveling to an Apple Store extremely difficult and would require both physical assistance and planning ie. getting my health insurance company first to agree to provide me with car service ssistance and then booking this service, which is no small feat inandof itself, then my delicate health could, on any gi ven day, make it all for nothing anyway not to mention my limited resources being on a fixed income.. Nothing I said seemed to make any difference in the end, so If anyone can please offer me any type of assistance through this forum, assistance that needs to be explained as if you were writing it for a 5-year-old old or I won't be able to understand what's being advised..

I realize this is a lot to ask of the community here, and I understand folks are busy right now with the holidays and such, but if there's anyone out there who can help me, I'd be over the moon with gratitude..

I wasted $1950.00 buying this laptop in December 2019, after the salespeople convinced me to waste hundreds of dollars on adding memory and other gadgets that I was assured would make the laptop run faster and without issues and then never even being provided the actual $200 physical gift card I earned for wasting the nearly $2K I burned on this product Apple now feels not one iota of guilt for not assisting me now.. I am pretty certain this entire statement will be removed by the "overlords" who "edit" anything disparaging, no matter the truthfulness, as a "violation of community standards policies" like they have done twice before...

But I fight another day nonetheless,

Sincerely,

The Old Crank!

You need to study up on "cause-and-effect." It was a software modification (15.7.2) that required what appears to be power-management hardware adjustment. For me, the problem did not exist with 15.7.1, 15.7, 15.6.1, 15.6, etc. The laptop functioned normally -- problem free -- without having to make any hardware change until 15.7.2 was installed. Apparently, some portion of the Mac OS code was changed -- either accidentally or on purpose -- to cause the problems people are encountering. Your logic is baffling and your reasoning is flawed.

nashville-bill wrote:

The repeated suggestion that a hardware failure/malfunction occurred exactly at the moment the 15.7.2 update rebooted is a prime example of post hoc ergo propter hoc: a causal relationship has erroneously been assumed from a merely sequential one.

You've got it backwards. A sequential occurrence has been erroneously assumed to be a causal relationship.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/post%20hoc%2C%20ergo%20propter%20hoc

nashville-bill wrote:

The hardware adjustments are workaround solutions to circumvent or overcome the sotware flaws, not the other way around.

So you are currently running on 15.7.2 and your charging is working correctly with the Apple original power supply (charger). Yet you still claim that 15.7.2 introduces a failure of charging and battery operation. Despite the fact that you are using it now WITHOUT such failure.

The incompatibility of third party chargers/batteries and the like with MacOS is not uncommon and sometimes those incompatibilities come to the surface when an update is performed. It is the responsibility of third party providers to ensure their products are compatible with the MacOS. It is not the responsibility of Apple to ensure that its computers work with every third party charger out there on the market.

What is the model and manufacturer of your third party charger that doesn't work with 15.7.2? That would be useful information you could provide for Mac users reading these Discussions.