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What to do when the MacBook battery drains in Sleep

A couple of weeks ago my MacBook battery started to drain heavily when the computer was in sleep (standby) mode. This was really troubling – and while I was still getting a decent enough run on a full charge, a “Service Battery” notice also appeared on the power menu.

Service Battert notfication for the macbook pro

The fix? A reset of the System Management Controller:

In some cases, resetting the SMC may be the only correct method to resolve the issue, however, an SMC reset should only be attempted after all other standard troubleshooting has been performed.

From Apple support site,  Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

That didn’t remove the notice from the power menu, but the battery draining issue is gone.

Yoav

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One response to “What to do when the MacBook battery drains in Sleep”

  1. cfbastarz Avatar
    cfbastarz

    Hi!

    This happens to my 1-yr old macbook pro. Firstly I tried to “recalibrate” the battery, from which I could supposed a problem solved. After a couple of weeks ago, it just happened again and a full discharge and charge did not solve the problem. Then, I decided to do the SMC reset. Again, it seems to solved the problem and them the message “Service Battery” appears again. After search here and there, I figured out that the message indicates the battery needs some kind of “service”. Obviously the battery needed a “recalibration” cycle which consists of a full and completely discharge of the battery, letting it to rest in the dead for at least 5 hours, and after that, a full recharge for at least 5 or more hours without any use. This fixed the problem. Indeed, that fact that the battery need some kind of service, indicates that it is a little bit exhausted and its time to keep an eye on it. The cocoanut battery program can tells you an estimate of how healthly is your battery. Apple says that every new macbook pro battery should retains 80% of its original capacity after 1000 (one thousand) cycles of use. Mine is at 78~79%.

    Cheers,

    Carlos

    Reply

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