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MacBook Pro Battery/Trackpad Repair

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MarkJFine
Professor

MacBook Pro Battery/Trackpad Repair

If you have a MacBook Pro that's been in heavy use for 5 years, chances are (like me) your internal battery is toast.


Li-Ion batteries tend to swell when they're beginning the death knell, and such has been the case with mine. I've actually had a spare one for an older 2008 MacBook launch off bookshelf when it swelled (read: exploded).

 

A good indicator of this in later models is when your trackpad no longer has enough freedom to click because the six-pad battery is puttng too much pressure between the backplate and trackpad.


So, I finally broke down and ordered a replacement battery off Amazon. It came today.

 

Despite the horror stories of needed a putty knife to remove the old one, I had the old one out and the new one temprorarily installed within 30'. A good lot of that time was removing the ten screws on the backplate, and two that hold the battery connector stable.

 

The batteries are attached to the frame with a tape adhesive. I left the cover on the tape until I've run the battery through a full cycle and see that it works as it should. Then I'll go back in and make it permanent.

Old battery. You can see how badly it was swollen.Old battery. You can see how badly it was swollen.Old battery out. The trackpad is just under the center plate in a darker color.Old battery out. The trackpad is just under the center plate in a darker color.New battery installed. See how nice and flat and firm the segments are?New battery installed. See how nice and flat and firm the segments are?


* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.
16 REPLIES 16
alfresco
Senior

I have a late 2010 macbook air I bought off of Craigslist about a year ago. It only had abou 375 cycles on the battery it now has 675 and the battery life seems to have shortened considerably. (maybe because of age?) I noticed you mentioned putty knives I've found a 5 in 1 painters tool  works well for opening mac mini's, I've bought alot of mac mini's at thrift stores and had to open them to replace the airport card that seems to be the thing that goes out on them.

Actually, what they recommend is a thread soaked in rubbing alcohol. It supposedly breaks down the adhesive cleanly, but that still sounds a bit messy to me.

I recently bought a Tekton kit off of Amazon that's a tinkerer's dream. Not only has the PL1.2 and T4 bits needed to uncork all the screws, but has a magnetic mat to keep them in one place when you've taken them out (and geometrically positioned to where you got them from - I like screws to go back exactly where they came from). But it also came with these two. Came in real handy here.
IMG_0248a.jpg


* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.

I'm going to have to get me one of those Tekton kitsSmiley Happy Hopefully my wife has enough in her pay pal. Smiley Happy

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@alfrescowrote:

I've bought alot of mac mini's at thrift stores and had to open them to replace the airport card that seems to be the thing that goes out on them.


Do they verify that they actually work before they sell them, or are they a kind of an "as is" thing?  How much do you usually find them for?  

 

I've always been a little leary about buying electronics from second hand places.  

 

 

They're an as is kind of thing. I only buy them if they're Cheap enough to where if I brick them it's no big deal. The ones I've bought have been $ 5.00. I'm using the last mac mini I bought as a media center.

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

$5.00?  Are you serious?  OMG.  

 

I think I'm going to take a trip to a thrift store in the city.  Heck.  That cheap?  I was figuring at least a couple hundred.  

Yeah, my at the time  local Goodwill store was kind of clueless to the value. I've found buffalo air stations for $ 5.00. I can't guarantee you'll find the same deals.Smiley Happy Smiley Happy

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

We've got a Goodwill store and Salvation Army store in the town where I go shopping.  A mom and pops thrift store, too.  I may very well check them out when I next go.  

 

Thanks for the info.  🙂  

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

That's amazing, Mark. I didn't know the batteries swelled up like that with age.

@maratsade

Yes. Lithium batteries are like explosive weapons when not taken care of properly. In fact, one of the reasons why I live in Virginia is because Lithium batteries weren't allowed on aircraft in the mid 80's.

I was bringing several military radio systems down here from NJ for testing. I Looked around, noticed the cost of living (including house prices) was like 1/3 to 1/5 of what it was in Monmouth County. Went home and told my wife we were moving. Been here since '87.

#TrueStory


* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.

Is that an OEM replacement battery? I have'nt had good luck with non OEM batteries, the last one I replaced I couldn't get the Macbook to recognize the battery had the same problem with an I pod.

This was an Ansanor A1417 replacement. $62 on Amazon.

It charged, discharged and fully re-charged just fine. So I opened it back up, took the tape covers off (also the extra clear tape across the front - don't want that heating up), and made it permanent today.


* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@MarkJFinewrote:

 

 I Looked around, noticed the cost of living (including house prices) was like 1/3 to 1/5 of what it was in Monmouth County.

That's changed a bit.  😛  

 

I remember in '99 I was looking for an apartment in Fairfax, as that's where I worked, and one bedroom apartments were starting at about $1400.  The complex right across from where I worked started at about $1800.  I'm sure they're higher, now.  And houses?  Forget it.  I would have had to have gone WAY out in the burbs to be able to afford one.  

 

I stuck with the one bedroom apartment I had in Manassas, which was nearly $1k.  I moved to Hagerstown, MD in 2000 and got a two bedroom for $450.  Granted, it wasn't as nice, but the price difference was incredible. 

 

Still, I miss NOVA terribly.  If I ever won the lottery and there wasn't something tying me to this area I'd move back in a flat second.  Forget the coast.  NOVA is where I'd be.  

@GabeU

Yup. I got here right in the middle of the DC boom in the Reagan years. Manassas was just building up and Gainesville was nothing more than a factory and an auto parts dump site. Wife actually cried as we drove past Gainesville saying, "you're bringing me where?". You should see it now.


* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@MarkJFine

 

I've seen sat views of Gainesville and my brother, who still lives in VA and travels through that area every now and again, tells me about.  When I left it was in its transformation, but it's grown quite a bit since then.  I have no doubt that I'd barely recognize it now.  The main drag (Rte 29) has changed considerably.  Heck, even Haymarket's built up quite a bit, and just about the biggest thing they had there when I left was a Sheetz.  LOL.    

 

And I can just imagine how much worse Rte 66 is during rush hour.  😛  

 

Can you imagine what it would be like if they had built Disney's America?  OMG.  

@GabeU
I haven't been on 66 during rush hour (or anything close to rush hour) since Dec 2013.

Dont miss it. Avoid at all costs. Smiley LOL

 

And yes. If Disney built a park in Haymarket there it would have been a disaster. Glad it was voted down.


* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.