Battery Symbol, Not Charging - MacBook Pro 13" Retina 2017 A1708, 820-00840

In this case study, we have a MacBook Pro 13" Retina 2017 A1708 model (board number 820-00840) which is only showing a battery symbol on the screen when trying to turn it on, indicating it has no charge. When connecting a known good charger into either of the USB C ports, it is not taking any charge.

When we see this issue on the USB C MacBooks, this usually points to a problem related to the charging ports or the charging circuit, since the device has some signs of life.

Disassembling the device, we could see no signs of liquid damage or corrosion, and no signs of physical damage to the device. Removing the board and checking it with a USB C ammeter, the MacBook was not pulling any voltage at all from the charger from either port. When this is the case, this usually suggests an issue with the main DC in voltage, PPDCIN_G3H, and surely enough, when checking this voltage rail, it was low and had a short to ground on this power rail.

Before injecting voltage, we had a quick look over the board, focussing in on areas where this voltage was present. Surely enough, we saw a small crack in C7035, a polymer capacitor, and when desoldering this from the logic board, the short was gone and the board was able to pull charger voltage. After replacing this, the MacBook was fully working and this A1708 MacBook has been fixed! 

In this case, the customer had been using a 3rd party charger, which we believe may have caused the problem. The device had no liquid damage and no drop damage, judging by the good condition of the device. We recommended they purchase a genuine charger, otherwise the issue could reoccur.

If your MacBook Pro A1708 is not charging, it likely has a similar issue to this device since most of the charging circuit is on the logic board. Feel free to book it for our free diagnostic service and we can find out what is causing the issue, and offer the relevant repair.