macbook pro wont power on when battery drains during sleep mode

I have a 15" Macbook Pro 3.1 2.2 GHz C2D processor.

Here is the problem I have.

If I leave my laptop sleeping (the power light pulsing and lid closed) for too long without the AC adapter plugged into it, my battery dies. Obviously.

The issue I have is that no matter what I try the laptop will never power back on unless the original AC adapter it came with is plugged into it.
My original adapter is pretty messed up. The end plug has some wires exposed, etc. So I bought a few non OEM 85w ac adapters from ebay over the years-cause they are a third or fourth of the price of a new one from Apple. These adapters work just fine for everything else I use them for. They charge the battery and run the laptop perfectly.

If I leave my laptop in sleep mode for a few days (I use my macbook primarily for photo editing, that is all) without it being plugged in, the battery dies and the laptop will never power back on. I try it with any of my non-OEM ac adapters plugged in, I try it without the battery installed, I try leaving the battery out for a day or two, I have tried resetting NVRAM, updating firmware, etc. Nothing will ever bring my laptop back to life until I dig into my desk drawer and pull out the old, falling apart original Apple AC adapter. I plug that in, and hit the power button and it instantly springs back to life.

I have had this happen several times and can recreate the issue every time I let the battery die when it is in sleep mode.

I also do not have this issue with my 1.83 white 13.3 macbook. It powers back on fine no matter what adapter is plugged into it.


Has anyone else ever seen this behavior before?

 

up. anyone else have this issue?


jus wonderin.

 

never seen it... have you tried leaving the non-OEM one plugged into it for a few hours before turning it back on to see if its getting any charge in the battery?

 

I have left the non-oem one plugged in for hours, but I can't remember what happened with the battery during that time. It just won't respond to the power button being pressed until the original adapter is reconnected.

It is very strange. I have no idea how it knows which adapter is which when it is sleeping/hibernating/powered off like that. I bought another spare original Apple adapter on ebay and will see if that will be able to bring it out of that state.

Its just scary. Because my laptop literally looks like it's dead. Dead dead dead, until I hook up the original adapter and it lights up within a couple of seconds.

 

I have to point this out. You said you've bought "a few" non-Apple adapters because they were 1/3-1/4 the price. By "a few" I assume that's 2-3 at a minimum. So how much have you ultimately saved versus buying an OE part?

And as an FYI, Other World Computing sells used original AC adapters that come with a warranty and are about the same price as the fleabay knockoffs.

 

You are correct. I believe I bought 3 85 watt adapters. But apart from the issue described in this thread, all three of them have worked, and still work, flawlessly. I have one at my office, one at home for my wife's macbook. I haven't bought 3 because the first two failed. So in the end, I still have three adapters in various places, all working fine, for $60-70. Still less than apple wants for a single new one. And not one of them has the magsafe plug/wire coming apart at the end like my original and my wife's original does...