Chosen Solution

Background: MAC AIR 13" 2010 My laptop battery stopped working. Basically, when the power cable is pulled out the Mac shuts down abruptly. No previous water / spillage damage. I tried all the suggestions then replaced the battery. It has merrily charged up to 100% ….and I still have the same problem. I suspect the logic board but I would like to try to RESET the SMC. However, now I have a fully charged battery and I think resetting SMC doesn’t work with full battery, right? Question: How can I discharge some of the battery so I can try resetting the SMC - when I can’t actually use the battery power (currrently 100%)! Advice please. Thankyou.

SMC settings are held by the batteries vampire charge. So disconnecting the battery is another way to do this. But its not quite that simple! Don’t forget the system has caps which hold the charge so you need to fully discharge the logic board as well. Holding the Power button will also do this if the button is working correctly or you can use the power pads on the logic board. While this will also reset the SMC the proper way following this Apple T/N also works! How to reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac But aren’t we just dancing around the problem here vs addressing it? Lets go back to step one make sure you’ve got the correct charger and make sure the chargers cable & MagSafe connector are in good shape as well as check the systems connector following this Apple T/N: Apple Portables: Troubleshooting MagSafe adapters. Lets also see what you’ve got here, download and install this gem of an app: CoconutBattery and paste a snapshot of the main screen so we can see what you have here Adding images to an existing question. See if you can give us both a MagSafe connected and battery alone snapshot.

To reset the SMC you do not need a dead/drained battery Shutdown the MacBook/Pro and remove the battery Disconnect the power adapter, hold the Power Key for 10 seconds Release the power key and reconnect your battery and power adapter Turn your Mac on Let boot as usual Should be all you need to do to reset a macbook from 2010.

Leave laptop powered on and maybe video playing etc or have lots of programs running which will drain the battery fast