MacBook Laptop charges at the Apple Store but not at my home.

What are you plugging the Mac into when at home exactly?

Have you tried different wall sockets?

Do you use a power strip?

Have you tried plugging the laptop in other locations besides the Apple Store?

Does the Mac show the lightning bolt over the battery icon when plugged in at home?

Is the Mac charged already and using optimized charging? If so, once charged it may stop charging and resume when it loses some amount of charge.

If your cables and power adapter work at the Apple Store, it would leave the wall socket or whatever else you are plugging it in as the culprit.

Have you tried to plug anything else to this socket or power strip or whaver else you may be using?

<<. the battery was very low but I did not stay long enough to charge it up significatly. >>

If your battery is very low, it may be dragging down the entire DC power system TOO LOW to allow a processor to start. You need the first processor running (slowly) to do Housekeeping chores such as service the caps-lock light or initiate a regular battery Charge Cycle.

When users find that their battery has gone flat, one line of advice is to connect your power adapter and let it trickle charge overnight. Trickle charging is painfully slow, like watching paint dry. If it can scrape together enough power to turn on the default processor, then when you ask it much later, it might be able to initiate a "real" charge cycle.

TopShelfCJ wrote:

My MacBook Pro (16 inch, 2024) will not turn on with any charger. I brought my MacBook and charging cables into the Apple Store two days ago and it immediately worked but as soon as I brought it home it still won’t work.

Why would it work at the Apple Store but not at my home? There is literally no difference in charging devices or methods used at the store versus my home. What can I do? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Seems a real mystery... try all different locations in your house if there is a localized issue.

There is no magic insight here.

old issue, new issue, what changed?

if you think it is a computer issue—

Try a SafeBoot Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support , will sort many anomalies.

report back what you discover.

Have you tried charging it at other locations such as a library, coffee shop, a friend's house, etc.?

Does it work at these other locations?

Any external power supply that provides "USB Power Delivery" (including certain Docks and Displays) must negotiate over the USB cable using USB Power Delivery Protocol, and can not 'force itself' on your Mac. The Voltage and Current are delivered only after your Mac requests and the power supplier agrees to supply power under certain controlled conditions. The computer draws only as much power as it wants, and the computer is in control of the entire process.

The CHARGER is inside the MacBook Pro, and is completely under program control. Your Mac accepts some power when needs to run, and accepts more power when it intends to charge its internal battery. A power source like the Power Adapter or certain Displays can not 'force itself' on your MacBook Pro. Only the algorithms inside your Mac can decide when is a good time to charge the battery. Your Mac can NEVER be over-charged.

So if it plugged in and at 80 percent charged, it is likely operating on power adapter power, and not charging at the moment.

@Phil0124

Thanks for your reply, I wrote answers to each of your questions below. To add some context, I used my MacBook without any issues for a few months before this issue appeared. Nothing changed during that time, my laptop usually just sits on my desk and I am very careful with it.

What are you plugging the Mac into when at home exactly?

I have tested three charging methods including; an Apple MagSage charging cable and an Apple USB-C charging cable both connected to an Apple charging brick. I have also tested a third party USB-C laptop charger that I use to charge my windows laptop (130W).

Have you tried different wall sockets?

I tried 5 different outlets around my house to make sure that I tested different breakers.

Do you use a power strip?

I normally do use a power strip and have tested each of the charging methods with the same power strip as well.

Have you tried plugging the laptop in other locations besides the Apple Store?

Other than the Apple Store and my home, I tried plugging it into a camper van with AC power outlets. I have used my MacBook and windows laptop with these outlets numerous times before this issue appeared. I have not tried at other shops or homes.

Does the Mac show the lightning bolt over the battery icon when plugged in at home?

Unfortunately the MacBook is completely dead so I can not see that now, however at the Apple Store we tested each of the three charging methods and all three did indeed show the lightning symbol over the battery icon.

Is the Mac charged already and using optimized charging? If so, once charged it may stop charging and resume when it loses some amount of charge.

The MacBook is dead and the LED light on the Caps Lock key will not even turn on when pressed.

If your cables and power adapter work at the Apple Store, it would leave the wall socket or whatever else you are plugging it in as the culprit.

Have you tried to plug anything else to this socket or power strip or whaver else you may be using?

I thought so as well, but I have previously used my MacBook on these outlets without any issues as well as tested a lamp, my windows laptop, and an iPhone charger on each of the outlets I tested with my MacBook. Other than my MacBook, they all worked and charged properly.

I tested it on 5 different outlets in my home, the Apple Store, and a campervan with a 20V AC outlet. My laptop worked perfectly for a few months on all of those outlets until it randomly stopped. There was no incident where it stopped working so I can't point to any specific possibilities (like a drop or spill, there has been none of those while I owned my Macbook).

I have not tested it at any other homes or shops.

TopShelfCJ wrote:

I tested it on 5 different outlets in my home, the Apple Store, and a campervan with a 20V AC outlet. My laptop worked perfectly for a few months on all of those outlets until it randomly stopped. There was no incident where it stopped working so I can't point to any specific possibilities (like a drop or spill, there has been none of those while I owned my Macbook).

I have not tested it at any other homes or shops.

"My only option now seems to go back into the Apple Store..."

It sounds suspiciously like your Mac has failed with some hardware fault.

My MacBook is completely dead to the point where the caps lock LED will not turn on. When I brought it to the Apple Store and plugged it in with the charging cables I brought (same ones I tested today), the MacBook turned on almost immediately. I saw the battery icon with the lightning symbol and the battery was very low but I did not stay long enough to charge it up significatly. At the Apple Store we tested all three charging cables I brought and they all worked. Once I came home the issue was still there and did not go away.

When I brought it to the Apple Store and plugged it in with the charging cables I brought (same ones I tested today), the MacBook turned on almost immediately. I saw the battery icon with the lightning symbol and the battery was very low but I did not stay long enough to charge it up significatly. At the Apple Store we tested all three charging cables I brought and they all worked. Once I came home the issue was still there and did not go away.

The technician brought my MacBook to the back and said they opened it up to check the charging connectors and they all appeared to be good. We tested the MagSafe port, the two USB-C ports on the left, and the one USB-C port on the right and all four worked to charge the MacBook. I am sure I will have to bring it back in and go through this again. Any idea where else the issue could be if its not in the connectors? Any idea why it would work at the Apple Store but not my home outlets? I will gladly pass along any information I learn here when I go in for another appointment.

I used my MacBook for a few months without any problems before this issue appeared. I used all the different chargers and charging locations with no problems. This issue appeared randomly without any incident to point to; no spills, no drops, not even rough handling while I owned this MacBook. Most of the time it sits on a desk. After not using it for a while (about a week) I plugged it in and tried to turn it on when I discovered this issue.

I tried to boot in safe mode but nothing happens, it appears that is has no signs of life, no power whatsoever. (LED on caps lock doesn't turn on when pressed). It looks like it will not pull a charge at all. The weird thing is, when we plugged it in at the Apple Store it turned on almost immediately. It didn't need time to charge before turning on. And when it powered on, I saw the battery icon was basically empty.

Mistakenly posted a comment twice, please ignore this comment.

You and I posted at essentially the same time.

Be sure to take a look at what I wrote, currently above your most recent forum post.