Simplo batteries breaking logic boards?
Case 1:
My main laptop is (was) a 15” MacBook Pro Retina 2014, A1398.
On 2020-11-07, I changed the swollen battery with a replacement from Simplo.
On 2020-12-04, I opened it from sleep, and the graphics didn’t come on (just backlight). I had to restart twice.
Today the GPU seems to have failed completely. The screen works when holding option, gets through auto-login, but then freezes when opening any application (even gfxcardstatus). Once or twice I managed to get it to respond for a few minutes to see the crash log, which says IOAccelDisplayMachine2::display_mode_did_change(uint32_t): vendor driver returns false.
Any advice about what to test would be good; I’ll be investigating more in the days to come.
Case 2:
On Wednesday 2020-12-09, a friend asked me to fix a 13” MacBook Air 2013, A1466.
On Thursday 2020-12-10, I fitted a new battery, also manufactured by Simplo. It never turned on after that.
I was so shocked that a 15-minute repair turned into a full day of using a multimeter, boardviews, and schematics. These are my notes:
https://logi.wiki/index.php/Resistance_t...
C2740 PP0V6_S0_DDRVTT 630 Ω, got pin 1 0.494 kΩ
C7648 PP1V05_S0 217 Ω, got pin 1 234 Ω
C1910 PPVRTC_G3H ~ 7 MΩ, got pin 1 7.04kΩ
C6100 PP3V3_SUS 54 kΩ, got pin 1 7.04kΩ
D7005 14.79V
Q7130 14.55V
F7700 fuse good
F7140 fuse good
L7130 pin 1 has 8.75V
C7552 has 0V on pin 1. Maybe no 5V on 5V_S4 rail?
Could it be that both of these have the same cause - overvoltage surge when waking from sleep on a Simplo battery, causing logic board damage?
If that’s really the problem, I feel like this is serious - Simplo are a major battery supplier.
I really want to post this on the Louis Rossmann forum, but can’t really cope with a subscription. I haven’t even been paid regularly by the little startup I work for. I’d do a one-time payment, but my life is just too unstable for monthly.