MacBook Pro (2017) ? folder when booting on battery -- boots fine when connected to power

Question

I have a MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports) which has an issue whereby the machine works normally when connected to power, but if you try to boot the machine when disconnected from the power the ? folder icon is shown indicating that the machine cannot find the boot drive.

There have also been occasions when using the machine on battery power that the machine will suddenly shut down without warning and then when powering back up will show the ? folder icon. After reconnecting to power to reboot the Mac will present the "You shut down your computer because of a problem" dialog.

The battery itself is good as this was recently replaced by Apple and only has 13 cycles on it.

What might be causing such behaviour?

Edit 26/08: Just adding some more detail to this from an incident that just happened.

1. The machine was on battery power and turned itself display off.
2. A few minutes later the Apple logo appeared on the screen followed by the '? folder' icon/message.
3. I then held down the power button to shut the Mac off, pressed the power button to turn back on, held the Option key during boot to select the boot drive (which appeared) and I was able to boot back into macOS.
4. After booting into macOS I got the various error messages about the machine restarting due to an error and the option to send the following log to Apple.

panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff80075856a2): nvme: "AppleS3XController. PCI link down. Write. ID=0xffffffff ARG1=0xffffffff ARG2=0xffffffff ARG3=0xffffffff EDD0=0xffffffff EDD1=0xffffffff EDD2=0xffffffff EDD3=0xffffffff EDD4=0xffffffff EDD5=0xffffffff EDD6=0xffffffff EDD7=0xffffffff NANDV=0x2, DRAMV=0x2, SSDC=256G.\n" @IONVMeController.cpp:6090
Panicked task 0xffffff971863e670: 187 threads: pid 0: kernel_task
Backtrace (CPU 0), panicked thread: 0xffffffaa4a5f2aa0, Frame : Return Address
0xfffffff2cee2ba20 : 0xffffff8004c7fd6d 
0xfffffff2cee2ba70 : 0xffffff8004de1086 
0xfffffff2cee2bab0 : 0xffffff8004dd03f3 
0xfffffff2cee2bb00 : 0xffffff8004c1fa70 
0xfffffff2cee2bb20 : 0xffffff8004c8013d 
0xfffffff2cee2bc40 : 0xffffff8004c7f8f6 
0xfffffff2cee2bca0 : 0xffffff8005514e03 
0xfffffff2cee2bd90 : 0xffffff80075856a2 
0xfffffff2cee2bda0 : 0xffffff80075687cb 
0xfffffff2cee2bdd0 : 0xffffff800544a125 
0xfffffff2cee2be40 : 0xffffff800544a028 
0xfffffff2cee2be70 : 0xffffff8004cd2655 
0xfffffff2cee2bee0 : 0xffffff8004cd3722 
0xfffffff2cee2bfa0 : 0xffffff8004c1f19e 
      Kernel Extensions in backtrace:
         com.apple.iokit.IONVMeFamily(2.1)[5001E486-38BD-3F9B-978E-A380678E3A90]@0xffffff8007560000->0xffffff800758cfff
            dependency: com.apple.driver.AppleMobileFileIntegrity(1.0.5)[2E89B457-9830-3554-A342-E5A4659F9D28]@0xffffff80063b1000->0xffffff80063d2fff
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[22B97C0A-53BF-3843-B4B5-4DE866C375B0]@0xffffff8007835000->0xffffff8007861fff
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOReportFamily(47)[66824C9A-7BC1-3F5D-A056-D789C8A86B8C]@0xffffff8007873000->0xffffff8007875fff
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily(2.1)[24743B95-072D-31C4-A59D-7FF38502C0C4]@0xffffff8007978000->0xffffff800798efff

Process name corresponding to current thread (0xffffffaa4a5f2aa0): kernel_task

Mac OS version:
21G83

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 21.6.0: Wed Aug 10 14:25:27 PDT 2022; root:xnu-8020.141.5~2/RELEASE_X86_64
Kernel UUID: D0DC2052-71F4-3DCB-B189-BEE5A59B3B42
KernelCache slide: 0x0000000004a00000
KernelCache base:  0xffffff8004c00000
Kernel slide:      0x0000000004a10000
Kernel text base:  0xffffff8004c10000
__HIB  text base: 0xffffff8004b00000
System model name: MacBookPro14,1 (Mac-B4831CEBD52A0C4C)
System shutdown begun: NO
Panic diags file available: YES (0x0)
Hibernation exit count: 1

System uptime in nanoseconds: 505339263146928
Last Sleep:           absolute           base_tsc          base_nano
  Uptime  : 0x0001cb9a77456499
  Sleep   : 0x0001cb7d855b7472 0x000304a95f782a96 0x0001c15ed505495f
  Wake    : 0x0001cb7d94014192 0x00031c0d24ce523a 0x0001cb7d918f90c6
Compressor Info: 3% of compressed pages limit (OK) and 6% of segments limit (OK) with 2 swapfiles and OK swap space
Zone info:
  Zone map: 0xffffff90b12a5000 - 0xffffffb0b12a5000
  . PGZ   : 0xffffff90b12a5000 - 0xffffff90b22a6000
  . VM    : 0xffffff90b22a6000 - 0xffffff957ed0c000
  . RO    : 0xffffff957ed0c000 - 0xffffff97185d8000
  . GEN0  : 0xffffff97185d8000 - 0xffffff9be503e000
  . GEN1  : 0xffffff9be503e000 - 0xffffffa0b1aa4000
  . GEN2  : 0xffffffa0b1aa4000 - 0xffffffa57e50a000
  . GEN3  : 0xffffffa57e50a000 - 0xffffffaa4af71000
  . DATA  : 0xffffffaa4af71000 - 0xffffffb0b12a5000
  Metadata: 0xffffff9082295000 - 0xffffff90a2295000
  Bitmaps : 0xffffff90a2295000 - 0xffffff90a5295000

last started kext at 125692808152609: >!AHDAHardwareConfigDriver    340.2 (addr 0xffffff7f9c679000, size 4096)
last stopped kext at 125783311899843: >!AHDAHardwareConfigDriver    340.2 (addr 0xffffff7f9c679000, size 4096)
loaded kexts:
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@AGDCPluginDisplayMetrics   6.5.7
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|IOUserEthernet 1.0.1
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@filesystems.tmpfs  1
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Answer 1

This might be an issue on the logic board related to the SMC or power circuitry. The panic log, AFAICT, only says that the SSD stopped responding.

A few things you could try:

• Perform an SMC Reset - this sometimes resolves power-related issues like the battery not charging
• While booted into your system, start Console, then disconnect the power adapter, wait for the computer to freeze and re-connect the adapter before the system crashes and auto-reboots. This may generate some logs that could help further narrowing the issue down. (You could also monitor internal voltages, temperatures etc. using software like iStat Menus.)
• If the above does not work, try booting from an external media (HDD/SSD/flash drive) while powered from battery. Is the internal drive visible and reliable? Does it appear/disappear when connecting/disconnecting the adapter?

(As I can't post comments, I ask an additional question here. Sorry.) Did these problems happen even before you had you battery changed?

Answer 2

NVRAM data is potentially corrupted...

but if you try to boot the machine when disconnected from the power the ? folder icon is shown indicating that the machine cannot find the boot drive.

It sounds as if the NVRAM is becoming corrupted; possibly because there's insufficient current from the battery. The NVRAM is where it stores boot time environment variables like which volume to boot from. If it loses this info while on battery, but works fine on power it definitely points to a power issue.

Does this mean your NVRAM is bad. No. A low power condition could cause "glitches" like too low of a voltage to adequately read the data stored on the ROM chip. Without putting hands on and using some high-end test equipment (like an oscilloscope) it's impossible to know for sure; but it's a reasonable hypothesis.

There have also been occasions when using the machine on battery power that the machine will suddenly shut down without warning and then when powering back up will show the ? folder icon. After reconnecting to power to reboot the Mac will present the "You shut down your computer because of a problem" dialog.

This is a clear indication that you battery has failed or is defective. Basically, it cannot hold a charge. It's important to note that your Mac (and modern computers for that matter) will try to estimate how much battery is remaining and gracefully shut down/hibernate should the charge level drop. If it's dropping this drastically, the battery has a bad cell(s) causing it to run out of juice faster than the Mac can act.

A new battery can be defective...

The battery itself is good as this was recently replaced by Apple and only has 13 cycles on it.

There is no guarantee that a new battery with very few cycles on it is reliable. There are a number of factors that can contribute to this:

• It may be a NOS (new old stock) battery. It's new, but sat on a shelf for a few years.
• It has a manufacturing defect. Unfortunately, this happens in a world where goods are produced by humans.
• It may not be genuine Apple (unlikely if Apple replaced it, but nobody is perfect)

Return it to Apple...

Apple normally gives a warranty period for replacements. If you recently replaced this battery (within 12 months) then return it to apple and tell them that the battery is faulty. There is no software fix and no amount of resetting the SMC and/or NVRAM is going to repair it.

---

Additional Resources:

• Mac Battery malfunctioning in just 2 years
• Why does a 12 inch Macbook refuse to turn on with a lot of battery remaining unless it is plugged in?
• My Macbook Pro M1 2020 is not starting up without being plugged in and battery icon shows a cross with fans turned on
• Battery not charging at only 35 cycles - recoverable?

Answer 3

So in the end I decided to try replacing the SSD which has fixed the issue. I went with a 128GB Western Digital SN520 SSD which is working well.

Note that before trying the Western Digital drive I tried a Samsung MZALQ1280 128GB SSD but it turns out this drive has a firmware incompatibility with A1708 MBP's, resulting in a folder ? icon during macOS install process.