Hack Lets Intel MacBook Run Without A Battery

A extended time back, a laptop computer was a fundamental matter, and you could very a lot operate 1 just by hooking up a electric power offer to the battery contacts. A contemporary MacBook is altogether fussier. Nevertheless, when [Christophe] was stuck in the midst of a 2020 lockdown with no elements accessible, he found a way to get his damaged MacBook up and jogging without a battery.

The difficulty was brought about by a failing battery in the MacBook Professional 13″ from mid-2018, which swelled up and deformed the laptop’s circumstance. Elements have been unavailable, and the MacBook would not run at total velocity with out a battery equipped. Which is for the reason that with no battery current, the MacBook would mail a BD_PROCHOT sign to the Intel CPU, telling it to sluggish down thanks to overheating, even when the chip was great.

To get all over the trouble, [Christophe] utilised a resource referred to as CPUTune. It lets fiddling with the various CPU configurations of a MacBook. He deactivated the BD_PROCHOT signal, and also the CPU’s Turbo Strengthen element. This ended the worst of the thermal throttling, and enabled semi-usual use of the device.

It is unclear why Apple would throttle the CPU with the battery disconnected. [Christophe]’s workaround acquired him back again up and performing once more in the midst of a hard interval, irrespective. We have seen some other fantastic Macbook hacks just before much too, like this incredible conserve from really serious h2o destruction!

Thanks to [donaldcuckman] for the suggestion!]