Chosen Solution
I recently replaced the battery and initially the battery status icon was fine. Then one day the computer didn’t wake when opening the lid and required plug-in for a while before it came back. I know Big Sur needs the battery icon turned on via System Preferences > Other Modules > Battery but there is NO Battery option. Internet search seems this look without Battery is iMac and Mac Mini territory because those don’t have batteries. Update (10/04/2022) Thanks for the responses. I contacted iFixIt support and among other things they suggested resetting the NVRAM/PRAM. Although I thought I had done that before, it does seem better this time around. The jury is still out as to whether the battery is acting “brand new” but I’m half thinking the self restart will happen again. The battery icon is consistently present and the “searching for updates” does finish to the search complete. Thanks for the additional explanation that it could be the microcontroller in the battery. iFixIt readily offered to send me a new battery but since the NVRAM/PRAM reset seemed to make a big difference I told them I would wait. iFixIt warranty and support behind their product is incredible. I *tried" to replace the screen on my wife’s Apple Watch (it was gone anyway so was worth the try) and THAT is a hairy job! I tore the old screen ribbon cable getting it out and I could see how difficult the new install would be. I don’t even recall the dialogue with iFixIt but they offered to give me a full refund on the new screen even though the package had been opened. Amazing! Will respond back if anything new develops.
I just had a similar experience with my late-2013 15" MacBook Pro Retina. I replaced the original battery with the iFixit one. Everything worked fine for two-three days. Then I noticed the charger was displaying the orange “charging” light, even though the battery status showed 100% charge. I thought I should perhaps re-seat the MagSafe connector, so I disconnected it, which immediately shut the Mac down. After re-connecting the MagSafe, and booting the Mac, battery status was no longer being shown anywhere. Not on the menu bar, not in the System Preferences. I tried resetting the SMC - no change. I tried booting the Mac while the battery was disconnected, then shutting the Mac down, connecting the battery, and booting the Mac again. The battery remained “invisible.” I downloaded the CoconutBattery app, and ran it with the battery disconnected, and with the battery connected. It displayed the same information in both cases - namely, no battery information. From what I’ve read elsewhere on iFixit, this seems like a dead SMC, and I would need to replace the logic board (which I’m probably not going to do). I’m more than a little surprised that everything worked for two-three days, and then stopped working while the system was sitting idle. Any ideas/clues as to why this may have happened would be appreciated.
