Have a MacBook Pro 3,1 model running El Capitan that I would like to run Apple diagnostics on to verify battery issues. Using the holding down the D key while booting does not work and investigating in the system seems to indicate I don't have the software (after updates in the OS over the years) for the D key method to work anyway.

Is there a site to download the software or am I doing something wrong or what am I missing?

TIA

Grab Coconut Battery and run that. Older OS versions are at the bottom of the page.

[coconut-flavour.com]

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Good Luck!
Jamie Dresser
Other World Computing

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OWC Jamie
Grab Coconut Battery and run that. Older OS versions are at the bottom of the page.

[coconut-flavour.com]

this will tell you more than any apple diagnostic

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“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in."

Quote
hal

Quote
OWC Jamie
Grab Coconut Battery and run that. Older OS versions are at the bottom of the page.

[coconut-flavour.com]

this will tell you more than any apple diagnostic

Have already done that. Battery appears to be fine.

A 2007 would have come with an Apple Hardware Test CD.

But for a battery, you can almost certainly glean more from the System Information panel under Hardware > Power.

AHT will likely only tell you whether a chip has failed or the battery is thoroughly dead, and may do so with an obscure code that you'll have to Google to figure out.

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Additional Background

1. Daughters old laptop. Ram topped out. SSD Drive.
2. Apple battery (replaced once in the years ago with an Apple battery). Anyway this one had headed south so replaced it with one from our sponsors.
3. Did all the usual stuff to condition the battery as per instructions. Shut it down fulled charged and start it up a few weeks later. Battery dead. Charge again. Dead after a few weeks with the laptop turned off. Did it several more times.
4. Check and delete anything software wise that might be going out or running while shutdown. Ran battery programs Onyx, Malwarebytes, EtreCheck, etc. Nothing.
5. Sponsor graciously replaces the battery when consulting their support line.
6. Do the same conditioning process per instructions on replacement battery. Fully charged 100%. Shut down the laptop on Aug 17. Booted it on 18th and it sits at 82%.

Maybe the percentages are not accurate but I find it unusual that it would lose that much in one day. Have an old white MacBook that has a new battery in it from our sponsor which is turned off and booted every few weeks and it's battery appears to hold more power or not lose as much or whatever.

Which if the battery is fine then is there something wrong with the laptop? Hence I thought about testing the hardware.
Can't imagine something software wise would be a problem but daughter had nothing on the laptop (it's cloned to be safe) and is fine with me wiping it and reinstalling the OS to see if that makes a difference.

Or

Maybe it is old, senile, and can hold it like it use to.

Have you tested duration? A new battery back in 2007 might last 2.5 to 3 hours and make it 3 years before dying. This is what I suggest you compare to as reliable estimates for sleep and power-off states are going to be hard to come by. I'd expect a replacement in 2021 to be less efficient, but a good one should get about 2/3rds of that

The reason why it's not like a new battery in 2007 would be is this:

For older laptops with batteries that are not in great demand, the batteries will probably sit on a shelf in a warehouse degrading for quite awhile for purchase.

This is not a ding on our sponsors. It's a fact of life. Unless someone builds you a battery pack on the spot with fresh cells, your battery will have aged on the shelf and lost some life. The longer it sits, the less useful it's going to be.

Sometimes you luck out and get a battery that happened to come off the line a little superior to the others, happened by pure coincidence to be stored in just the right temp/humidity, and it's like the battery you got when your laptop was new.

But that's extremely rare and going to be harder to find with each passing day.

The drain that you're describing when powered off does seem a little exceptional, but not greatly. I lose 10-20% off of the (new) battery in my 2016 MBP from work over a weekend and this battery is way more powerful and "smarter" than the one in a 2007 MBP.

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