I tried all that nonsense many times over on my MacBook and it would not work. Twice I saw the device screen in some kind of boot loop. It would show the usual start-up screen sequence but the instant the charge indicator icon and charge percentage appeared, it would disappear (it was just a brief flash), reset and start all over, leading to that brief flash, over and over again.
Connecting it to my desktop Mac (one of the “trash can” Mac Pros) it was recognized the first time.
Both computers are running Mojave 10.14.6.
So… Just more of the same old incompetence.
Same issue, changed USB cable and instant results, not a problem now