MacBook Battery Problem (Blog)

иконииконимека мебелMarcelo from Nicaragua wrote recently describing his battery problem. And with no Apple stores around I wasn’t sure what to tell him. Plus it turned out he had over 360 cycles on his battery. Nevertheless, I’m pretty confident that if he’d been able to take it to a Mac store he would have gotten a replacement, because it definitely looks dangerous (even though according to Apple, it’s not).

Hey John! i just came back from the apple store and i feel very happy. they were very kind with me, i said all the things that you told me and they will give me a replacement battery. the technician didn’t say anything about a specific problem, he only said it was because of the battery but didn’t say WHY?? I still think it’s OS Update’s fault but anyway, once again, I feel very satisfied with apple service, no matter if you’re in the States or in Argentina (like me), that’s why i’ll keep on buying their notebooks and ipods as always. Well, leaving apple advertsing aside, thank you for your useful tips. I’ll keep you up to date with this.
Marco

> Hi Marco,
> I think there could still be something wrong with the battery.
> Can you borrow another battery to try?
> Did you see this article
> http://installingcats.com/2008/04/07/apple-macbook-short-battery-life-problems/?
>
> System Profile can be found in Finder => Applications => Utilities =>
> System Profiler.
>
> Once you have System Profiler open, find Power underneath Hardware.
> Click on that item and on the right side of the window, scroll down
> until you find the Battery Information heading.
>
> The three values we’re interested in are *Full charge capacity (mAh)*,
> *Cycle count*, and *Battery health*.
>
> I’m not sure if you can check System Profiler for the battery
> information if it’s running off the AC but try it.
> The only other thing I’ve heard about is that sometimes the contact pins
> inside the battery slot stop making a good connection. You might try to
> clean the contacts.
> But if there’s an Apple store or dealer near you I would take it by. Maybe
> you can get a replacement battery, especially if you say something like
> ‘I think this was one of the batteries that was recalled in April of
> 2007′.
> Hope this helps.
> Best,
> JohhH
>
> Marco wrote:
>> Hi John, i just read your article but still couldn’t find a solution.
>> In my case, i think the battery is ok. Everything started two days
>> ago, i was charging my battery and when it reached the 100%, i
>> unplugged the ac cord but it suddenly turned off…then i tried to
>> power on my macbook but it only could be working with the ac cord
>> connected. then, the X appeared till now, my MB doesn’t recognize its
>> own battery. I think the battery is ok, when i pushed the button it
>> shows all the green leds on. i have the mac os 10.4.11. Do you have
>> any idea? Thanks for your time.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Marco

Excellent post includes the math to check your battery life through System Profiler. From installingcats.com.
(BTW- Just to clarify, there are actually two recent battery problems. The 15-Inch Macbook Pro Battery Exchange program, (which ended in July of 2008) and The Macbook / Macbook Pro battery problem discussed at MacbookBatteryProblem.com).

If you’ve noticed that your Macbook or Macbook Pro purchased in 2006 or 2007 is losing its battery life at an alarming rate, you’re not alone. Apple has had a very large batch of Sony lithium-ion polymer batteries for their laptops that are losing their maximum charge capacity very quickly. More…

.

Lengthy thread at the Apple Discussion Board on the subject of sudden Macbook shutdown with as much as 75% battery seemingly remaining.

” I called Apple Care and they said that because my battery Cycle Count is 349,
they can not replace my battery for free (they would if it was under 300, because
they had known problems with some batteries)

…
If you’re having a (or the) Macbook / MacBook Pro battery problem, check our homepage for tips on how to determine exactly what kind of problem you’re having.

Battery Update 1.3
About Battery Update 1.3
Battery Update 1.3 updates battery firmware and addresses battery performance issues with the 15-inch MacBook Pro. Your computer’s power cord must be connected and plugged into a working power source while running this update.

After the Battery Update has been installed, any additional batteries you put in your 15-inch MacBook Pro are automatically updated.

And this, from xlr8yourmac.com

” Battery Update 1.3 “fixes” my motherboard
In the beginning of 2007 I had started having problems with my MacBook Pro (first gen) not operating on a fully charged battery. First the battery would indicate 20% of a charge left, then 50%, etc till the battery indicated 99% charge left yet still die.

I contacted apple via phone and the the Genius at the store, both told me it was a “internal wiring issue” and the motherboard would need to be replaced. Since it was out of warranty I would have to buy it out of pocket and it would be near a $1000. That was in May.

I decided to not shell out $1000 and just live with a power cord always hooked up to my MacBook Pro. I installed Battery update 1.3 yesterday and I can now operate off battery power again. So much for my bad motherboard.
-Gregory S. “