12" powerbook battery problem

[andevo]

the battery says: calculating... until full forever. and when i have charged my battery up to 100% and using the computer without the adapter it will very slowly go down on the %. and then around 85 it will turn off, like its 0%. i have used the computer for a certain amount of time then, so im sure its real 0% but it says 85%. ive tried to restart the power manager, but that didnt work :(

[jascoble]

Counting my self that makes 3 people I know that have the same problem. I think we have a bug or a defect on our hands. I've tried all the tricks and nothing worked for me too. I'm calling apple tomorrow to find out. have you heard anything else?

[powerbookje]

same here, 12" powerbook, 10 months old. battery life max 1 hour... :( from 50% to 0%....

[jascoble]

I gave up tryingto fix it and went to my apple dealer and they gave me a new battery. Must be adefect???

[evilsprung]

I was wondering which 12" are you guys talking about, Rev A or B? Thanks

[Linkster82]

has everyone installed the battery update??

[andevo]

still bad :( yes i have installed the battery update and it was after that it happened. did anyone try to reinstall OS X?

[andevo]

argh! this is pissing me off!

[sahnert]

I'm also on a 12" PB but don't work without my power adapter enough to know whether this is a problem. But I did run the terminal command in this thread http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=58273 and got a capacity of 3646. Just curious what other 12"ers got since that thread was about 15's. If anyone has time to check please post your results, thanks.

[macguymike]

Originally posted by sahnert
Just curious what other 12"ers got since that thread was about 15's. If anyone has time to check please post your results, thanks.


I got 3426, which seems about right. Even after the battery update I get about 2.5 - 3 hours battery life unplugged.

:( :confused:

[virividox]

several possibilies to poor battery life.

1. it was not calibrated the first time
2. extreme temperature
3. battery defect

those are just a few.

i assume you all ran the battery update. i normally get 3 hours on my 17 incher, but i calirbrate my batter once a month

you guys may also want to reset ur pmu

[sahnert]

I've been calibrating my battery every so often as well, until I read somewhere that this can actually have an adverse effect on battery life. It's hard to find reliable information on this sort of thing, but it might be worth looking into.

[diavolo]

I'm having sismilar battery troubles as well. Before I updated my PB 17" running 10.3, I got ~3 hours. After I updated, I just shut the machine down, and when I came back this morning, the battery meter icon said I had a 3% charge when I know I had a full charge the last time I shut it down. I have had my PB on for a while today, and the battery meter still says "calculating".... Has anyone tried a reinstall to see if that fixes the problem?

BTW, what is "calibrating a battery"?

[Maritan]

Originally posted by diavolo
BTW, what is "calibrating a battery"?

Calibrating your battery basically involves charging the battery completely. Then you run your *B off the battery till the battery runs out and it falls asleep by itself. Then you recharge the battery to full and when you get your *Book out of the sleep mode, your battery is calibrated.

[diavolo]

Well I'll be... I never knew there was a technical term for "drain and recharge the battery". I almost always drain the battery to stand-by when it is unplugged.

As for the first calibration after the update, it worked.

[evil]

I'm having this same problem and I have the battery update installed. I have a 12" PB rev A and I hadn't really used it for a couple of months. The battery meter says that I have an hour or around 40% left and it will just die for no reason. Does anyone have any suggestions that I should try??

[weldon]

I'm having similar problems that just started about a week ago. I drained the battery till the computer went to sleep and then charged it back up. Unfortunately, the battery won't charge past 40%. Just this morning I reset the PMU but still no help.

It seems like a calibration problem because the capacity dropped dramatically almost overnight. The terminal command shows that the capacity is "2388" which seems to be too low.

Not sure what else to try.

Oh yeah, I have a 12" Powerbook G4 rev A purchased in March 2003 running 10.3.5. I have installed the battery update again to see if that helped (didn't).

[evil]

I'm having similar problems that just started about a week ago. I drained the battery till the computer went to sleep and then charged it back up. Unfortunately, the battery won't charge past 40%. Just this morning I reset the PMU but still no help.

It seems like a calibration problem because the capacity dropped dramatically almost overnight. The terminal command shows that the capacity is "2388" which seems to be too low.

Not sure what else to try.

Oh yeah, I have a 12" Powerbook G4 rev A purchased in March 2003 running 10.3.5. I have installed the battery update again to see if that helped (didn't).

this is what i got for mine. again, its a 12 inch rev A
IOBatteryInfo" = ({"Capacity"=3833,"Amperage"=1662,"Current"=3656,"Voltage"=11655,"Flags"=4})

[Over Achiever]

I absolutely hate to bring back dead threads, but after a bit of Google searching came up with this thread. I've posted another thread on this already that came to a dead end, just wondering whether this thread would rouse some memories. Looks like I'm not alone in the matter. I have a 17" powerbook, and ever since May, the battery cannot calculate how much charge is on the battery. It will either discharge very slowly and shut the computer off an hour later at 88%, or it will charge slowly up over 3 hours to 15% then jump to fully charged. I've had the PMU reset, hard reset, reset by a tech at the Apple Store. I've calibrated the battery, let it drain until the sleep light doesn't show anymore, and drained it until it sleeps and charging it back up.

It doesn't bother me too much, as I generally use the powerbook on battery at off and on spurts. However it is annoying, and I'm just wondering exactly how many others have had this issue, and whether someone has come up with a fix for it other than replacing the battery. I did not sign up for apple care (that discussion deserves another thread), and it's been 18 months, so I'm out of luck. Is there any way I can persuade them that the battery is at fault, and get a free replacement?

-OA

[yoda13]

This won't be any help. But I am on my 3rd battery on my PB in my sig. and the first one Apple replaced shortly after I got my computer. However, after that it lasted about 11 months and started behaving exactly like those in this thread and this time Apple said that I had reached the normal limits of the battery and had to replace it myself. I have no problem replacing batteries as that is the cost of using a laptop, but I have an iBook 700mhz 14.1" as my backup machine and it is 2 plus years old and has had many problems, but the battery still works great. My Mom has a Pismo and it is needing a new battery for the 1st time. So I am not sure what gives with these battery problems Apple is having lately.

[Over Achiever]

This won't be any help. But I am on my 3rd battery on my PB in my sig. and the first one Apple replaced shortly after I got my computer. However, after that it lasted about 11 months and started behaving exactly like those in this thread and this time Apple said that I had reached the normal limits of the battery and had to replace it myself. I have no problem replacing batteries as that is the cost of using a laptop, but I have an iBook 700mhz 14.1" as my backup machine and it is 2 plus years old and has had many problems, but the battery still works great. My Mom has a Pismo and it is needing a new battery for the 1st time. So I am not sure what gives with these battery problems Apple is having lately.
I understand, but my old HP laptop, the batt has worked just fine for over 3 years that I've used it, and has still worked for my relatives that got the laptop handed to them for over a year now.

I was warned that batt is the first thing to go on a laptop, but I never expected it to be that fast. It still holds charge, aka it still works. But the nice integrated chip that Apple adds doesn't help matters when it doesn't work right -_-

[hcuar]

I have a 12" PB... My capacity registered at:
"IOBatteryInfo" = ({"Capacity"=4508,"Amperage"=1304,"Current"=823,"Voltage"=10949,"Flags"=4})

So... unless it craps out later... Only had it 1 week... I guess I'm fine. ;)

[evil]

I understand, but my old HP laptop, the batt has worked just fine for over 3 years that I've used it, and has still worked for my relatives that got the laptop handed to them for over a year now.

I was warned that batt is the first thing to go on a laptop, but I never expected it to be that fast. It still holds charge, aka it still works. But the nice integrated chip that Apple adds doesn't help matters when it doesn't work right -_-

yeah i dont think i should have to buy a new battery after having my pb for about a year and a half.

[Abstract]

Well I'll be... I never knew there was a technical term for "drain and recharge the battery". I almost always drain the battery to stand-by when it is unplugged.

As for the first calibration after the update, it worked.
Draining the battery until it sleeps every time you use your battery actually kills the battery. Only do this once every 6-8 weeks or so. That may be your problem. You see that battery test that tells you capacity and amperage? Well, Capacity/Amperage = battery life. Point is that your capacity goes down when you do a full charge and discharge. Do it again, and notice that your capacity decreases. If you wait for 6 weeks to do it again, the capacity sometimes goes up by 100-200 capacity.

To charge, just plug it in for a charge. Plug it in when it says 68%, 57%, 21%, etc. Lithium Ion batteries have no memory, but don't purposely drain the battery before charging it again. This isn't a Nickel Cadmium battery, and it isn't 1991. ;) This is a Li-Ion battery. Its not just Apple laptops. Laptops and mobile phones mainly run on Li-Ion batteries.

@Evil: You're not supposed to leave ANY battery unused for weeks or months. The reason an older laptop battery may last longer is because you used it differently (without even knowing it), or you didn't leave it for months without using it. If you need to store a battery because you know you won't be using it for months (ie: you're travelling or something), discharge your battery to 40%, take the battery out, and put it in the refridgerator.