Resolved Many Macbook Pro Issues: Battery Failure/System Auto Shut-Off

Hello everyone.

I'm having troubles with my dad's old Macbook, which he gave up on about 4 years ago. I've taken it upon myself to attempt to bring it back to life. However, it does seem to have a very large set of issues that I'm having a lot of trouble solving.

Tech Specs: Macbook Pro (Late 2006) - 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Running OS X Version 10.5.8. Software all up to date.

Issue #1: The infamous battery issue; battery not recognized. MagSafe charger shows a very faded green light. Battery icon on the top bar is "X'd" out and 3 attempts at resetting the PRAM and SMC have ALL failed. Battery while plugged in shows a single bright green light on the left. An attempt to replace the battery with an aftermarket battery showed no sign of success and this battery had NO lights lit up at all. Also, this is what I got from pulling up battery info with the battery CONNECTED:

Battery Information:

Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 0
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 0
Health Information:
Cycle count: 0
Battery Installed: No
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 0

Issue #2: The Macbook will randomly shut itself off without warning, usually after about ten minutes of light use. The problem has seemed to water itself down a bit, but it still does occur quite frequently.

Finally, if any solutions I receive do not work, will a complete wipe of the hard drive solve these issues? Since this Macbook is so old, none of the files it contains are very important anymore, so if it comes down to it, I am willing to format the system but not before troubleshooting these issues.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

bkribbs said:

Is it possible to boot from an external hard drive? A reinstall could help.

Try repairing permissions in disk utility.

I'd bet issue 2 will be solved with issue 1

Click to expand...

It boots alright, in fact I'm typing on it right now, but there's no way to tell when/if it will shut off again. I am verifying disk permissions right now and I'll update once I attempt a repair.

*UPDATE* Permissions repaired. No changes.

Update #2: I took the MBP apart thinking I would find a ton of dust buildup, but it was actually pretty clean inside. The next time I booted, the charging icon on the battery flashed for about 2 seconds, then went back to the "X". No problems resolved yet.

brop52 said:

How old is the battery? Sounds like a dead battery to me.

----------



Yes. (And 91% evaporates faster than 70%)

Click to expand...

Upon removing the battery and holding it at eye-level, I noticed it was slightly beveled and thus not lining up to the connectors. By putting force on the battery while it was in the Macbook, the X on the battery indicator disappeared and the battery began charging. Success! Since I don't think holding my battery in while attempting to use the MBP sounds very practical, I will purchase a new battery and then restore the MBP and see what happens. Hopefully this might fix the auto shut-off issue as well.

----------

Update #3: I noticed some gunk in the MagSafe port. Maybe this is what is causing the shut-off issue; a flimsy connection? I tried wiping it out but it's really stuck in there and it almost looks like jelly or something ; Anyone know where I can buy a new MagSafe board/port?

Asuriyan said:

I found that a random shut-off issue I had with that computer's brother (the 1,1 Core Duo) was actually related to the battery. It worked fine with the battery removed entirely.

As for the MagSafe board, on that model (if I recall correctly) it was built into an I/O board containing the left side ports. You can try replacing it, or you could try near-pure isopropyl and a swab to clean out the existing jack.

Click to expand...

Something like this?: http://bit.ly/11H10rq

Realistically, the laptop is 7 years old, so it won't be long before the port is done-in anyway. Plus the contacts look pretty worn down.

bkribbs said:

it sounds like the problem with the battery is that it has expanded and just doesn't fit right. a restore probably won't be necessary for that.

Click to expand...

True, but I was planning a wipe anyway since it's my dad's old laptop from forever ago.