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johnmclane2000

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 7, 2007
24
0
Hi everyone,

I got a 10 month old MBP SR, 2,2Ghz (June 2007).

Lately a very annoying thing happens. When I have the laptop on battery power and the battery is nearly depleted (4-5 minutes left), instead of just going to sleep it shuts down. Losing everything that was open in the process of course.

I am not using anything powerhungry in those last minutes, in case you were wondering. And even if I were, it still should only go to sleep not just die on me.

The first time this happened I thought it was just a glitch, but it recurrs now every time the laptop is around the 5 minutes left marker...

Anyone got any idea why this happens, and more importantly how I can get rid of it again?

Thanks you all!

John
 
i'm having a similar experience. my recently purchased 2.2 ghz macbook hasn't ever gone to sleep with minimal power remaining; it's always turned off instead. :(
 
same problem here

Hi,

same problem here, both with MBP SR 2.4 GHz and with MacBook Core Duo!
 
I did a PRAM/NVRAM Reset and that didn't help at all, it just died on me again a moment ago.

Probably will have to call Apple about this...
 
Have you tried re-calibrating the battery? If you look on Apple.com they have instructions for it under Support. If that doesn't resolve the issue, I'd definitely contact AppleCare, the battery could be defective.
 
Now I don't even get a 10% warning anymore and the book shuts down at 8% already. Great.

Called Apple since I have bought Apple Care for 300€. The hotline charges me 70 cents/ minute. After half an hour of doing stupid things that I know wouldn't change anything the guy said he doesn't know what the problems is and is quite puzzled. Thanks for the info that's what I expect from a hotline...

He was unwilling to exchange my battery since it doesn't fall into the right serial no. range that qualifies for exchange and wants me to take it to the next Apple Service Provider instead who is like 50km from where I live.

Thank you Apple, that is outstanding service for paying 300€ extra on insurance.
 
try re-calibrating. Sounds like that is the issue, because the battery thinks it has more power than it really does.
 
This would be problematic if the battery is unable to run itself dry since the laptop is shutting down.

Calibrating would possibly fix the issue. Its best to do it overnight, because you must leave it for at least 5 hours in either its sleep or shut down state unplugged (During this time I assume the battery is going to run out despite not actually being used. I believe i read somewhere that it is not uncommon during calibration that the sleep light turns off = shut down (battery is now discharged), not including the 2 hours or so to fully charge the computer if you need to use it on battery.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86284
 
70 cents from a german o2 landline to the german 0180 5er number, yes. Although this is not entirely on Apple since the cost is partly due to o2's ridiculous pricing policy. Still, if you pay 300€ for extra insurance the calls should just be free, like they indeed are in the U.S.


Believe me I tried recalibrating and every reset possible, first on my own then again because the Apple guy insisted on doing it all over again. To no avail.

I know that tons of people have that problem, just google it. Still Apple pretends they never heard of it...
 
I have a C2D 2.16 GHz MBP and it started to do the shutdown thing about a month ago. I called Applecare and eventually talked to one of their "tier 1" specialists about the issue. He basically said buy a new battery. So I did and it works fine. I guess that's the way it is sometimes.
 
Bradbowl, do you actually have applecare? Because if it's still in effect it's ridiculous for them to have you buy a new battery, if the battery is defective (which I'd definitely say it sounds like it) then it should be replaced for free!

However, my issue is slightly different, my computer shuts down without warning halfway through the battery charge, at about 40-70% (varies each time it's happened so far). I have a genius bar appointment tomorrow and won't leave with anything less than a replacement battery, I didn't spend $300 on applecare so they can tell me to buy replacements for their defective product.
 
After talking to Apple Care again they were a lot more reasonable and decided to give me a new battery.

This solved the problem entirely. The warning message appears as it should be and the laptop goes to sleep instead of just dying on me.

Cost me 30€ in telephone expenses. Other than the ridiculous cost of the help line I'm happy with the service.

Other people have this problem, it seems quite common:

http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/macbookpro/topic1998.html#d08feb2008

cheers

John
 
Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I've just recently begun experiencing this exact same problem on my year-old SR MBP... since I'm covered under AppleCare, should I just take it to the Apple Store, or does calibrating the battery seem to resolve the issue? Thanks!
 
Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I've just recently begun experiencing this exact same problem on my year-old SR MBP... since I'm covered under AppleCare, should I just take it to the Apple Store, or does calibrating the battery seem to resolve the issue? Thanks!

The OP said calibrations didn't help and a new battery solved the issue.
 
The OP said calibrations didn't help and a new battery solved the issue.

Am going to the Apple Store this afternoon... my almost year-old MBP is still covered, so we'll see how generous the Genius Bar is today. Looks like a new battery is the only choice.
 
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