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10.5.5 and Batteries

I don't use my Macbook as often as I'd like sometimes. I used it about a week or 2 ago and I remember watching the battery charge. Last night I plugged it in, booted it up and did the 10.5.5 upgrade. Now my battery is showing

Cycle count: 28
Condition: Check battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0

I cannot honestly say that I looked to see if the battery was charging when I booted and before I restarted for the 10.5.5 update, but I can say that it DID take a charge the last time I connected my AC adapter. Since then the Macbook has been sitting in my bag untouched.

I'm not sure what to do next. I've looked on ebay at new batteries, my laptop is not under warranty anymore.
 
@ Zach:

1.38 GHz, that's a 15 inch right?

Hmm... that's new.

For now, I'd say hang tight and watch the thread. I vow to get this figured out without buying a new battery!
 
boardopboy said:
@ Zach:

1.38 GHz, that's a 15 inch right?

Hmm... that's new.

For now, I'd say hang tight and watch the thread. I vow to get this figured out without buying a new battery!
Click to expand...

1.38? Perhaps a little dyslexia there? 1.83 and no, I didn't edit my signature, it has always said 1.83 :)
 
Yup. That'd be my chubby fingers moving faster than my chubby brain!

By "new", I meant yours is the first 15 inch MBP I have seen with the issue. (I think?)

Anyway... Apple has shown some movement on this. I am anxiously waiting to hear back from them.
 
boardopboy said:
Yup. That'd be my chubby fingers moving faster than my chubby brain!

By "new", I meant yours is the first 15 inch MBP I have seen with the issue. (I think?)

Anyway... Apple has shown some movement on this. I am anxiously waiting to hear back from them.
Click to expand...

No MBP here, just a good old white Macbook.
 
At some point, I will fully engage my brain today! (maybe I need to check its battery!)

Now, I do know that's the first report on a MacBook I have seen!

Thanks for mentioning it, and contributing! Every little bit has helped in my emails with Apple!
 
23 cycles are not a lot of cycles.

I'm up in the 300 range with Boardopboy.

With that few cycles you should be able to re-calibrate it prety good.

A cycle is a full discharge and then re-charging completely.

Question: Do you re-charge often without letting the battery run out completely? (ie: using it for 20-30 minutes at a time and re-charging.)
 
I could understand it being the OS if it at least charged when the laptop was off and the AC adapter was connected, but mine does not charge at all now.
 
@Zach: it sounds like you may have something else brewing. Through all this I have at least been able to charge everything properly. But still, what I just found out, could have a bearing, read on:

I just got off a 20 minute phone call from Apple. Yes, they called me again (and I was told it won't be the last call!). This is no Apple Care I'm talking about... these are their top level "Executive Service Specialists"! Fancy!

I don't wanna say too much (we all know how Apple rolls!) but as I said, they came to me, and asked for some very specific information from my system logs. When last we spoke, their engineers are reviewing my logs.

The gentleman I have been talking to told me there is a chance this is coincidental, but believes that is not the case. He explained how power management is a job of the OS, and it is possible there is something that is causing the power management to misfire (my words, not his). Also, the information they collected from my machine should be enough to figure it all out!

The fine folks at Apple have been an extreme pleasure to talk with, and they have walked me through everything they are doing to this point. They have stressed time and time again how important it is to them to get this resolved correctly.

I get the sense that they are genuinely talking the time work this one out. I gotta say, the way they are handling this, has been impressive.

I'll keep any interested parties up to date. Never fear, your batteries may just rise again!
 
Yes, please keep us posted. I'm having problems of the same sort with my OLD powerbook.

I'm sure it is age more than anything. I know it would only be $70-80 for a new battery to keep this little ol' Mac rolling, but for the most part I can plug in where ever I go. I just miss sitting out on the swing reading the Morning DrudgeReport and drinking my coffee...
 
Wow...I came here to post about this and look at this, more people with this issue.

I just checked my battery health after my MBP just shutdown on battery with no warning. My cycle count is 36, full charge capacity is 3737, and status says check battery. No problems until I updated to 10.5.5.

Counting the original, I'm on the phone right now getting my 4th battery in two years. Glad to hear that other people are having these issues. I'd like to see something resolved because I was starting to think my PMU had issues.

Specs:
1.83 CD MBP 1st Gen
2GB Ram
Battery is 6 months old (3rd battery)
10.5.5
 
Me too

Just to let everyone know I'm having the same problem. The battery health is "check battery" and the computer turns off at 60% power remaining.

All this changed with 10.5.5 - it was fine before this (I used the combo update as I have a lab full of macs)

I now have an over priced desktop rather than my much loved MacBook Pro laptop (2.16Ghz, Intel Core 2 duo, 4Gb)
 
rjphoto said:
23 cycles are not a lot of cycles.

I'm up in the 300 range with Boardopboy.

With that few cycles you should be able to re-calibrate it prety good.

A cycle is a full discharge and then re-charging completely.

Question: Do you re-charge often without letting the battery run out completely? (ie: using it for 20-30 minutes at a time and re-charging.)
Click to expand...

i leave mine plugged in 95% of the time, but i calibrate it every month to every 6 weeks. i think it's a bug in the update, so i'm not going to worry too much.
 
Well I've also got the same problem; mine started switching off at around 10-15%, then more like 50% now it's closer to 75% charge left. I've just booted it to Windows XP twice and the same problem so not sure if that means it's not OSX 10.5.5?? Anyway, taking it to Genius bar in it's current state tonight to demonstrate the problem. Was there any firmware update recently that may have caused it?
 
Hello all.

Just wanted to take a moment to caution you against going to get/buy a new battery for your machine.

Seems (as I suspected) OS 10.5.5 is doing something to the battery, as such, any new battery you put in is going to suffer the same fate.

I have no concrete evidence of this, other than forums, but it just seems to make sense.

I am supposed to get a call this evening from Apple. I'll let you know what, if anything, is new.
 
That was something I wondered about too. I'd hate to spend the $ to see the new battery get hosed. Of course in my case, it does not charge at all whether the laptop is on or off, so I could connect the ac adapter with a new(used) battery and see if the laptop even tries to charge it without the OS being involved.

I don't use Time Machine on my laptop so I have no way to roll back to 10.5.4 to see if that helps.
 
ZachsMacDaddy said:
o I could connect the ac adapter with a new(used) battery and see if the laptop even tries to charge it without the OS being involved.
Click to expand...

I see what yer syain'! Try to charge the virgin battery before the OS has a chance to screw with it! Nice. Let us know what happens with that.

ZachsMacDaddy said:
I don't use Time Machine on my laptop so I have no way to roll back to 10.5.4 to see if that helps.
Click to expand...

Probably wouldn't help. I have found that running XP out of Boot Camp, the same thing happens. Telling me, 10.5.5 has in fact messed with the battery's internal software. So, going back to 10.5.4 would leave with the same messed up battery software. Probably? (I never was able to find my disks to restore)

Also... it is getting progressively worse. The power off keeps happening earlier and earlier. Today, I only got down to around 40% before it choked out on me. You'll recall it was initially at 15%.
 
Battery Solution

This isn't the best solution out there but it works for me.

Charge up your battery to 100%

Remove your battery with the power plugged in.

Continue using your laptop without your battery.

INSERT YOUR BATTERY WHEN YOU NEED TO


If your MBP is never being moved and is always in one spot don't use your battery. If your going to try this method, make sure the cord is in a position where it cannot be bumped and is in surge protector.

Doing this will save your battery life. If you leave your battery in after it's 100% it weakens it over time like any other battery.
 
Discostu7 said:
Charge up your battery to 100%

Remove your battery with the power plugged in.

Continue using your laptop without your battery.

INSERT YOUR BATTERY WHEN YOU NEED TO
Click to expand...

Awesome! A fine contribution!

I hadn't thought of that, and I am willing to bet no one else did either!

Well played.

Seriously... I love it. I was starting to get concerned about the physical condition of the battery, what with all this unusual stress on it, and this is perfect for resting my mind! Just pull it out. So simple, that it was completely over looked.

Thank you!
 
I went to the genius bar last night and tried my battery in their machine and it switched it off too, at around 35% charge. I then tried their battery in mine and it went to sleep at 0% as it should. After a bit of discussion I managed to leave with a brand new battery in exchange for my old one.. the new one seems to be working fine so far but it's only been a day.
 
Discostu7 said:
This isn't the best solution out there but it works for me.

Charge up your battery to 100%

Remove your battery with the power plugged in.

Continue using your laptop without your battery.

INSERT YOUR BATTERY WHEN YOU NEED TO


If your MBP is never being moved and is always in one spot don't use your battery. If your going to try this method, make sure the cord is in a position where it cannot be bumped and is in surge protector.

Doing this will save your battery life. If you leave your battery in after it's 100% it weakens it over time like any other battery.
Click to expand...

It also underclocks your machine. I'll pass on this.

I took my machine in the other day and got a brand new battery. Turns out it was starting to swell, and was only holding 1/5 of its total capacity after only 80 cycles.

My new battery has several cycles on it and still performs properly. Conspiracy theorists be damned!
 
anthonys said:
I then tried their battery in mine and it went to sleep at 0% as it should. ...the new one seems to be working fine so far but it's only been a day.
Click to expand...
Let's hope you didn't infect their battery. Would you be so kind to retrun to the thred in a day or two and let us know if it continues to hold out? I am very interested to know what happens. Thanks!
Denarius said:
I did a full battery calibration cycle the other day with no unexpected shutdowns. I am running 10.5.5 on my MBPC2D 2.2GHz.
Click to expand...
The problem here is... calibration only works when your machine drops into that deep sleep. We can't get our machines to that state. They always just shoutoff somewhere between 15% and 45%. We never get to 0%.
Denarius said:
Might be talking out of my hat, but are you guys running the latest firmwares for your machines?
Click to expand...
Unless a new firmware was released since 10.5.5 was released, yes, I am running the most current firmware.
 
Discostu7 said:
This isn't the best solution out there but it works for me.

Charge up your battery to 100%

Remove your battery with the power plugged in.

Continue using your laptop without your battery.

INSERT YOUR BATTERY WHEN YOU NEED TO


If your MBP is never being moved and is always in one spot don't use your battery. If your going to try this method, make sure the cord is in a position where it cannot be bumped and is in surge protector.

Doing this will save your battery life. If you leave your battery in after it's 100% it weakens it over time like any other battery.
Click to expand...

This is all pretty much bad advice.

Firstly, running your computer without the battery installed will cause it to run at a slower speed. Read about it here.

Secondly, removing the battery isn't going to "save your battery" because the lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries used in PowerBooks and MacBooks begin to degrade from the moment of manufacture despite whether or not it is installed.

The best option is to simply leave the battery installed and use your computer as it was designed to be.
 
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