15" PowerBook Ti Battery Issue

[livingfortoday]

I've looked through a few pages of old posts, but I can't seem to find any specific solution to this problem, so here it goes.

For about three months now, my Titanium PowerBook has been telling me the wrong battery life. When I unplug it, it'll stay at 99%, and then randomly fall to 3% or 7%, and tell me I'm low on battery life. This can happen at any time, from ten minutes from me unplugging it to an hour. I never know when the battery is going to die, it'll just stay at 3% until it turns itself off.

I've tried draining the battery completely and recharging it fully, and all sorts of other tricks, but nothing seems to work. I think I'm getting about a two hour charge out of the battery at this point, by the way.

Is it time for a new battery in this computer? Or is there some software issue I am not familiar with that could solve this problem?

If not, where could I find a good, reliable, and *cheap* Pb battery?

Thanks for your help!

 

[bubbamac]

I'm sure someone will chime in with the exact info, but...

Have you tried zapping the PRAM? It's on a thread here somewhere, it's in the title, and it's a sticky. Shouldn't be too hard to find.

There was a thread not too long ago about new PB batteries. Also shouldn't be too hard to find. Bad news, it's gonna set you back about $130, if I recall.

PB batteries do have a limited life, it may just be time to replace it.

 

[mactastic]

My TiBook's battery is getting old, and it does do some funky stuff like dropping from 25% to zero, but I chalked that up to the age and amount of use I've put on that battery for the last 2+ years. It doesn't do anything like holding at 99% for any length of time.

 

[livingfortoday]

I'm sure someone will chime in with the exact info, but...

Have you tried zapping the PRAM? It's on a thread here somewhere, it's in the title, and it's a sticky. Shouldn't be too hard to find.

There was a thread not too long ago about new PB batteries. Also shouldn't be too hard to find. Bad news, it's gonna set you back about $130, if I recall.

PB batteries do have a limited life, it may just be time to replace it.

Yeah, I just tried zapping the PRAM, but it's still doing the same thing. Well, now it's stuck on 98% instead of 99%, but I really don't think that matters much.

I may just need to get a new battery, but I really can't afford $130 for just the battery. Is there any third-party vendor that makes PowerBook batteries?

 

[timnosenzo]

My TiBooks battery does weird stuff like that. For instance...it will seem to drain pretty rapidly (like maybe a little over an hour). I'll get a warning about being on reserve power...but it will continue to go for another hour or so. Just weird....and old.

 

[stutz]

Me too. What the...?

I feel for you man because I get the same funky stuff. I can charge this puppy up to a 100% most of the time, but sometimes it will only get up to 96% or 98%. Then it will only a little over an hour in use with the very lowest powersettings, screen and all, using only one application and never having a CD inserted or another peripheral hooked up. I get about 40-50 seconds per percentage point. Then once it gets to about 5-8% of battery it just hangs on like it's running on fumes for at least another hour. Then it will slowly drop to 0% letting me know it's done. Nothing has worked in fixing it.

My PowerBook is now 3 years old though; and I've used this computer almost every day I've had it. I thought about getting a new battery, but have decided to wait until the next generation of chips goes into the laptop series and get another PowerBook altogether. I guess this doesn't help you much, but just lets you know you are not alone.

Stutz