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Any fix for battery problems with Mavericks?

fedecape

fedecape

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 23, 2011
414
32
Miami, FL
2013 11 inch MBA i7. Full charge = 4-5 hours (it used to be around 8)

I'm sure I'm not the only one experiencing bad battery life. It used to be much better with ML. I've switched to Safari from Chrome, and I've reseted the SMC but had no luck.

Has anybody found a way to fix it?

Downgrading is not really an option, I like Mavericks and I want to be updated.

Thank you
 
Mavericks added one hour to my 2013 11" i5. I can easily get 11 hours, but then again I'm careful to manage it - shut down unused applications, screen at 50%
 
That was the reason i went back to ML. I got ~4hrs with Mavericks.. Not acceptable for me when getting easy ~11 hrs on ML in my usage.

So for me that was an easy decision to revert back.

That said, when i had this issue i found no "fixes" for the batterylife. Found some posts suggesting a clean install solved this for some, for others it did no improvement what so ever. Might be something to try if not done already?

I'm now waiting for a few .x updates for Mavericks to get bugs sorted out before giving it another go.

Best of luck!
 
Clean install. Likely there is some software that has an issue with Mavericks that you have installed.
 
Please verify that, after sleep, PID0/kernel_task uses 100% of a single core?

Clean install, tweak, etc... none of it has solved this bug for me. It is instantly reproducible, regardless of the apologists in this forum. It has affected 3/3 2013 Macbook Air's that I have been able to test, and it IS an issue. The only fix, thus far, is installing Mountain Lion again.
 
Thanks everybody. I made an appointment with Apple, will see what the genius thinks.

Robyr said:
Please verify that, after sleep, PID0/kernel_task uses 100% of a single core?

Clean install, tweak, etc... none of it has solved this bug for me. It is instantly reproducible, regardless of the apologists in this forum. It has affected 3/3 2013 Macbook Air's that I have been able to test, and it IS an issue. The only fix, thus far, is installing Mountain Lion again.
Click to expand...

Just checked and yes, it uses 100% but for a few seconds. It then idles
 
Anyone else stuck on "Collecting Power Usage Information" that never resolves?
 
Spytap said:
Anyone else stuck on "Collecting Power Usage Information" that never resolves?
Click to expand...


You probably already tried SMC reset..? Seen several ppl with this and SMC reset seems to have solved it for them.
 
how does one do a "clean install" of Mavericks?

I already updated my 2-day-old MBA to Mavericks.
 
Clean install is when you first format the drive and then install the OS.

To be honest, if anything Mavericks extended my battery life from 12 to 15 hours. Still, given the amount of inexcusable faults that my MBA (and the one I sent back for replacement), I can easily see it happening. Take it back to the store.
 
iterva said:
You probably already tried SMC reset..? Seen several ppl with this and SMC reset seems to have solved it for them.
Click to expand...

Yeah, already gave that a shot. It's been this way for several weeks now - I've mostly just accepted that for now I'll be getting 5-7 hours of battery life and won't know why.
 
Spytap said:
Yeah, already gave that a shot. It's been this way for several weeks now - I've mostly just accepted that for now I'll be getting 5-7 hours of battery life and won't know why.
Click to expand...

wow... if a couple of $20 bills go missing from you wallet every night, wouldn't you want to find out ASAP what the cause is? :D
 
Jaranson said:
wow... if a couple of $20 bills go missing from you wallet every night, wouldn't you want to find out ASAP what the cause is? :D
Click to expand...

Well, unfortunately, there is really nothing we can do. We don't have the kernel source, and Apple deliberately obfuscates the monitoring and logging.

We are stuck, for now, and the only choice is to revert to Mountain Lion at this moment, or stick it out and keep rebooting to clear the issue while we wait for (hopefully) 10.9.1 to fix the issues.

I am less than hopeful, though, as I have been running the 10.9.1 Betas, both 13B27 and 13B35, and have seen no change. Maybe the 13B40 build has a fix, but I won't hold my breath.
 
Jaranson said:
wow... if a couple of $20 bills go missing from you wallet every night, wouldn't you want to find out ASAP what the cause is? :D
Click to expand...

Normally it's the kind of thing that'd set me off, but I just started a new company, am about to launch a new product, and with the Holidays (and the travel/shopping/family obligations therein) just have too much other **** stressing me out to let something I have zero control over do the same.

Can I change it? No? Then it's not worth worrying about for now. When I have extra energy to get stressed/pissed/vocal about things that I don't have control over, I may readdress the issue. But for now, just accepting it and moving on.
 
For what its worth, 10.9.1 will likely solve this issue. I have been running 13B40 and no longer does the kernel eat a core of CPU after waking from sleep. Finally.
 
after several days of extensive usage with my new MBA 11.6" 256GB running on Mavericks, the longest battery life I've seen was a little over 6 hours. Brightness always at less than 50%. Is this normal? 6 hours seems kind of short to me.
 
Jaranson said:
after several days of extensive usage with my new MBA 11.6" 256GB running on Mavericks, the longest battery life I've seen was a little over 6 hours. Brightness always at less than 50%. Is this normal? 6 hours seems kind of short to me.
Click to expand...

No, it is not normal. Please read this thread.
 
Jaranson said:
after several days of extensive usage with my new MBA 11.6" 256GB running on Mavericks, the longest battery life I've seen was a little over 6 hours. Brightness always at less than 50%. Is this normal? 6 hours seems kind of short to me.
Click to expand...
It depends on what you are doing with your system.

Apple's battery life estimates are based on a mixed suite of tasks and uses that are arguably representative of a typical user's behavior. The estimate is generalized and cannot be interpreted as a guarantee of battery life for every user.

Unfortunately, you don't mention how you are using your device. If you are running CPU benchmarks and Handbrake DVD rips 24x7, no, this is not typical usage. Since you don't provide any information on what you're doing with your system, it's impossible for anyone here to understand your usage.

In the end, the battery life specs are largely irrelevant for a new owner like you. If you don't like your ownership experience, take back the unit for a full refund under the customer satisfaction policy from the seller.

Good luck.
 
mpantone said:
It depends on what you are doing with your system.

Apple's battery life estimates are based on a mixed suite of tasks and uses that are arguably representative of a typical user's behavior. The estimate is generalized and cannot be interpreted as a guarantee of battery life for every user.

Unfortunately, you don't mention how you are using your device. If you are running CPU benchmarks and Handbrake DVD rips 24x7, no, this is not typical usage. Since you don't provide any information on what you're doing with your system, it's impossible for anyone here to understand your usage.

In the end, the battery life specs are largely irrelevant for a new owner like you. If you don't like your ownership experience, take back the unit for a full refund under the customer satisfaction policy from the seller.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

The only things I've been using the Macbook Air for are web browsing(Safari) and checking emails.
 
Well, now that you have provided sufficient information (it's about time), I'd say that your MacBook Air is not performing to the manufacturer's claims of nine hours.

You should exchange your unit for a new one.

Good luck.
 
Robyr said:
No, it is not normal. Please read this thread.
Click to expand...

so it's not going to improve with time? :( my new MBA has only been fully charged 4 times since I received it a few days ago. (plugging in the charger only after the MBA turns itself off when the battery is almost completely dead)
 
Jaranson said:
so it's not going to improve with time? :( my new MBA has only been fully charged 4 times since I received it a few days ago. (plugging in the charger only after the MBA turns itself off when the battery is almost completely dead)
Click to expand...

No, stop. READ THE THREAD. Seriously. Mavericks has a BAD bug that causes the kernel to use 100% of the CPU after sleep, killing your battery life. In Mountain Lion this is not an issue, and I see 10+ hours on my 11. Now, with the new beta updates, Apple has made good on their 10 hour promise by fixing this bug.

Reading comprehension, people. It's a truly important piece of understanding...
 
Robyr said:
No, stop. READ THE THREAD. Seriously. Mavericks has a BAD bug that causes the kernel to use 100% of the CPU after sleep, killing your battery life. In Mountain Lion this is not an issue, and I see 10+ hours on my 11. Now, with the new beta updates, Apple has made good on their 10 hour promise by fixing this bug.

Reading comprehension, people. It's a truly important piece of understanding...
Click to expand...

Great news. Any idea when Apple will push out the update with the bug fix? Battery life is the main reason (+ need for larger SSD) I would update my 2011 MBA and/or move to Mavericks.
 
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