Battery issue mysteriously FIXED!

[eyoungren]

I can't find my old thread, so I am posting this as new. A couple weeks ago I got a new Quicksilver and I set it up in the dining room. I also put my 17" PowerBook G4 DLSD next to it with my iSight cam for Skype.

Now this PB has been reporting "no battery" or "Battery not charging" for almost a year or so. I'm short a power adapter and my son's hard drive on his PowerBook died, so I used that power adapter to run my PowerBook.

Yesterday, I started to clone my son's drive which meant I needed the power adapter back. This morning, just for the heck of it, I hit the power button on the PowerBook. I got a chime, which shocked me and it booted! Showing 72% on battery!

The only thing I can guess happened is that the PRAM battery was just flat and two weeks on a charger doing nothing probably recharged it and allowed the battery hardware to start working again. IDK, but my DLSD is back and I'm happy!

The underlying cause I know is the face that I often let the Mac drain down. Never going to do that again. It's sleeping on it's own again right now, but I will plug it in soon.

Replaced the DC-In board again too and that didn't help so I guess it was just the PRAM battery. Anyway, it's working now!

EDIT: Unfortunately, I do not have a spare 65W AC adapter at the moment and my other 17" PowerBook is busy cloning my son's HD so I can't use that one. I tried my wife's adapter, but since she has a 12" PowerBook G4 it's 45W. So, for now, I have shut off the DLSD.

EDIT2: Spoke too soon. It's running off battery, but seeing all adapters as 45W and not the 65W they actually are. So…I'll probably try swapping the DC-In Board (again) and see if that fixes it. If not, it's got to be down to something else in the circuitry. Probably the logicboard.

 

[gavinstubbs09]

Once I had a 2006 MBP and it hated the battery that was in it. Wouldn't even be detected. Then I got my 2007 MBP and swapped the batteries between the two, and the 2006 fired right up with the battery from the 2007.

Weird how some stuff works out!

 

[eyoungren]

Once I had a 2006 MBP and it hated the battery that was in it. Wouldn't even be detected. Then I got my 2007 MBP and swapped the batteries between the two, and the 2006 fired right up with the battery from the 2007.

Weird how some stuff works out!

Yeah, things are kind of bizarre with this PowerBook. I had a DC-In board issue (or so I thought) a while back so I bought a new one. It worked for a while and then very stupidly I started allowing the battery to drain down so that it was running off the PRAM battery. A few times like that and it stopped recovering so that I was suffering from a no battery charging state. I have three batteries and the one in this PB is the best of the lot, but it still was not charging. Even though my other 17" PB saw it just fine.

Now, the Mac is seeing the battery and recognizing a charge and running from it, but all my 65W adapters are being seen as 45W, which is not good enough to actually charge it (although maybe it was being trickle-charged being left to sit on adapter for two weeks).

So, both DC-In boards that I have (the original and the replacement) seem to be good. I'll try swapping the replacement back in again (because I put the original back in) and seeing if that has any effect.

Ultimately, though I suspect I am headed towards a logicboard replacement. This PB was dropped and landed on the corner near the superdrive. It's been a fine machine and worked well since I got it in 2010, but it may be starting to go. At the very least the drop didn't help any.

 

[Hughmac]

Puzzled

Off topic I know, but both my 15" PowerBooks are using 45W chargers, and both are charging fine and working fine.

Am I causing damage, as I thought using a lower rated adapter would just mean it might take longer to recharge the battery?

Would appreciate your thoughts ...

Cheers

Hugh

 

[Mnowell69]

a lot of them came with 45w chargers, as did mine. You will probably find that you can't run the laptop without the battery, but no damage will occur.

 

[eyoungren]

Off topic I know, but both my 15" PowerBooks are using 45W chargers, and both are charging fine and working fine.

Am I causing damage, as I thought using a lower rated adapter would just mean it might take longer to recharge the battery?

Would appreciate your thoughts ...

Cheers

Hugh

a lot of them came with 45w chargers, as did mine. You will probably find that you can't run the laptop without the battery, but no damage will occur.

No immediate damage. However, you have to consider long term damage. Consistently drawing insufficient power can over time lead to failure anywhere in the charging system. It won't happen overnight, not next week, not next month, but somewhere something might fail early.

45W chargers will deliver enough power to maintain battery status and may charge over time. But it's just not good to run a system rated for 65 watts off a 45 watt charger for an extended period of time. You would be better served to just shut your system down when not using it. That's what I've done until I can figure out why it is my PB is only drawing 45W.

 

[Hughmac]

I have two reasonably good batteries for each PowerBook (2 hours+), and run on these most of the time.

When the battery has run down a bit, I will either put the laptop on charge asleep (lid closed) or plug it in to change the batteries over.

The only time they operate on mains power is to do an intensive job like backing up or video encoding, and when running mains connected I haven't noticed any problems. Both chargers are genuine Apple 45W.

Neither of the PowerBooks get shut down unless for a specific reason.

I shall look out for a couple of 65W adapters to be on the safe side - and thanks for your help

Cheers

Hugh

 

[eyoungren]

I have two reasonably good batteries for each PowerBook (2 hours+), and run on these most of the time.

When the battery has run down a bit, I will either put the laptop on charge asleep (lid closed) or plug it in to change the batteries over.

The only time they operate on mains power is to do an intensive job like backing up or video encoding, and when running mains connected I haven't noticed any problems. Both chargers are genuine Apple 45W.

Neither of the PowerBooks get shut down unless for a specific reason.

I shall look out for a couple of 65W adapters to be on the safe side - and thanks for your help

Cheers

Hugh

No problem. Good luck.

Note, some Macs truly are 45W only. My TiBook was that way so I was not happy when I found out I couldn't use my charger with my then new 17" PowerBook back in 2009.

I really hesitate now to use 45W on the PowerBook that is the subject of this thread. It's a Hi-Def, DLSD so I assume it probably draws more power than my other PowerBook. But both adapters I've used it with ARE 65W, so it's got to be something in the charging circuitry somewhere.