Battery NOT CHARGING, especially when using DVD

[royalef]

Brand new MacBook Pro 17, bought May 2011. Already made one trip to Apple Genius Bar and they tested everything and found no problem. They reset the SMC (?). I'm basically waiting for the problem to get bad enough that it is constant and can't be ignored. Oh, Joy.

My battery constantly says "(NOT CHARGING)" And the % will decrease down. This week it floated in the 80%s, never getting higher. If I shutdown the OS and unplug for a minute, plug back in and startup it will usually start charging again.

However, when I aggressively use the DVD it drains the battery. All of a sudden last night the whole unit powered off. I botoed back up, it said the clock was not set, asked a bunch of firewall questions than blacked out. My assumption was the battery was 0%, but I couldn't keep it running long enough to see a %. I unplugged the unit, waited a minute than plugged it in and left it powered off overnight. It was charged again, but is currently at 89% and (not charging). I'm ripping some of my DVDs to watch on the road and this seems to drain the battery--even though I'm plugged in. The power cord is green.

I'm wondering if anybody else is experiencing this with the new MacBook Pros?

I figured I'll try the calibration procedure again.

 

[snaky69]

Brand new MacBook Pro 17, bought May 2011. Already made one trip to Apple Genius Bar and they tested everything and found no problem. They reset the SMC (?). I'm basically waiting for the problem to get bad enough that it is constant and can't be ignored. Oh, Joy.

My battery constantly says "(NOT CHARGING)" And the % will decrease down. This week it floated in the 80%s, never getting higher. If I shutdown the OS and unplug for a minute, plug back in and startup it will usually start charging again.

However, when I aggressively use the DVD it drains the battery. All of a sudden last night the whole unit powered off. I botoed back up, it said the clock was not set, asked a bunch of firewall questions than blacked out. My assumption was the battery was 0%, but I couldn't keep it running long enough to see a %. I unplugged the unit, waited a minute than plugged it in and left it powered off overnight. It was charged again, but is currently at 89% and (not charging). I'm ripping some of my DVDs to watch on the road and this seems to drain the battery--even though I'm plugged in. The power cord is green.

I'm wondering if anybody else is experiencing this with the new MacBook Pros?

I figured I'll try the calibration procedure again.

The power supply isn't providing enough power to the computer when it runs full blast. The battery will kick in and help it out. This is normal behaviour.

 

[mrsci]

It sounds like a bad power supply. Try using a different power supply, make sure you get the one for the 17" MBP.

 

[GGJstudios]

Reset the SMC again (instructions in the following link under CHARGING), calibrate your battery to make sure your readings are accurate, and follow the steps for troubleshooting MagSafe adapters (also in the CHARGING section). This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

 

[royalef]

The power supply isn't providing enough power to the computer when it runs full blast. The battery will kick in and help it out. This is normal behaviour.

I wondered about this... it is ludicrous that the power supply is insufficient for basic functions of the laptop. Hell, I don't even have power-drawing USB devices plugged in! And... let's be clear.. the MacBook DIED of no power WHILE plugged into wall power for the two days straight.

However, this is the first time owning a Mac, so I don't know the silliness of this vendor (they all suck in different ways).

If that turns out to be the answer, I will be embarrassed for Apple. I've used windows laptops since the early 90s and have never seen such behavior.

 

[MagicBoy]

It's the same with most modern laptops as they don't spend significant amounts of time running the GPU and graphics cards at 100%. They use the battery on demand to top up the PSU for short periods. That said I've never seen a drop of more than 10% due to this.

Older Apple laptops used to limit the CPU speed when running without a battery installed for this reason, such as the original MacBook Pro. Not sure if this is still the case.

Anyway, sounds like your laptop has a power related problem. Try the advice in the FAQ above and if you get no joy then go see a Genius.

 

[GGJstudios]

I wondered about this... it is ludicrous that the power supply is insufficient for basic functions of the laptop. Hell, I don't even have power-drawing USB devices plugged in! And... let's be clear.. the MacBook DIED of no power WHILE plugged into wall power for the two days straight.

While it is true that your MBP may draw power from both the AC adapter and the battery during peak power demands, it's more common during something like extreme gaming. It isn't common for it to do so simply because of optical drive usage. If that is what's happening and the suggestions in my earlier post don't help, I'd take it back to Apple.

 

[royalef]

Anyway, sounds like your laptop has a power related problem. Try the advice in the FAQ above and if you get no joy then go see a Genius.

Already been to the Genius bar... no problem found. If I shutdown the OS, charging will resume. So it kinda looks like an OS/driver bug to me. Take the OSX out of the equation and my battery will charge.

My Mac has been plugged into power and running for almost three days straight and I'm currently at 18% and NOT CHARGING. Now 17%... browsing the web and nothing else depletes charge.

I would do the calibration... as the FAQ thrown around suggests, but that requires you to plug the unit in and wait till fully charged. Well 3 days and counting... I guess calibration is basically a day or two procedure where you can't really use your mac. http://cdn.macrumors.com/vb/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

 

[GGJstudios]

I would do the calibration... as the FAQ thrown around suggests, but that requires you to plug the unit in and wait till fully charged. Well 3 days and counting... I guess calibration is basically a day or two procedure where you can't really use your mac.

No, calibration shouldn't take that long, because it shouldn't take that long to fully charge your battery. Something is definitely wrong. If resetting the SMC doesn't clear that up, there's something wrong with your power adapter or battery or logic board.