Early 2009 Macbook Battery Problem.

[elmarko83]

I bought my aluminium macbook in January 2009 and about 6 weeks ago it started to only estimate about 1hr 40min on the battery after a full charge. But it will turn off at various times with no warning, sometimes after a few minutes, sometimes after up to half an hour.

The battery indicator says 'service battery'. I've only just got round too getting it looked at by an apple repair shop. They ran diagnostics on it and confirmed it was faulty, but when they spoke to apple they said battery wasn't covered after a year (even though i have applecare) and wanted AU$260 for a new one.

The Notebook batteries page on the apple site says "For Apple notebooks with removable batteries — such as previous generation MacBook and MacBook Pro computers — a properly maintained battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 300 full charge and discharge cycles."

Mine has done 294 cycles (and would have done quite a few less when the problem first came up), should i be entitled to a new battery under warranty?

 

[Xenophon]

Welcome to the club, mine failed after 13 months/120 cycles. I got the same 'gee, sorry to hear that but the battery's not covered' response and had to shell out for a replacement. Never mind the 80%/300 cycles propaganda blob.

It's a disgrace, there's clearly an issue with some batches of batteries but characteristically, Apple ignores it and screws its customers. In some countries they WILL replace it, however. But from what I've seen/experienced, if you're not living in the US you're treated like a bum asking for a handout.

 

[woolwit]

Rather than have the repair shop ask about a replacement, I would suggest you try calling Apple up yourself, or even better if possible, stop by an Apple store.
Armed with a bit of info you can glean from MacbookBatteryProblem.com you might even make the case that your battery has THE Macbook battery problem.
And even then, I've heard of people being told no to a replacement from one Apple rep and then yes by another.
Especially where the battery is less than two years old I would say it's worth a couple of calls anyway.

 

[Blondie :)]

Well first off, the estimate of 80% retention at 300 cycles is just that. An estimate. Don't get mad at apple cause you used your battery a bit more than the average user. I will admit, their definitely are faulty batteries out there. The most probable reason that apple won't replace your battery is because you're so close to the 300 cycles of a normal battery anyways. Still, I would call them directly and give them the whole, "I have applecare, fix it." Line. Or you could do what a lot of people do. Go into the apple store and make a scene haha I've heard that usually works, never done it myself though

 

[blackburn]

Ask your girlfriend or any girl-friend of yours to take the machine to the store, it worked with my mp3 player. I was only getting faulty replacements, my girlfriend got me the money