Help! Big black X through Macbook battery

[sparkygalore]

So.... went on vacation, forgot to turn off laptop, came home to a nice drained battery with a big black "X" over it. I should know better, since this happened to me last year, but assumed all the new system updates had fixed the issue.

Went though the apple support docs (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305364). No luck. Called Apple for a replacement (got one no problems last year, and saw that "replace the sucker" was the general consensus in the MacRumors archives) and... they tell me that batteries are "consumables" and therefore not covered under Apple Care after 1 year!

As you can imagine, I am quite pissed.

But more importantly -- I know my battery isn't physically/chemically dead, just shut down in whatever ridiculous power saving whatever it's been programed to do. Does anyone have any ideas for a revival? I'm going to try the freezer trick (at the end of this post: https://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-255601.html) as a last resort in a few days, but I'm a bit nervous it will make things worse and thought I'd ask around about other options first.

 

[efp722]

well the worst that can happen is that you will have to buy a new one..

and i never heard about the freezer trick haha. post back and let us know how it turns out!

 

[sparkygalore]

As for the "what's the worst that will happen" idea, normally I would totally agree with you, but I am 99% certain I read somewhere that cellphone batteries can explode if they're used post-freezer. Now, it could be an urban legend. But I'd love to find a safer solution!

 

[vniow]

An "X" in the menu bar signifies that its not detecting the battery at all. This would either be a battery problem or a logic board problem. My advice would to be get another battery and see if it does the same thing. You can always return it if that's the case. I have seen a Macbook in which this was a logic board issue. She had a liquid spill on it about three months before she came into my shop and while it would run off of a battery, it wouldn't detect it nor charge it.

Suck it up and buy another battery, return it if it doesn't fix the issue.

 

[coaxis]

same problem

I know its an old thread, but i have the same problem.

Black X on battery icon, and its still working with a power supply.
The first thing I did was buying a new battery, didn't work. Then I read on an other forum about a guy with the same problem, who already changed the logic board, what didn't work either.

Someone replied it was the DC-in Magsafe board. I ordered ifixit parts and just finished replacing it, but sadly didn't work either.

Ideas?

Kind regards

 

[REP4BLACKXMACS]

Black x in battery bar

So, I woke up one morning and found my early 2008 13" Macbook had a black X through the battery bar. I took it to the Apple Store and they gave me a free new battery, but that didn't help.

At first it would only run if the magsafe charger was plugged in, but then it started to run on the battery a few days later (it used the battery, but did not recognize or charge it). The black X remains.

I've been with mac since my iBook G3. Spent so much money with them and now this. My old Powerbook G4 just died earlier this year and I was happy with its life, but 2.5 years for a durable product that cost well over $1000 is garbage.

That's my rant.

Now, I'm pretty sure the problem is the Logic Board. I have reset the battery connector cable and that didn't help. Tried 3 different batteries known to work and that didn't help. Done the freezer trick. Pram. SMC/PMU. Different magsafes. Reinstalled OSX. Updated OSX. Removed memory. Tried new memory.

My Macbook was always protected and loved.

IF YOU HAVE THIS PROBLEM, DEMAND APPLE TO OFFER US A REPAIR EXTENSION PROGRAM (REP) !

HOW MANY MILLIONS ARE THEY EARNING OFF REPAIRING FAULTY ITEMS THEY SHOULD REPAIR FOR FREE?