Help....MacBook White Battery Meter Broken

[simontarr]

Hi there,

I'm having a few problems with my sisters white MacBook. There has just been a scare with a cup of water getting spilt on the laptop. We thought it was broken, but it's switching on fine, and works just as good as it did.

The only problem now is the battery meter seems to be broken- there is now just a cross running through the meter. It doesnt display the remaining battery left. I think the battery has been shorted out because the screen will go on and off. The laptop runs fine through mains only (If I remove the battery)

My mum knocked the cup of water over while cleaning my sisters room! I've dried everything thoroughly with a hairdryer.

Anyone one else had any similar experiences?

 

[mkrishnan]

Look at the metal contacts on the battery and make sure there is no oxidative or corrosive film on them. If you can find an emory board or something of the sort you may be able to very gently buff them to make sure they're clean? (I haven't personally done/had to do this). Also did you take the battery out and blow dry the terminal the battery connects to on the laptop?

 

[simontarr]

Update....

Well, it seems to be running fine off the battery now...but the cross through the battery icon remains. I installed the Juice widget to see if I could get more information and it says that no battery is found.

The battery can't be broken because its supplying power. Also, the battery terminals are quite high up into the laptop and the water spilt couldn't have reached it. Could it just be a coincidence?

 

[mkrishnan]

Look at the macrumors guide here for resetting the PMU and see if that helps you with the battery icon thing. It's probably not a coincidence, though..

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

*Crosses Fingers for PMU reset*

Sounds like somethings be fried.