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How did I go from 90% Battery Health to "Service Battery"?

J

JajoPGH

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 24, 2008
166
0
How did my battery crap the bed pretty much overnight? The Battery Health meter is at 52% right now. Earlier today it was at 64%. Last night, it was at 90%. I have had the computer for a little over two years, and now I'm getting this message? I had just told a new Macbook Pro owner that my MBP was without faults. Not anymore, apparently.

Is this normal?
 
How many charge cycles do you have on your battery? You can locate this information in System Profiler under the "Power" category.
 
Try to calibrate your battery. Had the same thing happen to me but calibrating the battery didn't do anything, I have a dead battery. Might be different for you.
 
Did your macbook run out of battery for the first time in a long while?

703 cycles seems quite a bit, but it shouldn't be down to 50% because of this. Calibrating might help, good luck.
 
Thanks for the help.

I guess it's dead (or dying). It doesn't hold a charge for more than 2 hours or so.

I tried calibrating it, but to no avail :(
 
Try resetting the SMC:

Shut off MPB

Plug in charger

Hold: Shift+control+option+The power button for ten seconds and then release them.

Start up as normal.
 
By any chance, did it happen after 'upgrading' to Lion? That happened to me right after installing Lion, switching back to SL returned my battery to current state (86%).
 
RedRaven571 said:
By any chance, did it happen after 'upgrading' to Lion? That happened to me right after installing Lion, switching back to SL returned my battery to current state (86%).
Click to expand...

After upgrading to Lion my battery health plummeted and I've also gone back to Snow Leopard with a new one on order. This seems to be a general problem with Lion. No idea why.
 
ssn637 said:
After upgrading to Lion my battery health plummeted and I've also gone back to Snow Leopard with a new one on order. This seems to be a general problem with Lion. No idea why.
Click to expand...

I have no idea why either; there were people who had the same issue when switching from Leopard to SL, too. It didn't come back right away for me, either; a few cycles of draining the battery and recharging (after reinstalling SL) ultimately corrected the situation, but not before I bought a new battery. So, now I have a spare....
 
I had the same problem with my Late-06 Whitebook just this July. It's held over 1000 cycles and was at 86% capacity, started chomping through battery like anything and dying at 42%. I removed the battery and shoved it in a dry box over a weekend I was away, then I returned, put the battery back in and charged it overnight while the Mac was shut down.

I'm back to my previous capacity which people regard 'legendary' for a battery its age.
 
Spadoinkles said:
I had the same problem with my Late-06 Whitebook just this July. It's held over 1000 cycles and was at 86% capacity, started chomping through battery like anything and dying at 42%. I removed the battery and shoved it in a dry box over a weekend I was away, then I returned, put the battery back in and charged it overnight while the Mac was shut down.

I'm back to my previous capacity which people regard 'legendary' for a battery its age.
Click to expand...
Considering those batteries were only rated for 300 charge cycles I would say that's beyond legendary!
 
Everyone, thanks for all the help you offered!

I am still running Snow Leopard for the time being.

Unfortunately, the SMC did not seem to help things.

I do remember one thing before the Service Battery message came up. My wife was charging her iPhone through the MBP. Do you think that had anything to do with it?
 
JajoPGH said:
I do remember one thing before the Service Battery message came up. My wife was charging her iPhone through the MBP. Do you think that had anything to do with it?
Click to expand...
No, not at all. It just sounds like it's time for your battery to be replaced.
 
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