iBook battery won't fully charge

[goodtimes5]

My iBook battery will only charge up to 21%, and then it'll just flash green and refuse to charge any more. CoconutBattery says my battery can hold up to 68%. What's up?

 

[mad jew]

Have you calibrated your battery recently? You'd be unlucky not to have done so by default but for the record, it involves completely discharging the battery and then completely charging it back up again.

Otherwise, unplug your battery and put it back in. If this does nothing, then try resetting the PMU.

 

[goodtimes5]

I've tried calibrating it, but the problem is I can't recharge it all the way back up to finish the calibration process.

I'll try the whole take out battery/reset PMU method after I finish my work.

 

[goodtimes5]

Nope, didn't work. Once it hits 21, 22% battery charge, the battery charging indicator changes to green, and CoconutBattery says the battery is no longer charging.

Am I just going to have to go buy a new battery?

 

[ZLurker]

I had the same problem around last christmas.
It stoped charging at 60-80%. I tried recalibrate but it didnt help.
Then out of nowhere it finally got to 100%. Wow it works... not...
now it goes dead when it hits about 20% (going down from 100%) so it just reversed the problem.
I havent bought a new battery yet, cus i almost always have it plugged in.
Coconut says that i have about 50-60% of the original capacity.
Dont know how to get around it....

 

[mad jew]

Yeah, not much more you can do, sorry.

 

[Shamus]

Would this sort of battery failure be covered under warranty (if you have any warranty time left)?

 

[mad jew]

Yeah, the warranty should cover this to the best of my knowledge.

 

[disconap]

Ok, this is weird. My ibook says that my battery is at 100%, but the test button blinks when I press it (one blinking light). If I unplug it, then it dies in about five minutes or so. Dead battery? Or anyone know a trick I haven't heard?

So far:

I've tried calibrating about four times.
I've reset the PMU.
I am going to try recalibrating again tonight (after resetting PMU), but I think I'm just out the $100 for the new battery...

 

[generik]

Maybe you can replace it for a new battery under warranty?

 

[disconap]

No such luck, it was a refurb that I bought over a year ago.

 

[Vindbjerg]

I've got the same problem, only my battery stops charging at around 57 %. This happened one day after plugging in the charger into the wall and it made a few sparks. Before this the Ibook would charge to 100 %. I tried recalibrating, resetting the power manager, and using a different charger with no luck. What I would really like to know is whether a new battry would solve the problem?

Erik

 

[mad jew]

What I would really like to know is whether a new battry would solve the problem?

Almost certainly. This is the normal behaviour of a failing lithium ion battery.