Is my powerbook battery dead or my mac's ability to charge broken?

[macmee]

its a powerbook5,4 15 inch:

a battery is installed, but in the top right in OS X it reports at 0% and not charging, also after using the computer for about 5 minutes, the icon in the top right for battery turns into an "x", and the battery information then instead reports:

I cant tell if my battery is just dead and I should buy a new one - or if the macbook is having some issue detecting the battery is installed / charging it up

 

[DeltaMac]

That "Full Charge Capacity" of 10000 is totally bogus. That's as far as I needed to look.
I have seen that a number of times with failed batteries, reporting erroneous data.
Battery is

no good, or bad, or failed

I think all those mean the same thing.

 

[macmee]

That "Full Charge Capacity" of 10000 is totally bogus. That's as far as I needed to look.
I have seen that a number of times with failed batteries, reporting erroneous data.
Battery is I think all those mean the same thing.

so the results I'm seeing aren't an indicator that the powerbook itself is the problem?

I am abit worried the powerbook is somehow damaged, because it's also unable to detect ram in one of its slots, so I want to be as sure as I can that the battery is the problem before ordering a new one

 

[bunnspecial]

That looks like a classic dead battery to me. The fact that it recognizes the battery makes me think that the charging circuit is intact.

The RAM slot failure is common on the DDR-based 15" PowerBooks.

 

[chibiterasu]

so the results I'm seeing aren't an indicator that the powerbook itself is the problem?

I am abit worried the powerbook is somehow damaged, because it's also unable to detect ram in one of its slots, so I want to be as sure as I can that the battery is the problem before ordering a new one

A battery issues is a battery issue, a ram failure is a ram failure. But the battery itself looks bad as said before.

I would suggest that the ram issue is with the lower slot which is a common issue with the 15" powerboook see more about it here: http://lowendmac.com/misc/07/0102.html

 

[macmee]

A battery issues is a battery issue, a ram failure is a ram failure. But the battery itself looks bad as said before.

I would suggest that the ram issue is with the lower slot which is a common issue with the 15" powerboook see more about it here: http://lowendmac.com/misc/07/0102.html

That looks like a classic dead battery to me. The fact that it recognizes the battery makes me think that the charging circuit is intact.

The RAM slot failure is common on the DDR-based 15" PowerBooks.

crap!! I really wanted to upgrade my device to 2gb of ram. Is it possible to buy a single 2gb ram stick for the still functioning slot?

edit: my serial is W84351xxxxxx and Apple claims to only cover W8503xxxxxx through W8518xxxxxx in the replacement program.... so thats a damned shame

 

[eyoungren]

crap!! I really wanted to upgrade my device to 2gb of ram. Is it possible to buy a single 2gb ram stick for the still functioning slot?

It's possible, but it's never worked.

Been tried before. The memory controller won't recognize over 1GB of ram per slot.

 

[macmee]

It's possible, but it's never worked.

Been tried before. The memory controller won't recognize over 1GB of ram per slot.

noooooooooooooo

I ordered a 1gb stick already hoping that its the stick of ram that's dead, and I ordered a PATA SSD too

I assuming I will have to order a new logic board to fix it if its the slot that broke

 

[eyoungren]

noooooooooooooo

I ordered a 1gb stick already hoping that its the stick of ram that's dead, and I ordered a PATA SSD too

I assuming I will have to order a new logic board to fix it if its the slot that broke

It'll read a 1GB stick. That's how you can get 2GB with these Macs although Apple always said 1GB was the max. There's a resoldering fix, but it's up to you if you want to attempt that. Failure will kill the logicboard.

My son has a 15" PowerBook and it came with the lower slot failure. I just left it alone because he transitioned from a 1Ghz TiBook with 1GB of ram so he doesn't know any different. Him using the computer for as long as it lasts is more important to me then trying to fix a problem he doesn't care about and potentially ruining his computer.

It's an individual choice.

A new logicboard will fix the problem though, assuming the new logicboard doesn't also have the ram slot failure.

 

[macmee]

It'll read a 1GB stick. That's how you can get 2GB with these Macs although Apple always said 1GB was the max. There's a resoldering fix, but it's up to you if you want to attempt that. Failure will kill the logicboard.

My son has a 15" PowerBook and it came with the lower slot failure. I just left it alone because he transitioned from a 1Ghz TiBook with 1GB of ram so he doesn't know any different. Him using the computer for as long as it lasts is more important to me then trying to fix a problem he doesn't care about and potentially ruining his computer.

It's an individual choice.

A new logicboard will fix the problem though, assuming the new logicboard doesn't also have the ram slot failure.

noooooooooooooooo

so I removed the RAM stick in the lower slot, and the mac now chimes when it starts up (it started up fine before but never chimed... weird) AND the power adaptor light turned from green to orange. I think having RAM occupy the faulty slot was actually preventing the battery from charging, AND stopping the chime sound.

I have very little experience soldering so I would probably break it. I guess I could always try and buy a logic board replacement and the do the soldering fix for fun knowing I have a spare, but damn. This will all be more expensive than I thought. I want 2GB of RAM because I want to use this for the sims and simcity, and do some x86 virtual machine stuff on it for fun so 2GB of ram would be nice.

It was hard to find this powerbook as I'm in a smaller city in Canada, what a shame that the ram slot is broken!
[doublepost=1483478422][/doublepost]oh also, it's the 1.5ghz model, do you know if a 1.67ghz logicboard would work with it?

 

[eyoungren]

oh also, it's the 1.5ghz model, do you know if a 1.67ghz logicboard would work with it?

If it's the DLSD version, I doubt it. If it's the standard 1.67 it might. Apple changed the connector on the LCVD cable with the DLSD models.

If you can find a good logicboard it's not a hard fix. I've changed three myself and I've completely removed the guts of a 12" PB in order to replace the LCD.

A fair price would be anywhere from $10-35 USD. I wouldn't pay more than that.

 

[macmee]

If it's the DLSD version, I doubt it. If it's the standard 1.67 it might. Apple changed the connector on the LCVD cable with the DLSD models.

If you can find a good logicboard it's not a hard fix. I've changed three myself and I've completely removed the guts of a 12" PB in order to replace the LCD.

A fair price would be anywhere from $10-35 USD. I wouldn't pay more than that.

Looks like 10-35 USD is inline with what I see on ebay, but shipping to Canada is upwards of 50 USD, yuck!

My Powerbook has a little RAM compartment on the back of the unit, which I access by unscrewing a little door. Many of these logic boards I'm seeing on ebay, which are for powerbooks, appear to have their ram slots underneath the keyboard.

Probably a stupid question, but do you know of a good way to determine which logic board is the right one to buy?

 

[eyoungren]

Looks like 10-35 USD is inline with what I see on ebay, but shipping to Canada is upwards of 50 USD, yuck!

My Powerbook has a little RAM compartment on the back of the unit, which I access by unscrewing a little door. Many of these logic boards I'm seeing on ebay, which are for powerbooks, appear to have their ram slots underneath the keyboard.

Probably a stupid question, but do you know of a good way to determine which logic board is the right one to buy?

Find out the model number of your Mac. Mactracker is a good app for that. Then do a Google search like this: ebay.com PowerBook+G4 A1013 logicboard

I'm using my model number, which is for a 1Ghz 17" AlBook, just put in your model number. If you don't get any good results, change the logicboard search term to motherboard. Alternatively you might use ebay.ca instead of ebay.com to make it local to you.

You may come up with some auctions that have already sold. That's ok, pay attention to ebay's alternate suggestions. That can lead you to stuff you want.

Using Google to search eBay is always the better bet over eBay's own search.

 

[macmee]

Find out the model number of your Mac. Mactracker is a good app for that. Then do a Google search like this: ebay.com PowerBook+G4 A1013 logicboard

I'm using my model number, which is for a 1Ghz 17" AlBook, just put in your model number. If you don't get any good results, change the logicboard search term to motherboard. Alternatively you might use ebay.ca instead of ebay.com to make it local to you.

You may come up with some auctions that have already sold. That's ok, pay attention to ebay's alternate suggestions. That can lead you to stuff you want.

Using Google to search eBay is always the better bet over eBay's own search.

excellent advise! I really want to buy a quad core G5 and I can't find a single one locally so I think I'll follow ^ this strategy as I try and hunt one down.

Also, this seems really weird to me but originally my broken lower memory slot held a 512MB stick, the working slot held a 1GB stick. I have no idea why, but I just swapped both sticks so that the damaged slot now holds 1GB, and system profiler is now recognizing the full 1.5GB!!

 

[eyoungren]

excellent advise! I really want to buy a quad core G5 and I can't find a single one locally so I think I'll follow ^ this strategy as I try and hunt one down.

Also, this seems really weird to me but originally my broken lower memory slot held a 512MB stick, the working slot held a 1GB stick. I have no idea why, but I just swapped both sticks so that the damaged slot now holds 1GB, and system profiler is now recognizing the full 1.5GB!!

Odd. I don't have an answer for that one.

Good luck on the hunt for a Quad. My best advice on that would be to make sure the LCS (Liquid Cooling System) is in good repair. Nothing has killed 2.7 Duals and 2.5 Quads more over the years than a leaking LCS.

 

[dustinschings]

I used to have a 1.67GHz, NON-HiRes version of PowerBook and the bottom RAM slot was iffy. Sometimes it recognized the RAM, sometimes it did not. Trust me, the slot it "on it's way out."

As for resoldering, is this not a case where a "reflow" may work? I know this is normally only recommended for "dead" components, but it may be worth a shot if he really wants the slot back.