Got a 4 year old 15" PowerBook with a small history of battery issues. Its on its 3rd battery that is on its last leg. It can't be unplugged for more than 5 seconds or it shuts off...been this way for months. Well today it shut off and won't turn back on. Do I buy yet another battery or is my pb dead?
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is my PowerBook dead?
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don't worry i had to same exact problem, scared me to death also 
but it is most likely the battery and possibly the charger, my battery was around 2+ yrs old and would only last 5 minutes surfing the web with the lowest dim setting,
a few times it died running off of the battery power and i plugged it in and notin happened, just like u, after asking ppl on macrumors and trying to figure it out myself i found out that my charger was no longer charging my dead battery, so i ended up buying a new battery (from apple trust me its worth it) and a new charger from macsales.com (also workes better than to original apple charger)
everything has worked fine since then, knock on wood
but it is most likely the battery and possibly the charger, my battery was around 2+ yrs old and would only last 5 minutes surfing the web with the lowest dim setting,
a few times it died running off of the battery power and i plugged it in and notin happened, just like u, after asking ppl on macrumors and trying to figure it out myself i found out that my charger was no longer charging my dead battery, so i ended up buying a new battery (from apple trust me its worth it) and a new charger from macsales.com (also workes better than to original apple charger)
everything has worked fine since then, knock on wood
Where are you getting your batteries from? I would imagine you can't get them from Apple anymore. I would expect them to still be working after a year, but probably with lowered capacity depending on how much you used them.
If you are running off Battery power every day and then charging every day, I bet they won't last most than a year...
If you are running off Battery power every day and then charging every day, I bet they won't last most than a year...
no u can still get them from apple u have to search in the store but they are there and i would highly recommend getting an apple battery over an off brand , trust u will be much happier even if it is a few buck more
I've purchased batteries from NewerTech and haven't had a bad experience with them. Their battery actually outlasts Apple's batteries and are cheaper.
However... if you PowerBook won't turn back on even when it's plugged in, I don't think that's a battery issue. I could be wrong, but you might have other issues too. Did you try zapping your PRAM before attempting to turn it back on?
My Powerbook G4 died at around the 4 year mark. The exact cause of death was never determined, but it's believed to be a faulty logic board. I ended up selling the thing for spare parts to powerbooktech.com.
However... if you PowerBook won't turn back on even when it's plugged in, I don't think that's a battery issue. I could be wrong, but you might have other issues too. Did you try zapping your PRAM before attempting to turn it back on?
My Powerbook G4 died at around the 4 year mark. The exact cause of death was never determined, but it's believed to be a faulty logic board. I ended up selling the thing for spare parts to powerbooktech.com.
thanks for the info, people. My main problem is that I didn't know how to treat batteries. I would run off energy and charge every day.
Also, my PB to a mean drop, so the charger doesn't fit snug at all times, and that may be causing an issue also.
Matter of fact, the charger is lit green, but the battery indicator has an X in it. wtf?
Also, my PB to a mean drop, so the charger doesn't fit snug at all times, and that may be causing an issue also.
Matter of fact, the charger is lit green, but the battery indicator has an X in it. wtf?
Hopefully the drop didn't break the charging circuitry and sensor on the system board.
You can try a PMU reset and PRAM reset, and see if that fixes the battery detection (no more red "X" in the battery indicator).
If it does fix that issue, charge the battery fully and then calibrate it following the instructions on the Apple Web Page under Support. Just search for "battery calibration" and then find your model in the links.