Macbook Battery..

[Peck02]

Hi guys,

So I've ran into the problem recently where when my battery runs out (eg. my screen shuts off), the whole computer shuts off and I have to restart.. I know that this can be easily countered by using a power cord when the battery is low but sometimes it just creeps up on ya lol.. And it never did this before...

Is there a setting that I accidently turned off where it would save my memory before turning off the power? Or..?

 

[KoolStar]

To me it sounds as if the battery is not properly conditioned. The computer should warn you if your battery is is on 10% power left in the battery. If it does not the battery could think it has more charge than it really does, or the battery could have a bad cell. Perhaps you should try recalibrating the battery.Apple Link. It that does not work it maybe time to visit the apple store.

 

[heySparky]

Don't you get any warning before the computer shuts off? You should.

Do you have many cycles on the current battery? I didn't and had the same problem you describe. The Macbook would just shut off, now low battery warning at all. I took the MB to an Apple store and after describing the problem the genius just swapped out the old battery with a new one.

 

[Peck02]

I usually get a warning but I find it abnormal that my session isnt being saved. Or is it normal?

 

[iLog.Genius]

Your session should be saved to memory if the battery runs out and should be restored on startup or boot.

 

[acarney]

Your session should be saved to memory if the battery runs out and should be restored on startup or boot.

I have this same problem, my MacBook will tell me it's down to like 10% and then I'll watch it drop down more and more and it'll never go into a deep sleep where it saves data to RAM, even if I'm not doing anything and just watching it. When I plug it in the only way it'll come back to life is if I hit the power button once and it boots from the start, NOT restoring from a saved state. It USED to save to RAM when it was new though...

Battery is reporting 70% health, 3522mAh is it's max charge now after 192 load cycles and 20 months. Do you think just doing a few deep calibration runs will fix this or do you think it's just something that comes with aged batteries and I probably won't be able to get it back into the saving to deep sleep?

 

[flopticalcube]

I have this same problem, my MacBook will tell me it's down to like 10% and then I'll watch it drop down more and more and it'll never go into a deep sleep where it saves data to RAM, even if I'm not doing anything and just watching it. When I plug it in the only way it'll come back to life is if I hit the power button once and it boots from the start, NOT restoring from a saved state. It USED to save to RAM when it was new though...

Battery is reporting 70% health, 3522mAh is it's max charge now after 192 load cycles and 20 months. Do you think just doing a few deep calibration runs will fix this or do you think it's just something that comes with aged batteries and I probably won't be able to get it back into the saving to deep sleep?

Try calibrating it. If that doesn't get the health above 80% take it to Apple. You may get a free replacement.

 

[acarney]

Try calibrating it. If that doesn't get the health above 80% take it to Apple. You may get a free replacement.

Even at 20 months and 191 charges? I don't have AppleCare and I'm well out of the range of buying AppleCare. The battery life is still pretty good, it's just that I wish I had that fall back where if I was out and about I could put it to a deep sleep before I got home or at least let it do it by its self. My closest AppleStore is about 3 hrs drive but I MAY be around one in a month or so, would it be worth my while to try and talk to them IN the store then (even though it's not really how I want to spend my free time in the city) or would calling an Apple store and talking to a rep probably get me to a point of either yes or no on the battery exchange?

 

[flopticalcube]

Even at 20 months and 191 charges? I don't have AppleCare and I'm well out of the range of buying AppleCare. The battery life is still pretty good, it's just that I wish I had that fall back where if I was out and about I could put it to a deep sleep before I got home or at least let it do it by its self. My closest AppleStore is about 3 hrs drive but I MAY be around one in a month or so, would it be worth my while to try and talk to them IN the store then (even though it's not really how I want to spend my free time in the city) or would calling an Apple store and talking to a rep probably get me to a point of either yes or no on the battery exchange?

AppleCare doesn't cover batteries anyhow. Its a long shot but why not.

http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

Battery Lifespan

For Apple notebooks with removable batteries — such as the MacBook, MacBook Air, and 15-inch MacBook Pro — a properly maintained battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 300 full charge and discharge cycles. You may choose to replace your battery when it no longer holds sufficient charge to meet your needs

Now you could argue that you have properly maintained it but the battery still died early. They may not give you a free on but you could get a few $ off the replacement.