Macbook Sudden Shutdown, Battery sudden death

[satyasada]

I'm using a black macbook, probably around 4 years old, running OS X 10.4.11.

I was using SketchUp when I heard a very quiet "click" as the computer suddenly shut down.

When I turned it back on, my wallpaper was gone and the screen was doing some weird fading in and out and then going to sleep. I had it plugged in but the battery icon was changing from plugged in to a tiny red sliver.

After shutting the computer off, I noticed that my previously fully functional battery now showed no light when I pressed the button on it.

Next, I turned on the computer with the battery removed. Wallpaper was back and I thought perhaps everything was ok. I open Safari to do some research and the window was tiny, not opening and safari was not responding. Force quit Safari and opened Disk Utility. While attempting to "verify disk", Disk Utility stopped responding. Force Quit, but it did not work, just beach balls everywhere. Held down power button until it turned of.

What now?! I'm living in Ecuador and don't have my start up disks with me. I'm a little afraid to try anything further without some guidance and I'd really like to have some idea what's going on before I go the repair place here.

Thanks for any help,
k

 

[Young Spade]

Well I think your battery might be shot; 4 years? Well mine's about 4 years and my battery is at 80 percent or so concerning health. I'd suggest ordering a battery off of eBay and seeing how that works out. I got one for 35 bucks that holds just as good of a charge as the official MB battery.

But for the programs and things crashing... it might be something else causing this. I've used my laptop without a battery once and it was fine; your hard drive might be dying.

 

[GGJstudios]

Try resetting the SMC. Instructions in the following link under CHARGING. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

 

[satyasada]

Thanks so much for the replies!

The battery is more like 2 years old - it was replaced under warranty when some other issue ( i think it was a heat tube?) fried it. I'm reading the link about batteries now. After a couple hours of leaving everything alone, the battery, which I had removed was now at least showing a single green light (which it wasn't before). I put it back in and it appears to have come back from the dead as now it's showing that it is charged!

I'm happy to buy a new battery - well not happy really as Apple products are crazy expensive here - but the other issues are my main concern.

However, I'm now able to run disk utility and it seems to be repairing itself! Hooray! Perhaps the power adapter was not well seated, the battery ran out and instead of giving any warning everything just crashed really hard? Seems like I caught a lucky break. A little more investigating and then I will make sure i have everything backed up.

Again, thank you both for your help!
k