MBPr Battery rapid drain

[philio32383]

1 mo old, at fist I got whole days of use from it (=5-7hrs). Now I'm down to 1.5 hrs. I'm not doing anything intensive (=word processing and reading pdf's). ideas? I have also notice it got a lot hotter and the fans are now always running too, that didn't happen the first few weeks...

Suggestions? troubleshooting?

 

[GGJstudios]

1 mo old, at fist I got whole days of use from it (=5-7hrs). Now I'm down to 1.5 hrs. I'm not doing anything intensive (=word processing and reading pdf's). ideas? I have also notice it got a lot hotter and the fans are now always running too, that didn't happen the first few weeks...

Suggestions? troubleshooting?

There are many factors that impact your battery life. See the BATTERY LIFE FROM A CHARGE section of the following link for details, including tips on how to maximize your battery life.

This should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

1. Launch Activity Monitor
2. Change "My Processes" at the top to "All Processes"
3. Click on the CPU column heading once or twice, so the arrow points downward (highest values on top).
4. Click on the System Memory tab at the bottom.
5. Take a screen shot of the entire Activity Monitor window, then scroll down to see the rest of the list, take another screen shot
6. Post your screenshots.

 

[philio32383]

This should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

1. Launch Activity Monitor
2. Change "My Processes" at the top to "All Processes"
3. Click on the CPU column heading once or twice, so the arrow points downward (highest values on top).
4. Click on the System Memory tab at the bottom.
5. Take a screen shot of the entire Activity Monitor window, then scroll down to see the rest of the list, take another screen shot
6. Post your screenshots.

I understand there are many factors that determine the life of a battery... what I don't understand what the dock is doing is taking all of the CPU... The GPU was still reading 66C. I had also unplugged it for about 15 min, and it went to screen saver nothing else running in 'dock' and when I came back it was 78%... It is currently getting worse battery life than my 2007 macbook nothing... I know the retina takes up more power, but like i said i was using it 5-7hrs between charges and now... thinking of starting it clean again, and pick and chose limited items to reinstall... No it does not have ML yet. need to get that done soon.

 

[GGJstudios]

I understand there are many factors that determine the life of a battery... what I don't understand what the dock is doing is taking all of the CPU...

Delete the following:

/Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
/Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist​

Then enter this command in Terminal, followed by pressing enter:

killall Dock​

 

[philio32383]

Delete the following:

/Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
/Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist​

Then enter this command in Terminal, followed by pressing enter:

killall Dock​

And if those files do not exist but com.apple.dockfixup.plist does?

 

[GGJstudios]

And if those files do not exist but com.apple.dockfixup.plist does?

You're looking in the wrong folder. Look at the path again.

You're looking in the following folder:

/Library/Preferences​

When you should be looking in the following folder:

/Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences/​

 

[philio32383]

You're looking in the wrong folder. Look at the path again.

You're looking in the following folder:

/Library/Preferences​

When you should be looking in the following folder:

/Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences/​

Thank you for the help!!! Still not there yet, still having issues. Below I have posted some pics, in users I see 'guest' 'my username' and 'shared'. after I click on 'myusername' the screen on the right shows up with no 'library' folder present... I have also tried a search and not found it in the top right mag glass.

 

[katmeef]

Thank you for the help!!! Still not there yet, still having issues. Below I have posted some pics, in users I see 'guest' 'my username' and 'shared'. after I click on 'myusername' the screen on the right shows up with no 'library' folder present... I have also tried a search and not found it in the top right mag glass.

http://osxdaily.com/2011/07/22/access-user-library-folder-in-os-x-lion/

'Hold Option and Use the “Go” Menu to Show Library
Holding down the Option key will show the “Library” directory as an option in the Finders Go menu.'

 

[GGJstudios]

Thank you for the help!!! Still not there yet, still having issues. Below I have posted some pics, in users I see 'guest' 'my username' and 'shared'. after I click on 'myusername' the screen on the right shows up with no 'library' folder present... I have also tried a search and not found it in the top right mag glass.

My mistake for not reminding you that the Library folders are hidden by default in Lion and ML. To get to your /Library or /Users/yourusername/Library (also known as the ~/Library) folders in Lion and ML:

• Launch Finder and click Go > Go to Folder and type: /Library or ~/Library
  
• Hold the Option key while clicking the Go menu item, which reveals your ~/Library folder in the menu.
  
• Make it permanently visible by entering the following command in Terminal, then press the Enter key:
  
  chflags nohidden ~/Library​
• 18 ways to view the ~/Library folder in Lion

 

[Engali]

The "killalldock" command sequence in terminal did not work for me when I read about it from a different source a few weeks back. What did help is resetting PRAM by pressing some buttons during startup. Look up "resetting PRAM."

 

[GGJstudios]

The "killalldock" command sequence in terminal did not work for me when I read about it from a different source a few weeks back.

That's because it's not "killalldock". It's "killall Dock".

What did help is resetting PRAM by pressing some buttons during startup. Look up "resetting PRAM."

Only the restart helped. PRAM/NVRAM has nothing to do with battery/power/charging issues. Resetting it will not help. Only resetting the SMC addresses such issues.

Mac OS X: What's stored in PRAM
When to reset NVRAM or PRAM​

 

[Engali]

That's because it's not "killalldock". It's "killall Dock".

Only the restart helped. PRAM/NVRAM has nothing to do with battery/power/charging issues. Resetting it will not help. Only resetting the SMC addresses such issues.

Mac OS X: What's stored in PRAM
When to reset NVRAM or PRAM​

Nope, I typed in "killalldock Dock" when I actually did it, so being pedantic doesn't change the past. I also had a Mac genius look at it and he said it was iffy to even do this terminal command sequence and he instead removed the preference list and put it on my desktop before performing the normal steps. That didn't work either.

And then I reset the PRAM, which did work. And you're wrong about the restart being the reason because I restarted multiple times, back and forth between Lion and Windows 7 and then ML and Windows to check battery life times between the OSs the first and second time I had the battery life problem, respectively. Only resetting the PRAM actually made a difference.

As I asked in the other thread, have you actually had and then subsequently solved this issue or is posting FAQs and feeling like you have something to contribute enough?

 

[GGJstudios]

Nope, I typed in "killalldock Dock" when I actually did it, so being pedantic doesn't change the past.

It's not about being pedantic. It's about being accurate. If you don't type it exactly, including capitalizing "Dock", it won't work.

It also had a Mac genius look at it and he said it was iffy to even do this terminal command sequence and instead removed the preference list and put it on my desktop before performing the normal steps.

It's not "iffy". It's important to remember than "Genius" is only their job title, and not necessarily an indication of their knowledge, experience or expertise.

As I asked in the other thread, have you actually had and then subsequently solved this issue or is posting FAQs and feeling like you have something to contribute enough?

As I said in the other thread, I've dealt with these issues on client computers for years, so yes, I know what I'm talking about.

 

[Engali]

It's not about being pedantic. It's about being accurate. If you don't type it exactly, including capitalizing "Dock", it won't work.

It's not "iffy". It's important to remember than "Genius" is only their job title, and not necessarily an indication of their knowledge, experience or expertise.

As I said in the other thread, I've dealt with these issues on client computers for years, so yes, I know what I'm talking about.

Have you ever had this issue with the rMBP and have you solved it using the command sequence you're suggesting? That's what I'm asking.

 

[GGJstudios]

Have you ever had this issue with the rMBP and have you solved it using the command sequence you're suggesting? That's what I'm asking.

Yes, and yes.

 

[Engali]

Yes, and yes.

Fair enough. Maybe my rMBP had some sort of weird battery issue that no one else has.