Need help with MBP freezing running on battery

[ndriver182]

I bought a MBP in Jan '07 and lately I've been noticing that it freezes up very frequently when running off of battery power alone. I use the computer five days a week at work running off of the wall power adapter while the battery is in (~9 hours) and then again usually at night before I go to bed while watching TV for an hour or so and periodically on the weekends. The problem NEVER occurs while I'm plugged in to wall power, but when I run off batteries it can strike at any moment. I thought it had to do with running a particular application (i.e. Adium), but I haven't been using any chat programs on it in a month or so and it's still going on. I've had it freeze up on me up to three times in under an hour just running Mail and Safari. It's a hard freeze. Even the backlit keyboard stays lit up and the only way to get it working again is to hold down the power button to shut down and then power back up again.

I know that running wall power while your battery is in wears on your battery after a while and diminishes its capacity, but when these freezes are happening I have over an hour (or two sometimes) of battery life.

Could these issues be related to a bad battery or maybe I need to re-install Leopard for some reason (which would blow)? Any thoughts?

 

[catachip]

Download and run this program (Coconut Battery) and report back your battery health here. Link: http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/

You can also try resetting the Power Management Unit (PMU). Follow these steps:


1) If the computer is on, turn it off.

2) Disconnect the AC Adapter and remove the computer's battery.

3) Press and hold down the power button for 5 seconds and then release the button.

4) Reconnect the battery and AC Adapter.

5) Press the Power button to restart the computer.


There are other things we can check, but, let's get that information and try resetting the PMU first.

 

[ndriver182]

Shoot. I left by power adapter at work. I bring it home on the weekends so I'll give this all a shot tomorrow. Thanks for the reply. Hopefully that'll help. I wouldn't mind upgrading to a new MBP later this year (if they update), but for now it'd be nice to be able to use what I've got without it freezing up at random points

 

[ndriver182]

Here's a screenshot of Coconutbattery running. Going to reset the PMU also.

*EDIT* Just reset the PMU and ran the app again. Oddly enough now it shows more capacity for the battery. I won't know until later if it freezes off wall power or not.

 

[merl1n]

I suggest you also re-calibrate your battery as well as it will increase its capacity.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490

 

[snaky69]

Here's a screenshot of Coconutbattery running. Going to reset the PMU also.

*EDIT* Just reset the PMU and ran the app again. Oddly enough now it shows more capacity for the battery. I won't know until later if it freezes off wall power or not.

Your battery should be much healthier after 238 load cycles, apple is likely to replace it free.

 

[ndriver182]

Your battery should be much healthier after 238 load cycles, apple is likely to replace it free.

Who do I contact regarding something like this?

 

[catachip]

Who do I contact regarding something like this?

First of all, have you purchased the AppleCare Protection Plan? (http://www.apple.com/support/products/proplan.html) If not, Apple will not replace your battery. You must purchase AppleCare within the first year after your computer purchase - so if you don't have it now, it's too late.

If you do have AppleCare, and are in the United States, call 1-800-APL-CARE (1-800-275-2273). Tell them your battery is having issues. It is causing your computer to lockup or shutdown before it gets to zero. Tell them the battery life is very poor. They will ask you about the number of load cycles and battery health. They will probably replace it, but, be very nice. They consider batteries "consumables" and are not required to replace them under warranty.

If you don't have AppleCare, you will need to try the solutions listed in the posts above. Failing that, you can purchase a new battery for the MacBook Pro at a cost of $129 from the Apple Store (http://store.apple.com/us/product/MA348LL/A).

Hope this helps!

 

[ndriver182]

First of all, have you purchased the AppleCare Protection Plan? (http://www.apple.com/support/products/proplan.html) If not, Apple will not replace your battery. You must purchase AppleCare within the first year after your computer purchase - so if you don't have it now, it's too late.

If you do have AppleCare, and are in the United States, call 1-800-APL-CARE (1-800-275-2273). Tell them your battery is having issues. It is causing your computer to lockup or shutdown before it gets to zero. Tell them the battery life is very poor. They will ask you about the number of load cycles and battery health. They will probably replace it, but, be very nice. They consider batteries "consumables" and are not required to replace them under warranty.

If you don't have AppleCare, you will need to try the solutions listed in the posts above. Failing that, you can purchase a new battery for the MacBook Pro at a cost of $129 from the Apple Store (http://store.apple.com/us/product/MA348LL/A).

Hope this helps!

I did purchase AppleCare. I'll give them a call and see if I have any luck. Thanks.