New iBook G4: Calculating... until full

[ITASOR]

Hey everyone, did a quick search and learned a few things, but I still have a valid question.

I know all about how to calibrate an iBook battery the first time. I got my iBook today and plugged it in and started it up. It showed 40 minutes until full in the menu.

Fast forward 39 minutes (about):

Now it said "Calculating... until full". The power adapter light was amber. Another 30 minutes past by. Still calculating until full. I figured something was not right. I check the percent and it shows 100%, yet it still says Calculating... until full and the light is still amber.

So, I unplugged it, let it drain until it slept, and charged it back up.

All while charging it says the correct times (seemed correct) of how long until it was charged. Then, it gets to a few minutes left, changed to "Calculating... until full" and stays like that. This is where I am now. Charged for the second time. I remember seeing 16 minutes left until full and then 6 minutes until it was full, and then back to "Calculating...until full". Light is amber. Been that way for 10 minutes now.

What shall I do. Don't want to call Apple and be on the phone forever, because I'm busy.

Any ideas?

Ok, now I look, light is green, and it says battery is charged. I guess I'm just impatient. Wow. Oh well, all this typing for nothing would be not good so I'll post this anyway to get ideas!

 

[mad jew]

Ok, now I look, light is green, and it says battery is charged. I guess I'm just impatient. Wow. Oh well, all this typing for nothing would be not good so I'll post this anyway to get ideas!

So it's working now?

My iBook can sometimes take a little while to show how much time is left in the battery but it's never unbearably long. Perhaps ten seconds at the absolute most and that's when I'm doing heaps of other stuff anyway so my resources are being used.

 

[ITASOR]

So it's working now?

My iBook can sometimes take a little while to show how much time is left in the battery but it's never unbearably long. Perhaps ten seconds at the absolute most and that's when I'm doing heaps of other stuff anyway so my resources are being used.

Yep, working now I guess. Figures.

Just unplugged mine after a full charge from nothing (went to sleep) and it predicts 4 hours left.

This is on full brightness with iChat and Safari open posting this post. Does that sound about right?

 

[mad jew]

That sounds about right. And mine actually goes up for about half an hour as it works out that I'm not much of a power user. After half an hour, I usually have about another 4.5 hours left. Yay!

 

[ITASOR]

That sounds about right. And mine actually goes up for about half an hour as it works out that I'm not much of a power user. After half an hour, I usually have about another 4.5 hours left. Yay!

Haha that's so cool, because I clicked this thread to post that I now have exactly 4:31 left after 1/2 hour! Awesome! Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it.

 

[iEdd]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I am having a similar problem. I just got the new power adaptor for my G3 pismo laptop (in sig), yet it won't charge... It keeps doing what it's done for the last year, and ALWAYS says "calculating until full", but this time the percent doesn't change either.. It just won't go above 0%. I press the button on the battery and one light flashes, so it's really low... I closed the lid and left the computer overnight and it wouldn't charge either..
Help?

 

[mad jew]

epepper9, could it be a bad battery? How old is it?

 

[iEdd]

epepper9, could it be a bad battery? How old is it?

About 5 years.. And yeah it has been having really craptacular battery life before we got the replacement power adaptor..
By the way, don't ever go to leading edge computers.. $220, and it took them like 2 months to get it in stock.
Another $200 for a battery isn't what I really want to put my parents through either

 

[mad jew]

Thanks for the tip.

Yeah, if it's a five year old battery, then my guess is that it's not the adaptor that's your problem. For the record, it's generally the battery that goes before the adaptor. Those adaptors are relatively durable.

 

[cblackburn]

This is because of the way batteries charge. As they get closer and closer to their design capacity they start to dissapate more and more of the charge current as heat over the battery. This means that you have to reduce the charging current as you get fuller to make sure that the battery doesn't overheat.

So whilst it might have been 6 minutes at 300mA charging current by the time it's saying "Calculating until don" it might be at 30mA, leaving 60 mins to go. Of course it never takes *that* long but that's why it takes longer then you would expect.

This gets worse over time as the internal resistance of the battery rises and the overall capacity goes down.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

hi; another prob (?) with my new ibook g4- it says 96% in the menu bar... is there any way to fix that, bump it up 4%? thanks

 

[seamuskrat]

Try Other World Computing. http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/powerbook/battery/g3-pismo/

Batt is less, adaptor is less. Good folks to deal with.

i too have an old Pismo, and the battery gave up the ghost, so I got a new one and its been happy ever since.

About 5 years.. And yeah it has been having really craptacular battery life before we got the replacement power adaptor..
By the way, don't ever go to leading edge computers.. $220, and it took them like 2 months to get it in stock.
Another $200 for a battery isn't what I really want to put my parents through either

 

[mad jew]

hi; another prob (?) with my new ibook g4- it says 96% in the menu bar... is there any way to fix that, bump it up 4%? thanks

This is not a problem. In order to maximise your battery's life, the recharging doesn't kick in until your capacity gets below 95% (maybe 94% in some models). This is to prevent constant small incremental charging. Once you get below 95%, it should start charging again (orange connector, not green anymore) and get back up to 100%.

 

[wide]

i had similar problems...and i can't tell the difference between amber and green

 

[mad jew]

i had similar problems...

Which problem exactly?

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

thanks mad jew... again. so it basically doesnt matter if its not 100%, right?

 

[mad jew]

Nah, it doesn't matter at all if it's not 100%. In fact, I can't remember the last time I noticed that it was 100%.

Statistically you'll obviously see it below 100% more than not even if it's plugged in, obviously.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

word thankx

 

[ITASOR]

Yeah, it's normal for it to be 99%. Mine's always on 99% when charged, never 100.

 

[DaveP]

Yeah, it's normal for it to be 99%. Mine's always on 99% when charged, never 100.

About 5 times out of 300 have I acheived 100% on my iBook instead of 99%. I always feel lucky when it shows 100 (not that there is any actual difference in the charge).