PB Battery recognized, yet not recognized, by system

[nbs2]

So I was travelling this last week and during my trip home I didn't use my computer for a couple of days. The battery likely lost its charge completely, as I was down to 5% when I closed it and the machine was completely shut off when I got to using it again a few days later.

Anyway, I plugged in the machine yesterday and I noticed that the battery wouldn't charge. The little ring on the PB charger never turned orange and the icon remained at 0% with the plug indicator. Clicking on the icon revealed that it was calculating time until full.

I waited a while and nothing changed. By a while, I mean a few hours. And nothing. I tried to run the PB battery updater, and was told that the battery was up-to-date, but also got a notice telling me to eject and reinsert the battery. Thinking that the battery was a paperweight, I ran coconutBattery, and that came back informing me that I had 84% capacity remaining (which is what I expected to see).

Inserting my older batteries (I rely on battery power a lot more than mains) revealed that they were recognized just fine, even if thay are down to 71 and 41% capaciaties.

I guess I have two questions: a) what happened and b) what do I do?

Any thoughts would be great.

 

[merl1n]

So I was travelling this last week and during my trip home I didn't use my computer for a couple of days. The battery likely lost its charge completely, as I was down to 5% when I closed it and the machine was completely shut off when I got to using it again a few days later.

Anyway, I plugged in the machine yesterday and I noticed that the battery wouldn't charge. The little ring on the PB charger never turned orange and the icon remained at 0% with the plug indicator. Clicking on the icon revealed that it was calculating time until full.

I waited a while and nothing changed. By a while, I mean a few hours. And nothing. I tried to run the PB battery updater, and was told that the battery was up-to-date, but also got a notice telling me to eject and reinsert the battery. Thinking that the battery was a paperweight, I ran coconutBattery, and that came back informing me that I had 84% capacity remaining (which is what I expected to see).

Inserting my older batteries (I rely on battery power a lot more than mains) revealed that they were recognized just fine, even if thay are down to 71 and 41% capaciaties.

I guess I have two questions: a) what happened and b) what do I do?

Any thoughts would be great.

You may have discharged the battery below its reserve power.

Try a PMU reset and then insert the battery and let the computer rest overnight (not powered on). Check again in the morning and see if the glow ring is amber or green.

 

[nbs2]

You may have discharged the battery below its reserve power.

Try a PMU reset and then insert the battery and let the computer rest overnight (not powered on). Check again in the morning and see if the glow ring is amber or green.

That seems possible, and I'll try a PMU reset as soon as I get home tonight. My only concern is how effective a PMU reset will be when it apears that the PMU reset itself already.

Something that I just noticed in looking at my iPod is that the time and date were reset on the computer (the first thing I did when I turned my computer on was to sync the two). My iPod thinks it is Marty McFly and was set to the wrong time and 1964.

 

[merl1n]

That seems possible, and I'll try a PMU reset as soon as I get home tonight. My only concern is how effective a PMU reset will be when it apears that the PMU reset itself already.

Something that I just noticed in looking at my iPod is that the time and date were reset on the computer (the first thing I did when I turned my computer on was to sync the two). My iPod thinks it is Marty McFly and was set to the wrong time and 1964.

You need to reset your PRAM and sync up with a time server over the internet. It sounds like it may be corrupted.

 

[nbs2]

You need to reset your PRAM and sync up with a time server over the internet. It sounds like it may be corrupted.

Resetting PRAM did nothing.

I reset the PMU and will take a look at the machine when I get home from work to day to see if it worked. But, I have a feeling it didn't. One thing that I'm not clear on - should I have reset the PMU without the battery installed, or could I have kept it in?

 

[merl1n]

Resetting PRAM did nothing.

I reset the PMU and will take a look at the machine when I get home from work to day to see if it worked. But, I have a feeling it didn't. One thing that I'm not clear on - should I have reset the PMU without the battery installed, or could I have kept it in?

PMU reset is done without the battery in. In other words no power connected to the notebook.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1431

I also found this (describes your problem exactly) in Apples KB:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1119

Note that the SMC reset on the intel MacBooks is equivalent to a PMU reset on the Mac Powerbooks.

 

[nbs2]

PMU reset is done without the battery in. In other words no power connected to the notebook.

Don't you hate it when you skip a line of instruction, and it turns out to be an important line? I read that page three times yesterday, and everytime I missed step two. It looks like I'll be doing a proper reset tonight.

As for the second article, it is close to my problem. The one difference is that rather than getting the X icon, indicating that it isn't being recognized, I get the plug icon. The computer knows the battery is there, it just won't work with it. I think it must be infected with the spirit of some of my former co-workers. But thanks for catching that article. It does tell me that the PMU is my last, best, hope. I'm long since out of Applecare, so if this doesn't work, I'll just have a nice paperweight.

If I remember right, this battery was the replacement sent out in the last recall. If so, it would have been sent to me Aug or Sep 06. I am searching right now, but do you know offhand if batteries carry a 1 or 2 year warranty?

EDIT - it appears that the warranty is only one year (it is only one year for the Air replacement). I may have to try my luck with a Genius (who I doubt will have a PB battery lying around)

 

[kaiwai]

Resetting PRAM did nothing.

I reset the PMU and will take a look at the machine when I get home from work to day to see if it worked. But, I have a feeling it didn't. One thing that I'm not clear on - should I have reset the PMU without the battery installed, or could I have kept it in?

Ok, my brother did this to his laptop - and it wouldn't recharge.

Firstly, take out the battery, plugin the power cable to the laptop, turn the power on, allow your system to boot, then attach the battery whilst the system is going. You system will recognise the battery and start recharging it.

I don't know what affect that will have on the battery, but this 'hack' worked for my brothers MacBook without any ill side effects.