Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Powerbook: Battery Not Connected

Dronecatcher

Dronecatcher

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jun 17, 2014
5,290
7,948
Lincolnshire, UK
My 667 Ti-book has suddenly developed a headache.
Despite having a nearly new battery, it's refusing to charge it properly and reporting it as "not connected."
I've tried the usual remedies: reset PRAM & PMU, removed battery and pressed power button for 10 seconds - removing the battery works briefly - the battery appears - but then the "X" appears in the icon and it's not there again.
In the profiler, the power info varies from an expected reading to no battery at all in sync with the menu bar icon.
I've reinstalled Tiger but it hasn't solved the problem either.
At one point after removing the battery, it reported 92% charge before saying not connected, so I left it on to drain the power to see if that would make any difference.
It lasted over 5 hours before dying, so it's not like the battery is done for (it's LED indicators also appear to work OK).
Right now I'm recharging it but every 10 minutes or so the charger indicator goes from orange to green and I have to remove/replace the battery to get it charging again.
Has anyone had any experience of this?

EDIT: May have resolved this - I've discovered on this model there's a PMU reset switch under the back cover - I was trying the multi-keypress method. After pressing switch, battery info is reporting correctly and is charging OK.
EDIT: Seemed OK for 20 minutes, battery steadily charging now it's gone again.
 
Last edited:
I've had issues with some aftermarket TiBook batteries being a shade too small. I've had at least one where I used a cardboard shim at the front of the battery compartment to keep the battery contacts in place.
 
bunnspecial said:
I've had issues with some aftermarket TiBook batteries being a shade too small. I've had at least one where I used a cardboard shim at the front of the battery compartment to keep the battery contacts in place.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll give that a whirl. Although the battery does appear to fit ok, there isn't the resounding click you'd expect once it latches in, so hopefully, that might be it.
 
bunnspecial said:
I've had issues with some aftermarket TiBook batteries being a shade too small. I've had at least one where I used a cardboard shim at the front of the battery compartment to keep the battery contacts in place.
Click to expand...

No luck with that - charged for 10 Minutes then disappeared again. Guess I'm stuck with a bad battery - despite having a 5 hour life :mad:
 
I had this issue with another 17" PB I had. But the battery was crap. However, switching it to another battery I knew was ok didn't do anything. It would show charging briefly when logging in but then I'd get the 'X'. Same happened in all accounts, even new accounts I created strictly to test.

The DC-In board I knew was good so this led me to one other part and that was the battery connector. It's the part that goes from the battery to the logicboard. Unfortunately, before I could test that theory the Mac died so I will never know. But might be a place to start looking.

If the battery is good and the DC-In board is good and then you find the battery connector is good, then the only other place in the charging system is the logicboard. Had I found that the connector was good then that would have been my ultimate conclusion.

One other thing to try is a fresh reinstall of the OS, but I didn't try that because I had so much stuff on there and that's pretty major. It would have been my next step before I faulted the logicboard though.
 
eyoungren said:
The DC-In board I knew was good so this led me to one other part and that was the battery connector.
Click to expand...

I checked the motherboard connector and all appears ok, no free play or anything loose...well, as much as can be deduced by poking it with your finger :)
I have found that running coconut battery monitor whilst charging increases the time before the battery periodically 'disappears.'
Apart from the possibility of the battery or logic board being defective, my only other thought is that the PRAM battery is dying and scrambling the main battery status info - that's if it's used in that capacity?
 
I had an issue similar to this. The battery would only charge while the laptop had its lid shut.
 
Dronecatcher said:
I had considered whether all the sleep/energy settings could have gone glitchy in some way - I'd have thought the re-installation would've ironed them out.
Click to expand...
I just figured that the battery was bad and it didn't like to be charged and discharged at the same time. Do you have an official charger?
 
128keaton said:
I just figured that the battery was bad and it didn't like to be charged and discharged at the same time. Do you have an official charger?
Click to expand...

It's not the original for the Ti-book but it is an Apple one, a 45W model. Maybe the Ti-book requires a 65W? Even so, it's been fine for the 5 months since I got it.
 
I don't think the 667 does (don't quote me on that) but my son's DVI does require 65W.
 
I had the exact same problem with a new iBook battery a while ago. It was cheap and nasty and after the third cycle just wouldn't play nicely with the iBook. I replaced it with a not-so-cheap alternative and problem was solved. I googled around at the time and found some info which indicated that the circuitry on board the battery was at fault. I tried everything like you have to try and clear it but no success.
 
My money would be on a bad battery itself. If you have an old one, even if it is completely dead it should be identified by the computer all of the time. Short of finding an old battery or buying a new one, I am not sure of any other tests.
 
SecretSquirrel said:
I had the exact same problem with a new iBook battery a while ago. It was cheap and nasty and after the third cycle just wouldn't play nicely with the iBook. I replaced it with a not-so-cheap alternative and problem was solved. I googled around at the time and found some info which indicated that the circuitry on board the battery was at fault. I tried everything like you have to try and clear it but no success.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's looking that way. Such a shame though as in other regards the battery is healthy.
 
Altemose said:
My money would be on a bad battery itself. If you have an old one, even if it is completely dead it should be identified by the computer all of the time. Short of finding an old battery or buying a new one, I am not sure of any other tests.
Click to expand...

I'll have to put it down to experience - these machines aren't getting any younger!
 
Do you have a different power brick you can try? I have a powerbook that won't charge with one particular brick. Works fine with others though.

If you get it charging, could try gently wiggling connectors and flexing wires. Maybe there's a flaky connection somewhere.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back