Put the battery in the freezer, in a ziplock bag for like 24 hours, take it out and let it settle down to room temp. and wait for the condensation to dissapate. Plug it in and charge it up, then let it drain, then charge it up....should work, no **** i did this with my powerbook battery and it went from holding a 5% charge to a 100% charge
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powerbook battery problems
- Thread starter mikelao
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popsandfriends, are you kidding? I could really takes things seriously around here. it's not fair to jerk me around. was it ibook or pb battery?
mad jew
Moderator emeritus
Refrigerating batteries is a pretty common myth/technique to get back a bit of charge. I wouldn't recommend it for a laptop battery plus results vary. Usually a battery gets back a slight amount of charge from simply being left alone (unplugged). It's nothing major and this is probably the same thing people who refrigerate batteries get.
In short, cooling a battery won't help. 🙂
In short, cooling a battery won't help. 🙂
DerChef
macrumors 6502
something I often wondered about to keep you Powerbook battery in good nick is to boot into single user mode once in a while and let it slowly drain, so it brings the battery right down to very low levels before a recharge (i.e no OS based energy saving stuff to stick it into sleep mode) ?
I did similar things with PC notebooks
I did similar things with PC notebooks
I should know better by now
I read the poppycock about putting the battery in the freezer and decided to try it. "Nothing to lose" I thought. I was wrong.
The technique didn't work. The frozen/thawed batter won't take a charge.
Worse, apparently in the process of swapping it with a good battery, my power-management circuit has been fried. When I put the good battery back in, the display toggles between "charged", "charging, 20 minutes remain", and "no battery". I cannot calibrate because as soon as I remove the charger, the system powers down. Not sleep. Power down.
The battery is correctly inserted. There are no bent pins. CoconutBattery shows a power-management system that's as confused as the display indicates.
I'm basically screwed. Serves me right for believing anything I read here.
I read the poppycock about putting the battery in the freezer and decided to try it. "Nothing to lose" I thought. I was wrong.
The technique didn't work. The frozen/thawed batter won't take a charge.
Worse, apparently in the process of swapping it with a good battery, my power-management circuit has been fried. When I put the good battery back in, the display toggles between "charged", "charging, 20 minutes remain", and "no battery". I cannot calibrate because as soon as I remove the charger, the system powers down. Not sleep. Power down.
The battery is correctly inserted. There are no bent pins. CoconutBattery shows a power-management system that's as confused as the display indicates.
I'm basically screwed. Serves me right for believing anything I read here.
What does coconutbattery say?
I am trying to figure out whether it is my PMU that has been fried or if it is the battery that is causing problems. Am going to go to the AppleStore in London on Sunday to resolve this ongoing problem.
I am trying to figure out whether it is my PMU that has been fried or if it is the battery that is causing problems. Am going to go to the AppleStore in London on Sunday to resolve this ongoing problem.
mad jew
Moderator emeritus
Tangarine, I'm sorry to hear that. It might be a good idea to wait for others to back up radical ideas such as placing computer components in the freezer before actually doing it, although I guess you've worked that out the hard way. Please don't lose faith in the boards, every now and then there's some good advice floating around here. 🙂
How long ago did you put the good battery in? Is there a chance some of the internal components of the laptop are still wet? Have you tried resetting the PMU? 🙂
How long ago did you put the good battery in? Is there a chance some of the internal components of the laptop are still wet? Have you tried resetting the PMU? 🙂
CoconutBattery
>> What does coconutbattery say?
Was that question directed at me?
CoconutBattery is consistent with the display in the top bar. It indicates that the battery is "almost charged", or charged, or not there. These indications alternate in about a ten minute cycle when the charger is plugged in.
It's almost like there is a bent pin in the battery connector except that it does seem to work for a few minutes at a time. Something in the hardware or software is shutting down (not sleeping) the system even though the battery is fully charged. "The battery is fully charged" is based on the LED display on the battery itself.
I live hundreds of miles from the nearest Apple store. I wish that was an alternative for me.
>> What does coconutbattery say?
Was that question directed at me?
CoconutBattery is consistent with the display in the top bar. It indicates that the battery is "almost charged", or charged, or not there. These indications alternate in about a ten minute cycle when the charger is plugged in.
It's almost like there is a bent pin in the battery connector except that it does seem to work for a few minutes at a time. Something in the hardware or software is shutting down (not sleeping) the system even though the battery is fully charged. "The battery is fully charged" is based on the LED display on the battery itself.
I live hundreds of miles from the nearest Apple store. I wish that was an alternative for me.
Things are looking up
> Tangarine, I'm sorry to hear that. It might be a good idea to wait for others
> to back up radical ideas such as placing computer components in the
> freezer before actually doing it, although I guess you've worked that out
> the hard way. Please don't lose faith in the boards, every now and then
> there's some good advice floating around here.
While your advice seems good, there are a couple of major flaws. First, there's no way that a reader can gauge if an idea is "radical" or not. And second, it seems that there is almost always someone who is willing to validate a scheme, no matter how ridiculous, so it's not unusual for "others to back up" even the most ridiculous ideas.
The real issue in my mind is the analysis of risk/reward. I assumed (and we all know what that means) that there was minimal risk of trying this. I mean, after all, it doesn't cost me anything to put the battery in a baggie and freeze it. And one would think that there would be no potential damage to swapping the battery back into the laptop . . . after all, that's where it came from. But seems I was wrong about the robustness of the PMU.
> How long ago did you put the good battery in? Is there a chance some
> of the internal components of the laptop are still wet? Have you tried
> resetting the PMU?
Not sure about the "still wet" reference. But the good news is that I went to the article you referenced about resetting the PMU, followed the instructions, and so far everything appears back to normal. It's probably too early to say that for sure, but I want desperately to believe it.
So a suggestion on a discussion board rescuses me from an idea that was in a post to a discussion board. Works for me.
As an aside . . . resetting the PMU on a PowerBook is done by shutting down the system, removing BOTH the battery and the charger, then holding down the power key for five seconds. What I don't understand is how, if there is NO power available to the unit, doing anything to it could have an effect. I have to assume that somewhere there's a keepalive battery that responded to my pushing the power button for five seconds.
Ah yes . . . Apple hardware/software is a remarkable thing.
> Tangarine, I'm sorry to hear that. It might be a good idea to wait for others
> to back up radical ideas such as placing computer components in the
> freezer before actually doing it, although I guess you've worked that out
> the hard way. Please don't lose faith in the boards, every now and then
> there's some good advice floating around here.
While your advice seems good, there are a couple of major flaws. First, there's no way that a reader can gauge if an idea is "radical" or not. And second, it seems that there is almost always someone who is willing to validate a scheme, no matter how ridiculous, so it's not unusual for "others to back up" even the most ridiculous ideas.
The real issue in my mind is the analysis of risk/reward. I assumed (and we all know what that means) that there was minimal risk of trying this. I mean, after all, it doesn't cost me anything to put the battery in a baggie and freeze it. And one would think that there would be no potential damage to swapping the battery back into the laptop . . . after all, that's where it came from. But seems I was wrong about the robustness of the PMU.
> How long ago did you put the good battery in? Is there a chance some
> of the internal components of the laptop are still wet? Have you tried
> resetting the PMU?
Not sure about the "still wet" reference. But the good news is that I went to the article you referenced about resetting the PMU, followed the instructions, and so far everything appears back to normal. It's probably too early to say that for sure, but I want desperately to believe it.
So a suggestion on a discussion board rescuses me from an idea that was in a post to a discussion board. Works for me.
As an aside . . . resetting the PMU on a PowerBook is done by shutting down the system, removing BOTH the battery and the charger, then holding down the power key for five seconds. What I don't understand is how, if there is NO power available to the unit, doing anything to it could have an effect. I have to assume that somewhere there's a keepalive battery that responded to my pushing the power button for five seconds.
Ah yes . . . Apple hardware/software is a remarkable thing.
mad jew
Moderator emeritus
I'm glad things are looking up for you Tangarine. I've got a good feeling about that PMU reset. The fact you kept the battery in a bag is good because a naked battery in a freezer would have become very wet and possibly short circuited (destroyed) any laptop it made contact with.
I'm fully aware that my argument is flawed because it's hard to tell how serious people are when they recommend solutions on these boards but there's not much we can do about it.
I suppose some good has come of this in that people will now know not to put batteries in the freezer. 🙂
FWIW, popsandfriends is a newbie according to this board and whilst that only means a lack of posts, it's sometimes a good idea to take a newbies advice a little light-heartedly. Of course, that's definitely not always the case, there are many newbies out there with brilliant advice so this argument remains pretty flawed. 😱
I'm fully aware that my argument is flawed because it's hard to tell how serious people are when they recommend solutions on these boards but there's not much we can do about it.
I suppose some good has come of this in that people will now know not to put batteries in the freezer. 🙂
FWIW, popsandfriends is a newbie according to this board and whilst that only means a lack of posts, it's sometimes a good idea to take a newbies advice a little light-heartedly. Of course, that's definitely not always the case, there are many newbies out there with brilliant advice so this argument remains pretty flawed. 😱
The power of reseting the PMU
As what I assume will be the last followup for me in this thread, I just want to report that all is well after reseting the PMU. Battery management has returned to normal. I am going to discharge the battery down to sleep time to calibrate things, just for good measure, but all the other trauma has ceased.
I still am in awe that a piece of equipment with no power -- charger or battery -- was capable of responding to my input [pressing the power key]. Like many things in this business, the solution was trivial once it was known.
As what I assume will be the last followup for me in this thread, I just want to report that all is well after reseting the PMU. Battery management has returned to normal. I am going to discharge the battery down to sleep time to calibrate things, just for good measure, but all the other trauma has ceased.
I still am in awe that a piece of equipment with no power -- charger or battery -- was capable of responding to my input [pressing the power key]. Like many things in this business, the solution was trivial once it was known.
mad jew said:
Very flawed. I got this freezer info from an apple service tech btw. I actually let my battery lay in the freezer for one week, then took it out and let it heat back up to room temp, wiped off the condensation and let dry, and when I put it back in it started charging...this is not a joke trust me. The other battery however was dead from the start so the freezer trick didnt work. Also, lack of posts on this board means nothing....I have a bunch of posts on other well known forums (Neowin, Aqua-Soft, etc)
FocusAndEarnIt
macrumors 601
I actually do believe Apple tech told them to put it in the freezer. They don't know there ass from a whole in the ground.mad jew said:
🙄
Warbrain
macrumors 603
Any person who thinks that it's a smart idea to put a battery in a freezer doesn't know their ass from a hole in the ground. The electrons are going to become almost totally stationary in the battery and could possibly ruin the battery.
Honestly, if this is even a step in fixing a battery, then that's pretty f'd up.
Honestly, if this is even a step in fixing a battery, then that's pretty f'd up.