Powerbook G4 Not Charging

[dbdjre0143]

Since I got my iMac G5 back in the spring, my DLSD G4 has sat mostly unused, and hadn't been plugged in or charged for probably 2 months until last week.

I needed to actually do some portable computing last week, so I got it out expecting the battery to probably be dead, but everything else to just work the way it did when I left it...

However, my battery would not charge. Using the same 65W aftermarket adapter I have always used with this machine, it would only report "Battery Is Not Charging". I tried PMU and PRAM resets multiple times, until I finally decided that my 2 year old cheapo battery had croaked.

So, I got on eBay and paid (IMO) too much for a supposedly NOS OEM battery. I left it on to fully charge for a day or so on my 45W iBook charger just so I could see that the light did indicate that it did charge for awhile. I don't know how long, but I went back later and saw it had turned green, and the indicator on the battery said it was fully charged, so I thought all was well.

Today, I unplugged the laptop, booted it up, and saw 99% on battery life. Good But then, after about a minute or two of use, it dropped straight down to 5% and demanded I plug it in. Not good I plugged in the 65W charger and it charged slowly up to 8% then changed to "Battery is not charging" again.

I've tried multiple PMU/PRAM resets again, along with both my 65W aftermarket and 45W OEM chargers, with the laptop both on and off, and nothing seems to get the battery charging.

Is there anything else I can try, or do I need to send this battery back as defective? For what its worth, it does show up as a new battery with 0 cycles and perfect health in CoconutBattery.

 

[eyoungren]

There are a couple of other parts involved in the charging system. The main one is the DC-Inverter board. If you're positive that's working and you want to assume that the battery is good then the only other part to try replacing is the connector on the board. That's the slot that the battery slides in to. It's actually a connector with a couple of wires that plug into the LB.

I had a PB with your symptoms once and I eliminated everything, charger, DC-In, battery. Other than something screwy on the LB this was the only other part that had not been replaced.

But, I just never got to it so I can't say definitively that this was the problem. But it was the only other part involved that had not been replaced.

But I'd verify your DC-In board is good first.

 

[dbdjre0143]

There are a couple of other parts involved in the charging system. The main one is the DC-Inverter board. If you're positive that's working and you want to assume that the battery is good then the only other part to try replacing is the connector on the board. That's the slot that the battery slides in to. It's actually a connector with a couple of wires that plug into the LB.

I had a PB with your symptoms once and I eliminated everything, charger, DC-In, battery. Other than something screwy on the LB this was the only other part that had not been replaced.

But, I just never got to it so I can't say definitively that this was the problem. But it was the only other part involved that had not been replaced.

But I'd verify your DC-In board is good first.

I wondered about the DC-in board just from some of your older posts, but I (mentally) ruled it out just because the battery itself indicated with the lights that it had fully charged. Do you think it could still be the DC-in board with that happening? I have no problem replacing it - I just don’t want to end up being out of luck past the return window for the battery and be out $65 if it takes me a bit to get one in is all.

 

[eyoungren]

I wondered about the DC-in board just from some of your older posts, but I (mentally) ruled it out just because the battery itself indicated with the lights that it had fully charged. Do you think it could still be the DC-in board with that happening? I have no problem replacing it - I just don’t want to end up being out of luck past the return window for the battery and be out $65 if it takes me a bit to get one in is all.

Why not return the battery and then use the difference to get a DC-In board. If it's the board, your old battery will still be viable.

Is there any looseness in the connection? I mean does the connector move around at all once you connect it?

 

[dbdjre0143]

No, there’s no apparent looseness in the connector, and the computer sits happily running indefinitely with the charger connected, so its definitely getting power no problem.

I decided to try ordering a different battery from Amazon. With the ship dates it specified, I’ll have it still well within the return window of my eBay battery, so if the (second) replacement battery works, then I’ll know to just return the eBay one, but if not I’ll return the Amazon one since returns are so easy there and go down the route of replacing the DC-in board.

 

[dbdjre0143]

Weird update on this - still waiting for the battery above to arrive, but I plugged my computer in to use it this morning, and it started charging! So, I turned it off hoping it would charge faster that way, and left it be.

A little while later, I went back to see that it had stopped again (based on the battery lights no longer blinking). I booted it up, and it now showed 10% (Not Charging). This morning it was at 3%.

I'm not sure it means anything, but thought it was an interesting data point worth reporting.