Problems MBP 5,4

[BacklitFirefly]

This is really weird timing, since yesterday I posted wondering whether to invest in a new HDD for my 5,4 model (15", mid 2009 unibody) -- wondering if I should be concerned about other part failures, etc... if I make incremental upgrades, since the laptop is nearing 3 years old. Until then, I had NO problems with anything on my computer and I was thinking I could probably keep my current MBP for a another several years. (I've already upgraded the RAM to 8GB, and this is a great laptop, no doubt!)

Then suddenly yesterday, I'm getting "Service Battery." I might have imagined this next thing: restarting, shut-down, turn on seems a lot slower than I am used to.

I found a new HDD I want to get from OWC, but I don't see that they have batteries for this MBP. And what if there is some bigger underlying issue, something with the logic board, or worse? Hm...

😱

 

[Dangerous Theory]

It may be that the battery is no longer holding charge therefore you are powered only through the AC. When this happens, prcoessor under clocks greatly. This may be why you're experiencing slowdown.

 

[BacklitFirefly]

Maybe so. I'm running on just the battery right now, but it certainly isn't getting a full charge, and I'm only getting about 2-3 hours with it now (it used to be close to 7)

 

[Dangerous Theory]

Oh 2-3 hours is still impressive. Some laptops don't get that straight out the box. I thought your battery was practically dead. I guess you're fine.

 

[BacklitFirefly]

Yeah, after that last post I did restart, just on the battery, and it only really took about 1 minute. Hm. Maybe I'm just paranoid about the battery.

Anyway, since it does say "Service Battery," where can I get a battery for this particular MBP? I do all my own repairs of this nature and I have no intention of taking it two hours away to an Apple store and paying them an exorbitant fee to do what I could do myself.

I would like to get one from here: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Apple/Laptop/Batteries

But which battery is compatible? (I guess I COULD pick up my iPhone and CALL them, hm? LOL)

 

[BacklitFirefly]

Ha! Problem solved: Thursday I'm taking it in to a local Mac Certified repair center (that is actually on my way to work) and for just a couple hundred dollars she is going to do a complete diagnostic and put in a new battery and bigger hard drive. So, for just a few hundred bucks I'll have a totally tricked out MBP, rather than buying a whole new one. Works for me. 😀