Random sleep and 0% battery problem

I'm not familiar with those symptoms with that combination of hardware (can hibernation occur?), but from what I vaguely recall of Powerbook battery issues: what you describe does sound like an issue with the battery.

 

I assume we've already tried resetting the PMU and PRAM? That said, if all this fails I would also suspect the battery. I have a 12" 1.33 Al PBG4 where the battery would apparently fully charge, then go down to about 60% then suddenly to 5%. And then when I'd recharge it, it wouldn't go over 38% or so. It seemed random in terms of where the percentage indicator would read, but ultimately a new battery fixed it.

 

The suddenness and randomness described by @ziggy29 does sound familiar.

I imagine that repeatedly allowing the battery to apparently dip might allow the intelligence in/around the battery to relearn proper behaviour. But I suspect that's less likely to happen with old Mac notebooks (more likely with MacBooks and the like).

 

Two words: shelf life. Batteries only last so long, even with little to no cycles. Cells go bad, just kinda how it is. Anyway, for a PRAM reset, shut down the computer, hold CMD+OPT+P+R and power on. Keep holding until second chime. The PMU reset should be under the keyboard on some models, or its another process (look up your PB year + 'PMU reset' on google)

 

I would recommend downloading Coconut Battery (make sure it is the PPC version). This app will allow you to check on your battery's statistics, and will basically allow you to tell if you should replace it

 

Probably a bad cell, sorry to say.

 

New? As in just manufactured? Or batteries from the era, never opened?

 

On PowerBooks the left fan is the main fan. The right fan only kicks in around 140-145º (Fahrenheit) and only operates until the computer is sufficiently cool for the left fan to continue cooling on it's own.

MacBooks and MacBook Pros on the other hand always have both fans running.

 

On the note of the original battery, my PowerBook G4 Titanium does the same thing, reads at 3800mAH out of the 4000mAH original capacity. It goes to sleep at around 40% and when the charger is inserted, the percentage reads 0.

 

Yeah, there's probably one dead cell out of the bunch, and it is confusing the battery to die prematurely. You can get a cheap replacement battery off eBay for $10, but these won't be of the highest qualtity and will not last for a long time