"Service Battery" message?

[jsnuff1]

I just got a weird "Service Battery" message on my santa rosa MBP 15". I have never seen this before, and it shows up right above the time remaining in the status bar.

Anyone know what this means? I haven't noticed anything wrong with the battery (other than gradual decline in capacity). When I click on the message its opens a Mac Help window and says this

"Service Battery: The battery isn’t functioning normally, and you may or may not notice a change in its behavior or the amount of charge it holds. Have your computer checked by an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP). You can continue to use your battery before it’s checked without harming your computer."

 

[mrsir2009]

On Snow Leopard the OS does that to tell you that you need to get your battery checked or replaced. You should take in into an Apple shop and get them to check out the battery, if you've had it for ages then you might need to get a new one or they might have to do something to it...

Good Luck!

 

[ziggyonice]

Sounds like your battery is going bad.

It's either used up (meaning you'll have to purchase a replacement), or it's defective (which Apple will replace for free, if you're covered under warranty or AppleCare).

You need to either visit an Apple Retail Store, or call Apple at 1-(800) 275-2273 (in the U.S.).

 

[bbowers]

I upgraded to SL a week ago and this message has been with me ever since. My battery went from 88% health to 30% health, only 19mo old with 96 cycles. There's a large thread about this on the apple support forums...they say it's not software, yet it seems that going back to leopard gets rid of the message.