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Unibody Macbook battery dead after 1.5 year

ghostlines

ghostlines

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 3, 2010
155
14
Amsterdam
I bought my Unibody Macbook about a year and a half ago, and now all of a sudden it won't even hold a charge! Coconut battery and SystemProfiler says it's capacity is now 241 mAh. It's original capacity was 4100 mAh.

How can this be? And can I maybe ask for a free replacement this happened much too quickly in my opinion. Has anyone had a similar experience before?
I can't run my Macbook without even having it plugged in anymore!
My older laptop's battery never died so quickly.
 
ghostlines said:
I bought my Unibody Macbook about a year and a half ago, and now all of a sudden it won't even hold a charge! Coconut battery and SystemProfiler says it's capacity is now 241 mAh. It's original capacity was 4100 mAh.

How can this be? And can I maybe ask for a free replacement this happened much too quickly in my opinion. Has anyone had a similar experience before?
I can't run my Macbook without even having it plugged in anymore!
My older laptop's battery never died so quickly.
Click to expand...
How many cycles do have on it? If you have AppleCare and the cycles aren't too high, you should be able to get it replaced.

This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions: Apple Notebook Battery FAQ
 
It has 689 cycles. And no AppleCare:eek: .Is this reasonable? I don't think I've been using my Macbook different than my older laptops which I had even longer than this one.
 
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ghostlines said:
It has 689 cycles. And no AppleCare:eek: .Is this reasonable? I don't think I've been using my Macbook different than my older laptops which I had even longer than this one.
Click to expand...
As miles01110 said, you'll have to buy a new one. Read the FAQ I posted for tips on how to use your battery properly for maximum lifespan.
 
But what I find so strange is that it happened so abruptly. One day I had about 2 hours battery life and the next day it can't even hold a charge! And it says after 300 cycles you have about 80% of life. So about every 300 cycles a 20% battery life decrease? So I should be at about 40-50% battery life now.

But not even holding a charge?! Come on!
 
ghostlines said:
But what I find so strange is that it happened so abruptly. One day I had about 2 hours battery life and the next day it can't even hold a charge! And it says after 300 cycles you have about 80% of life. So about every 300 cycles a 20% battery life decrease? So I should be at about 40-50% battery life now.

But not even holding a charge?! Come on!
Click to expand...
It depends on how you treated it. For example, if someone leaves their Mac plugged in all of the time and they don't cycle the battery regularly, it will die a faster death. Again, read the FAQ for proper use and maintenance.
 
GGJstudios said:
It depends on how you treated it. For example, if someone leaves their Mac plugged in all of the time and they don't cycle the battery regularly, it will die a faster death. Again, read the FAQ for proper use and maintenance.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your help, and I appreciate it don't get me wrong. But no amount of mistreatment should cause my 1.5 year 689 cycle Macbook battery to not even hold a charge. And make me have to plug it in to make it work. My older 'lower' quality laptops that I've had longer never could not hold a charge.

If Apple's high priced supposedly better quality hardware has to be treated extra carefully just for it to have a normal battery lifespan that's really surprising and at the same time a let down! I paid a lot for a lot of quality.

But I guess I might have to get use to it cuz I love OS X.
 
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suprisingly my late 2007-early 2008 macbook has been working perfect...
battery good
not dirty
no cracks!

fingers crossed
 
ghostlines said:
Thanks for your help, and I appreciate it don't get me wrong. But no amount of mistreatment should cause my 1.5 year 689 cycle Macbook battery to not even hold a charge.
Click to expand...
Considering the millions of Apple portables that don't have the same experience as yours, it's unlikely that your battery's condition is the result of normal use. If that were the case, Apple would be flooded with complaints and the news sites would be buzzing with headlines about Apple's poor battery health in all their notebooks. It is quite possible to mistreat a battery to the extent that it dies within a year. It's also possible to use a battery enough (without mistreating it) that it dies that quickly. Apple says your battery should hold up to 80% capacity up to 300 cycles. You have more than double that amount. You've gotten good use from your battery, no matter how it was treated. All batteries die. They are consumable. It's time for a new one.
 
Rechargeable batteries die quickly at the end of their lives. Just because 300 cycles means a 20% drop doesn't mean that 600 cycles will only be a 40% drop.

If any battery lasts much past 500 charge cycles, you've done pretty good. That's the way the technology works. If you got to 689 then that was an awesome battery. Quit griping and pay for a new one. And this time try not to go through more than a charge cycle per day.
 
Oh **** guys now the battery is charging again?????
What's up?????

Now SystemProfiler and CoconutBattery is saying the capacity is 1675mAh?
Strange, is something up with my Macbook or the battery, or the charger?
Now I'm kinda lost.
 
ghostlines said:
Oh **** guys now the battery is charging again?????
What's up?????

Now SystemProfiler and CoconutBattery is saying the capacity is 1675mAh?
Strange, is something up with my Macbook or the battery, or the charger?
Now I'm kinda lost.
Click to expand...
Did you read the FAQ I posted? Especially the section on CHARGING?
 
Well 1675 isn't going to get you much. The thing is on its last leg and you may get it to take one or two more breaths before it completely dies.

To give you a point of reference, my MacBook is about the same age as yours (I've had it about 18 months), and has 153 cycles on the battery. I'm at 92% (11,843 mAh) of original battery capacity (12,855 mAh). You've just used yours on battery way more than most people.

When you get your new battery, try using it plugged in sometimes when battery isn't necessary.
 
Same thing happened to me, I took it to the genius bar. He ran a test on it and the battery came back defective or time to replace or something.... and just like that they gave me a new one... I did have Applecare though dont know if that makes a difference. I would give it a shot
 
bigjnyc said:
Same thing happened to me, I took it to the genius bar. He ran a test on it and the battery came back defective or time to replace or something.... and just like that they gave me a new one... I did have Applecare though dont know if that makes a difference.
Click to expand...
It does make a difference. Also, how many cycles was on yours at the time?

Read the FAQ section "BATTERIES ARE NOT COVERED".
 
My MBP

Well i am only one cycle behind you at 688 and mine is still at 86%. I am really impressed with this battery cause my old powerbook g4's battery i replaced twice in 2 years. (And about everything in that computer to.) Either way this one still last about 3 hours with the discrete graphics and an hour more with the 9400. It will last me through my day at school still, which is great. (i hate fighting for outlets in old rooms.) On my way to work i charge it in the car and finish it when im there. I use the hell out of this computer a good 12 hours of use a day 5 days a week. Also i have an SSD and an HD instead of an optical drive that i never used. (Have an external blu-ray to rip movies if i ever need one) I have been wanting a nice shiny new I7 with a better battery thats all built in but cant justify an upgrade yet. I wouldn't have upgraded my powerbook but ended up needed some intel software so figured id just get it over with. But if my battery just quit today i would just be happy of the use i got out of this one and go get another one i feel that almost 700 cycles is plenty.
 
689 cycles does seem to be quite low for a battery to be so badly affected (even if it is outside what Apple deem to be "normal"). My daughter's 3 1/2 year old MacBook has about that many charge cycles and is still going strong.

It may be worth contacting Apple or calling in at a store if you have one nearby: The worst they can say is you're out of luck and have to buy a new battery (which, to be fair is the most likely outcome as you don't have Applecare), but you may get lucky...
 
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