You Should Remove Your iBook G4 Battery

[alex_free]

Why I Like The iBook G4​

I have 2 12 inch iBook G4 mid 2005s (PowerBook 6,7). One has a defective ~ keyboard key and has been relegated to a source for spare parts. These are the absolute cheapest way to get into the PowerPC Mac world. They have a great GPU with OpenGL 2 support (a PowerPC rarity that you need Leopard to take advantage of), a 4:3 screen, fast 1.33GHz PowerPC G4, and potential for up to 1.5GBs of RAM. It’s basically a mobile Mac mini. Things I don’t like about it are the soldered in 512MBs of RAM that can’t be replaced, the difficulty of replacing the HDD in comparison to the early intel MacBooks, and the lack of Mac OS X Panther support.

Power Problems​

Anyways, I was using the iBook G4 and noticed some unexpected shutdowns, that have gotten progressively worse. It appeared that the charger would loose a good connection and the unit would power off because the battery was useless. This got progressively worse until it wouldn’t last more then a few minutes after login. Was the single 3rd party iBook charger I have on it’s death bed?

I tried using the same charger on the other iBook G4, and something weirder occurred. The iBook would constantly complain it needed to connect to AC power and show no power source for a matter of a few seconds total, but then it would appear connected. In an endless loop. So the charger is a dud, right?

Fixing It With A Quarter​

I’ll give you a hint, it’s not the charger or the iBook. It is… the battery! Both batteries are long past being useful, and while I never intended them to be used as a power source for the iBook G4s they will still part of the power logic of the iBook. And low and behold when I checked about this mac in Mac OS X, the battery in the one doing the infinite connect to ac power message loop had 0 amperage! That battery was actually an original Apple battery, which interestingly has a serial number not affected iBook G4 battery recall. I am unsure if this is because the battery never used the problematic Sony Cells, or if this is in fact a replacement given to the original owner who was affected.

Here is the problematic Apple battery, that made Mac OS X constantly complain that the battery not connected every few seconds:

The other battery that was causing random shutdowns was the 3rd party battery:

The iBook G4 is lucky to not have the same limitations of the early intel MacBooks in regards to operating without a battery installed. When an early intel MacBook lacks a battery, it is throttled to 50%. When the iBook G4 lacks a battery, it works perfectly fine!

So I shutdown the iBook G4, removed the battery with a quarter, and powered it back up. No power fluctuations! Maybe it is actually running with better performance now as well since it stays on the Better Performance option constantly without the battery switching it over to a different Energy Saver setting. Another pro, your iBook G4 won’t blow up one day (batteries get incredibly unstable after 20 years)!

Conclusion​

If your having this problem It might not be your charger, which is what everything pointed to at first. I think the problem here is that both of these batteries can’t handle the power draw even while ‘charing’ since they are so degraded.

The lack of 3rd party battery options for the iBook G4 is unfortunate. That would also fix this issue, however at least we can run at full performance without throttling when no battery is installed. The early Intel MacBooks still have 3rd party batteries made for them to this day though so it’s not quite a problem for them yet.

Going Further​

There are ways to rebuild the battery by replacing the power cells, but it’s not for the faint of heart and I haven’t dared to attempt it.

I’m also interested in if I can just remove all of the components in the battery and have an empty shell that can be put back into the iBook G4.

 

[thewireless]

Could this possibly be related to the battery recall? My battery was replaced by Apple back in the day, but I no longer possess that iBook, so I don't know how it's faring these days.

A few years ago, I purchased another one to relive my iBook memories, and its battery exhibited the same symptoms as mine did all those years ago (rapid discharging and warming up). The iBook was in rather poor condition, partially due to being shipped improperly, which made me sad, so I decided to part with it.

A quick web search led me to this list of serial number ranges for the recalled batteries:

12-inch iBook G4:

• Battery Model Number: A1061
• Serial Number Range: HQ441 - HQ507
• Serial Number Range: ZZ338 - ZZ427
• Serial Number Range: 3K429 - 3K611
• Serial Number Range: 6C519 - 6C552

 

[alex_free]

Could this possibly be related to the battery recall? My battery was replaced by Apple back in the day, but I no longer possess that iBook, so I don't know how it's faring these days.

A few years ago, I purchased another one to relive my iBook memories, and its battery exhibited the same symptoms as mine did all those years ago (rapid discharging and warming up). The iBook was in rather poor condition, partially due to being shipped improperly, which made me sad, so I decided to part with it.

A quick web search led me to this list of serial number ranges for the recalled batteries:

12-inch iBook G4:

• Battery Model Number: A1061
• Serial Number Range: HQ441 - HQ507
• Serial Number Range: ZZ338 - ZZ427
• Serial Number Range: 3K429 - 3K611
• Serial Number Range: 6C519 - 6C552

Interestingly, one is a 3rd party battery and the other is an original Apple one (A1061 SN 6C5206UGS9ZD). I assume that means it is one given during the recall because it's such a late serial number.

I did some further digging and updated the original post with pictures and additional information. I think the issue is again that because the battery is still part of the power circut when installed it can fail to supply enough power due to 20 years of degradation and cause either a random shutdown or it will tell OS X that no battery is installed for a few seconds and then it will say there is one installed for a few seconds in an infinite loop.

 

[thewireless]

Interestingly, one is a 3rd party battery and the other is an original Apple one (A1061 SN 6C5206UGS9ZD). I assume that means it is one given during the recall because it's such a late serial number.

I was going to say that 6C520 falls within the 6C519 - 6C552 range, but another article mentioned that the serial numbers in that range must end with S9WA, S9WC, or S9WD. So, there’s that.

 

[alex_free]

I was going to say that 6C520 falls within the 6C519 - 6C552 range, but another article mentioned that the serial numbers in that range must end with S9WA, S9WC, or S9WD. So, there’s that.

Oh, I missed that. I'm going to look into the recall a bit more.

Edit: Found the original apple article: https://web.archive.org/web/2008021...om/ibook_powerbook/batteryexchange/main?id=qp

I belive either the battery was not using the Sony cells (like they used multiple sources for cells) or this is a battery given in the recall, since it doesn't have those last 4 digits. Definitely not affected (not that it matters now tho). I think even a recalled battery would eventually meet the same fate (0 amperage causing battery not installed/installed messages every few seconds) if it didn't blow up already due to the bad Sony cells.

 

[philgxxd]

I did the “remove the cells and leave the shell only with the battery controller in place” party-trick though with my 2010 15” MBP and it’s doing ok, at least it doesn’t get throttled as far as I can tell with daily internet tasks.
I had problems with sleep mode but got that sorted with playing with the mode-set options through terminal. Can’t recall the details but it can be done.