[yingyang_master]

hi everyone, i purchased my MBP 15" (2.2GHz C2D, 2GB RAM, 120GB HD) in mid-Sept of 2007.

Everything has been great with my mac until about two weeks ago, when i noticed that my battery life has decreased dramatically. The computer would often turn itself off without warming when running on battery, especially when running multiple apps, watching video, or doing other intensive work. it seems like there is not enough power to be supplied from the battery.

last night, when i did a check up on the battery with iStat pro and Battery Health Monitor, i notice the health is only 25% or 1407mAh out of 5700mAh.
i dont think this is normal for a battery to do this, since i always leave my computer on the desk with charger plugged all the time and only uses the battery once or twice a week. plus i just used the battery to watch two movies in a roll (about 3hrs in total) when i was on a airplane 5 weeks ago. something must have gone wrong during these weeks for my battery life to drop so dramatically.

i tried to do a battery calibration last night, but the **** thing keep turning itself off when there are more than 20% of battery left. and it wont even start up again without plugging it into power. i managed to reached 8% and put it off to sleep mode until now, which is about 10hrs. the funny thing is that the computer doesnt even have the power to go into sleep mode when it has only 5-8% battery left. i have to plug in the power just for it to go into sleep and unplug it once the "sleeping light" starts flashing. i am recharging it at the moment, but the health is still 25%....

i have been looking for information about the MBP's battery online, but most of the complains and information are about the early generation (ones built in 2006). i am just wondering if anyone else has the same problem or anyone might know how to fix it. i dont have apple care for my mbp, but do you think the apple store would replace the battery for me since it is quite clear that something is wrong with this. i have one close by so i am planning a visit there this weekend.

thanks for reading my long rant. please help me out here.

[yingyang_master]

forgot to mention that the indicator light on my charger goes off randomly sometime... it has been like that for the past 4 months, would that be part of the problem too?

[chscag]

Since it's out of warranty and unless the battery has been recalled, you're responsible for replacing it. And yes, your battery is probably defective and should be replaced.

Regards.

[rogerinlondon]

Take it to the Apple store and they will most porbably just replace it for you.

[Zoolook]

Originally Posted by yingyang_master

last night, when i did a check up on the battery with iStat pro and Battery Health Monitor, i notice the health is only 25% or 1407mAh out of 5700mAh.
i dont think this is normal for a battery to do this, since i always leave my computer on the desk with charger plugged all the time and only uses the battery once or twice a week.

Actually, that's where you'd be wrong. Modern lithium Polymer batteries are designed to be used regularly, charged regularly (half depletes and half charges are typical) and they're certainly not designed to remain fully charged over extended periods of time. In fact, they also don't like multiple deep-discharges over a short period of time.

If you're going to use your laptop as a 'desktop replacement', you're better off removing the battery completely and storing it at about 40% charge in a cool place.

You may get some joy by callibrating the battery a few times, but to be honest, once they start failing it happens quickly, and you may just have to buy a new one.

[yingyang_master]

thx everyone for the quick reply, but is it possible for the apple store to replace it without charge? i had other laptops before (toshiba, thinkpad), none has its battery fail so quickly.

[rogerinlondon]

Just go to the Apple store and ask. I had problems with my battery which was purchased outside of the period for the recalls. The changed it for free, no questions asked. I understood from them that there has been a lot of problems like this.