12-13-2009, 07:08 PM

Hello there,

It's been about a week since my battery started saying that. When I click the icon, it says "Service" and then I click on it and it tells me the following:

"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"

I've always taken care of my battery, calibrated it almost every week in order for it to function normally. I have had this notebook since August 2008 so I am not sure if it's because I've been using it for well over a year or if I have been misusing it?

I don't trust our Apple stores here because they are simply idiots . They'll tell me "leave it here for a couple of days and we'll call you" then they will say it needs to be replaced, as they always do with my friends and other people I know. They just can't fix anything, all they do is try as hard as they can to sell you a new battery, and it is really expensive in Egypt.

So I wanted your advice about this and if there's anything I could do to check if it's functioning normally or not. And if it's not, is there a way for me to repair it or do I have to buy a new one? Because I think I'll buy it from abroad and get it shipped to my house, which will cost less than buying it here. I also want the new Magic Mouse so I'll probably ship both together.

Thanks a lot guys and have a nice day. Sorry for making it a long post, I always tend to do that for some reason.

12-13-2009, 07:24 PM

Well, according to Apple (here) you only need to calibrate your battery once every 1 - 2 months. With normal use.

You can see how much "life" your battery has by downloading this for free. coconutBattery for Mac

12-13-2009, 09:04 PM

Thank you very much for replying.

This is what coconutBattery gives me.



So what do you think?

I found this one on the web:



The guy has been using it for 5 months and it only dropped 1%. Is he lucky or what?

12-13-2009, 09:52 PM

I had the same issue as you, my battery health dropped to 66% on my MBP. Age of my mac was 22 months and load-cycles were about 170. A full charge would get me about 2 hours max. I decided to just purchase a new battery, which completely fixed everything. Service battery warning is off, battery health is 99%, and I can get 4-5 hours out of a full charge. I was reading that the service battery warning was an addition that came on snow leopard. Good luck!

12-14-2009, 04:28 AM

Yeah, I am running Snow Leopard 10.6.2. I just upgraded to it from Leopard recently, and I am pretty sure that's when it started saying Service. So you're right.

Thanks a lot . I guess I'll just purchase a new battery.

12-14-2009, 05:05 AM

No prob...yeah you'll be happy with the new battery

12-14-2009, 07:14 AM

I believe Snow Leopard reports that when the battery health gets below a certain percentage. Haven't been able to ascertain what exactly the percentage is as of yet.

12-14-2009, 11:31 AM

I took my battery off and it's in my notebook's bag now. I don't take my notebook anywhere anymore since my finals are tomorrow so no more university for two months. I'll just keep it on AC power till the new battery arrives, hopefully in 10 - 14 days.

By the way, is it okay to just place the battery in the bag without covering it with anything? I might use it as a substitute later on if anything happens to my new battery, so I don't really want it to get screwed up. Plus, it's my first battery, so it's valuable to me - yeah I am kind of weird, hehe.

<3 mac-fourms

12-14-2009, 12:21 PM

I would keep the battery in the computer. The CPU's are throttled back when there is no battery present.

I have a battery doing the same thing. It only shows that message in 10.6. It does not if I reboot into 10.5 and my battery is functioning fine except for the lower percentage.

12-14-2009, 12:32 PM

Sorry, I'm not familiar with hardware and computers much so I don't get what that means 'The CPU's are throttled back when there is no battery present.'. Can you please explain in a way a hardware-savy person would understand?

12-14-2009, 02:57 PM

Originally Posted by Tarek

Sorry, I'm not familiar with hardware and computers much so I don't get what that means 'The CPU's are throttled back when there is no battery present.'. Can you please explain in a way a hardware-savy person would understand?

This means that the CPU's will run slower.

- Nick

12-16-2009, 03:28 PM

Oh okay thanks haha. I put my battery back in because I felt like the notebook got more hot when I removed it.