Battery Questions

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Hi everyone. I've been suffering at the hands of my macbook's battery ever since I bought the thing in late 2006. The first one packed in after a while and the nice man at the apple shop replaced it for me. "My battery is giving me grief." I said. "Of course it is, Sony made it." he replied.

My new battery performed admirably until about 10 months ago when my computer decided that, frankly, even though it recognised that the battery had full charge, it would rather run with the adapter and would switch off whenever I unplugged it. Not the friendly sort of switch off where the little light at the front stays on, but the kind where it just completely dies. I tried resetting the PMU and all of the usual fixes, but nothing. It continued like this for another a few months, then it stared running on the battery again. Then is stopped working again, but this time, refused to acknowledge that a batter exists at all. On top of all this, the little green night on the bottom of the battery stay on constantly and I can't work out why.

So, my questions are as follows:

  • Why is the green light on the battery always on?
  • Is the problem with my computer, or the battery?
  • If the battery is the problem, where can I buy a new one for as little money as possible? I'm thinking of buying one of those Japanese impostor batteries. I may as well buy a poor quality battery for £30 from them as buy a poor quality battery for £95 from apple.

Thanks for reading!
 

pigoo3

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Your computer is from 2006...which makes both your computer & battery almost three years old. It's very possible depending on how you use your computer that all of your frustration is due to an old dead or dying battery.

Laptop batteries do not last forever...and eventually need to be replaced.

To check out the condition of your current battery...download this program, run it, and tell us your results:

coconut-flavour.com - [coconutBattery 2.6.5]

Hope this helps,

- Nick
 
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tomavery
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Thanks for replying. I downloaded the program, but it kept crashing on opening. I downloaded another battery health monitor from version tracker. As I feared, it told me it couldn't measure my battery's status and my mac still won't recognise that there is one present. My new battery was only about a year old when it started giving me problems.
 

pigoo3

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Thanks for replying. I downloaded the program, but it kept crashing on opening. I downloaded another battery health monitor from version tracker. As I feared, it told me it couldn't measure my battery's status and my mac still won't recognise that there is one present. My new battery was only about a year old when it started giving me problems.

You're the first person I have heard from where Coconut Battery wouldn't run properly.

Have you tried restarting your computer, and then running Coconut Battery? Given that your battery started giving you trouble after 1 year...that would seem to indicate something other than the battery.

But it would be nice if we could get Coconut Battery to run...to get the status of your battery before we start theorizing about other problem areas.

- Nick
 
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You're the first person I have heard from where Coconut Battery wouldn't run properly.

Have you tried restarting your computer, and then running Coconut Battery? Given that your battery started giving you trouble after 1 year...that would seem to indicate something other than the battery.

But it would be nice if we could get Coconut Battery to run...to get the status of your battery before we start theorizing about other problem areas.

- Nick

Just restarted and it closed unexpectedly again. Would coconut battery be able to analyse my battery if my computer doesn't recognise it? I have the X symbol in the menu bar.
 

pigoo3

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Just restarted and it closed unexpectedly again. Would coconut battery be able to analyse my battery if my computer doesn't recognise it? I have the X symbol in the menu bar.

Good question. I didn't realize that your laptop wasn't recognizing the battery ("X" in menu bar)...I wonder if that's what's causing Coconut Battery to "quit unexpectedly".

Check this article out...and give it a try:

Apple Portables: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

- Nick
 
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Good question. I didn't realize that your laptop wasn't recognizing the battery ("X" in menu bar)...I wonder if that's what's causing Coconut Battery to "quit unexpectedly".

Check this article out...and give it a try:

Apple Portables: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

- Nick

Computer restarted, SMC reset, but no joy. My heart leapt when I tunred it on because it displayed a 0% charging icon for a few seconds. Interestingly, my power adapter light is orange today when it is normally green. System profiler informs me of the following:

Battery Information:

Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 0
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 0
Health Information:
Cycle count: 0
Battery Installed: No
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 0
 

pigoo3

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Computer restarted, SMC reset, but no joy. My heart leapt when I tunred it on because it displayed a 0% charging icon for a few seconds. Interestingly, my power adapter light is orange today when it is normally green. System profiler informs me of the following:

Battery Information:

Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 0
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 0
Health Information:
Cycle count: 0
Battery Installed: No
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 0

So your charging icon said "0%"...has it increased since then, or is it an "X" again?

Have you tried launching Coconut Battery since the SMC reset?

- Nick
 
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So your charging icon said "0%"...has it increased since then, or is it an "X" again?

Have you tried launching Coconut Battery since the SMC reset?

- Nick

Oh no, we've gone back to my friend the little X. I've tried coconut and it closes every time. Perhaps it doesn't like snow leopard?
 

pigoo3

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Oh no, we've gone back to my friend the little X. I've tried coconut and it closes every time. Perhaps it doesn't like snow leopard?

No...I already checked on that. Coconut Battery is compatible with Snow Leopard.

I think that we are getting into a difficult part of figuring this out. Meaning we might be talking spending some money.:(

If your battery is dead or defective in some way...we can keep trying things all day long with no success. Also...if something hardware-wise with your laptop is broken or defective in some way...then again...nothing we try will help.

What I would suggest is:

- buy a new battery (more expensive)
- buy a used battery cheaply somewhere (less expensive)
- or if you happen to know someone with a MacBook that uses the same battery...mabe you could pop it into your computer to see if it helps.

If a "good" battery doesn't help...then we know that it is not battery related...and it then may be something related to the laptop hardware.:(

Good Luck,

- Nick
 
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No its not snow leopard, i just downloaded it to see what it was and i have snow leopard so its not that. Just wanted to let you know.

Sorry for crushing your hopes haha
 
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Like Pigoo3 said... coconut crashing, that's not supposed to happen...

Runs like a charm in my Snow Leopard.

But rest assured, your getting the best help you can get.
BTW welcome to the forum, tomavery;D
 
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No...I already checked on that. Coconut Battery is compatible with Snow Leopard.

I think that we are getting into a difficult part of figuring this out. Meaning we might be talking spending some money.:(

If your battery is dead or defective in some way...we can keep trying things all day long with no success. Also...if something hardware-wise with your laptop is broken or defective in some way...then again...nothing we try will help.

What I would suggest is:

- buy a new battery (more expensive)
- buy a used battery cheaply somewhere (less expensive)
- or if you happen to know someone with a MacBook that uses the same battery...mabe you could pop it into your computer to see if it helps.

If a "good" battery doesn't help...then we know that it is not battery related...and it then may be something related to the laptop hardware.:(

Good Luck,

- Nick

Thanks for all your help. Oh I do hope it isn't my computer. I look after it and this is the thanks I get.
 

pigoo3

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Thanks for all your help. Oh I do hope it isn't my computer. I look after it and this is the thanks I get.

Does your laptop work fine otherwise when it's plugged in?

- Nick
 
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Does your laptop work fine otherwise when it's plugged in?

- Nick

Oh yes, it runs fine. Maybe it's a little slow at times, but nothing major.
 
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A measure of success! This morning, my computer decided it would recognise my battery! According to coconut battery, my battery is in a reasonable condition. The menu bar tells me it's 10 hours from fully charged, but that hasn't changed in about 20 minutes. When I'm feeling brave enough, I'll reset the SMC and see if that kicks my computer into charging the battery.

Also note that my computer is apparently 2000 years old.

Screen shot 2009-10-01 at 08.01.30.png
 

pigoo3

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A measure of success! This morning, my computer decided it would recognise my battery! According to coconut battery, my battery is in a reasonable condition. The menu bar tells me it's 10 hours from fully charged, but that hasn't changed in about 20 minutes. When I'm feeling brave enough, I'll reset the SMC and see if that kicks my computer into charging the battery.

Also note that my computer is apparently 2000 years old.

Thanks for the additional info...the photo of your Coconut Battery info helps as well.

744 load cycles is a lot...and under "normal" circumstances...might be a reason to believe that your battery is old & needs to be replaced. But since Coconut Battery is also reporting that your Mac is 24468 months old...maybe the 744 number is incorrect as well.

Also the remaining capacity of 91% would also indicate a good battery.

But...I still think that it would be a good idea to insert a battery that you know is definitely good.

Like I suggested before you could:

- buy a new battery (more expensive)
- buy a used battery cheaply somewhere (less expensive)
- or if you happen to know someone with a MacBook that uses the same battery...mabe you could pop it into your computer to see if it helps.

If your battery is not the problem...then it is something else...but we won't know for sure unless a 100% known good battery is used.

Hope this helps,

- Nick
 

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