Battery issue?

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Hello all. I am hoping that someone can confirm what I believe. I have a Macbook Pro that shuts down after about 5 minutes when on battery. Battery life has been decreasing but it has never been this short. I would normally get an hour out of it before it died but now I get no low battery warning or anything like that. It just dies. It just died and the battery said it was at 68% still. I'm thinking the battery is pooched and a new one is in order.

Some background.
It's about a year and half old.
I didn't purchase the extended applecare warranty.
Here's what iStat says:
38% health
68% battery
196 cycles

Suggestions or thoughts?
 

cwa107


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Time for a new battery. They are consumable and eventually, after so many cycles, they're unreliable because of the diminished capacity. Since power draw is inconsistent, sometimes a low capacity battery will last minutes, sometimes longer. At that low of a capacity, it's not going to be worth using.
 
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flowrider
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Ah thanks.
Suggestions on getting a battery for less than what Apple is asking?
 

cwa107


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There is, but I believe it was only certain early models. Check this article.
 
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You said your MBP is about 1.5 years old, that falls into the date range mentioned on the apple site. Go to your genius bar and they should be able to run some diagnostics and replace your battery, as long as its under 300 cycles. I have an appointment today for the same thing, I'll let you know what happens. But yesterday when went to the Apple store, none of the employees knew anything about the recall, I had to pull the website up to show them...It is a new store, so the employees probably all that experienced yet.
 
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Update on the MBP Battery upgrade policy.

I just got back from the Apple Store. Let me start off by saying that I just got a brand new battery for my MBP free of charge.

A little background: My computer was bought March 2007. No apple care was purchased, so I am beyond any warranty period. I was getting about 2 hours on a charge. Battery life 62%, cycle 206,

I was wondering on the apple support site for something complete different (a replacement fan), and I came across this page by accident. So I figured what the **** and made an appointment with my local Genius Bar.

No one there knew what I was talking about. The person at the G-Bar acted like he knew what I was talking about. But then started saying, "batteries are only covered 90 days," and "you are at 206 battery cycles, that's about the life of the battery." To which I replied, "let me just pull up the website since you have no idea what I am talking about. Look here, it says if your battery is under 300 cycles. And look here where it says if it was purchased between February 2006 and April 2007, and here where it says it will extend coverage of battery for up to two years of date of purchase." To which his reply was, "they must have just changed that." And I WANTED to say, "no, look down here where it was last edited May 2008, 7 months ago."

Long story short, they plugged up some diagnostic that revealed a BAD battery. He walked over to the shelf, opened a brand new battery, and handed it to me. We shook hands and I walked out with a near 2 year old computer with a brand new free battery.
 
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flowrider
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Very nice Floyd!
Since in Canada we only have 2 corporate Apple stores I called the toll free number instead. The support person I had said that it was out of warranty and my only option was to purchase a new one. I said I had no problem with that if I had abused it or used it to the end of it's life. I mentioned the 196 cycles, random shutdowns, low mAh and said that it's just not right that it only lasts that long. I mentioned that I've had PC laptops in the past whose batteries have lasted much longer. I was then put on hold again and when she got back on she said there's nothing they could do.

I then asked for second level support. After getting some info I was put on hold again for 10 minutes and when she came back she said she spoke to someone else and they are now sending me a new battery as well!! So 40 minutes on my cell phone was well worth saving $200 (in Canada) for a new battery.

In the end I'm happy but it does take a lot of persistence. I just kept reiterating that I have no problem paying but it was an obvious defect and I should not have to replace it.
 
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Congrats, glad it worked out for you. Hope this thread will help people in the past, and those searching.
 

H3X


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When you get your new batteries make sure to "exercise" them. Don't use them solely on AC power all the time, drain/recharge and recalibrate fairly often, to keep them in top health.
 
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flowrider
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When you get your new batteries make sure to "exercise" them. Don't use them solely on AC power all the time, drain/recharge and recalibrate fairly often, to keep them in top health.

Nope I use the computer for what it is and it gets used a lot. Between school and work it's being exercised a lot but is always maintained. If I kept it solely on AC I wouldn't have asked for a new battery because it would have been my fault. :)
 

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