Macbook battery problem

Hi all, I'm new to the forums I hope you guys can help me with this problem.

I have a 3-year-old Macbook and it's been giving me several battery problems in the few months or so. First the battery would stop charging at its full power and stop around 97-98% with the LED flickering between red and green intermittently and so did the indicator on the bar change between charging and not charging. Things have gotten worse as it got to the point where it would do this around 75% and now the battery is stuck at 0% and won't charge at all. I have replaced the charger with a new one literally minutes ago as the old one melted (!) so I know it's not a problem with the charger. I've tried resetting the SMC and all but it won't help.

Also, I am perfectly aware that batteries deteriorate with time, but mine only has 144 load cycles and it's already at 10% of its original capacity. I hardly ever use the laptop off the mains so I'm surprised it's gotten so bad. Any thoughts? Any chance that Apple will replace my battery even if I'm not under warranty anymore, if it turns out to be a defective one?

Thanks.

how much do you use it? per week or month or day or sopmething.

DragonLance said:

how much do you use it? per week or month or day or sopmething.

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I very rarely use it on battery power. Probably a couple of hours a month at most.

kalen said:

Also, I am perfectly aware that batteries deteriorate with time, but mine only has 144 load cycles and it's already at 10% of its original capacity. I hardly ever use the laptop off the mains so I'm surprised it's gotten so bad. Any thoughts? Any chance that Apple will replace my battery even if I'm not under warranty anymore, if it turns out to be a defective one?

Thanks.

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I'm assuming that you got most of your battery info via a program like Coconut Battery:

coconut-flavour.com - [coconutBattery 2.6.5]

If you already know that your battery capacity is down to 10%...then that is a clear indication that you need a new battery.

As far as Apple replacing it...Apple does not replace batteries. They are considered "consumables", and therefore are not covered under the warranty (if you still had warranty left)...unless it can be proven that your battery was defective.

Even if your battery was defective...3 years to wait to make that claim does not look good.

Sorry...time for a new battery,

- Nick

Macbook Battery Problem

Your battery situation certainly fits exactly with my understanding of 'the' Macbook battery problem for which Apple was replacing batteries.
As recently as mid-July 2009 a reader was able to have Apple issue him a free replacement battery. See MacBook | Macbook Pro Battery Problem for diagnostics and links to Apple replacement information. Especially with only 144 cycles I would think you could make the case for a replacement. Let us know what happens.
Best,
ww

You should also be caring for your battery if u want it to last see here