Unrecognized Battery?

So, a few days ago, my MacBook (~2 yr old PlastiBook 10.4) randomly stopped recognizing my battery. When I opened it up from (what I thought was) sleep mode, it wouldn't start. I had to plug it in to get it to fire up, the charger was displaying a green light, and the battery indicator read "no batteries found". It will run (albeit a bit tempermentally) when plugged in, but its role is now that of a semi-portable desktop.

My battery was fine, however... It's the factory battery (about 2 years old now), but I've always taken care of it. Its charging cycles were normal, and still held the normal 3-4 hours of life. It will no longer give me any lights or response to a capacity check by pressing the little button, though.

I've tried removing the battery for a couple of days, rebooting the computer with and without the battery... just about everything I can think of short of a complete replacement. Has anyone ever had this problem? Any input would be appreciated, thanks!

How many charge - recharge cycles do you have on the battery? A battery that's two years old could have several hundred or more cycles of charging discharging or very little. A lot depends on how you use your battery as to how long it will last. However, it does sound like your battery has died and that you need a new one.

Regards.

I would place a vague guess at around 500 cycles, but the battery hasn't been displaying any signs of poor health. Given, a good battery will run like a champ until the day it dies...

Well, I work in retail electronics, so a battery won't be a huge expense... but I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a problem that could be fixed easily.

Thanks!

SimonJester said:

I would place a vague guess at around 500 cycles, but the battery hasn't been displaying any signs of poor health. Given, a good battery will run like a champ until the day it dies...

Well, I work in retail electronics, so a battery won't be a huge expense... but I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a problem that could be fixed easily.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

500 cycles is quite a bit...but since you said that it used to get 3-4 hours on a full charge (I'm assuming that this was relatively recently)...that would sort of confuse things.

There is a program called Coconut Battery that can give you a bit more info on your battery (if you're not using it already):

coconut-flavour.com - [coconutBattery 2.6.5]

Although you said that your computer doesn't seem to be recognizing the battery, hopefully Coconut Battery will see it.

Good luck,

- Nick

With charge issues you could always try this might give u a few more cycles.