New battery but still problems!

Hi all,

I bought a new battery from ebay for my 15-inch late 2007 Macbook Pro. After calibrating it, I still get the "Service battery" message when I click on the battery icon and I can't get much more than 1.5 HRS of usage with half brightness while just surfing and emailing.

Could something be wrong with my Macbook itself? I purchased it second hand and it came with the stock Apple battery. The "Service battery" message has always been displayed ever since I've acquired this Macbook.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

I have attached a photo from coconut battery.

If you've had this problem with two batteries (and the 2nd battery is almost new)...then unfortunately this would seem to point to something wrong with the Macbook Pro itself.

You could try two things:

1. Reset the PRAM.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379

2. Reset the SMC:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964?viewlocale=en_US

HTH,

- Nick

Hi Nick,

I reseted the SMC and did the PRAM flush on the same bootup (does that suffice?) and I'm still getting the service battery message.

What could be wrong with my macbook? Argh.....this is so frustrating. First, the adapter, then the battery, then the HD, then the RAM stick....and now, the battery still.

TIA.

xiaobao12 said:

Hi Nick,

I reseted the SMC and did the PRAM flush on the same bootup (does that suffice?) and I'm still getting the service battery message.

What could be wrong with my macbook? Argh.....this is so frustrating. First, the adapter, then the battery, then the HD, then the RAM stick....and now, the battery still.

TIA.

Click to expand...

The PRAM & SMC ideas were just some quick & easy things to try just in case the problem was something simple. Regarding your battery...does it charge properly?

Also...what OS version are you running?

- Nick

Hey Nick,

Yes, the battery charges fine. Although I don't know why my current capacity is 4175 out of 5500. I calibrated it. Should I do it again?

OS - 10.6.4.

Thanks Nick.

Thanks for the info. So just so I understand things clearly...you mentioned:

- with the original "stock" battery you got this "Service Battery" message. Do you still have the original Apple battery, and what is it's condition?

- you're getting this "Service Battery" message with the battery you purchased on e-Bay. Is this "e-Bay" battery a genuine Apple battery...or another manufacturer?

Thanks,

- Nick

Yes, I still have the stock battery - I'm currently on the road and won't be able to tell you the specs on it but I remember that it did not have that many cycles on it! I just thought it was a bad battery, which is why I bought a new one from ebay.

This ebay battery comes from a seller who had a almost flawless feedback. 3 year warranty. But, the battery is not a geniune Apple battery.

Last time I posted a link to the actual product (not to sell but simply to ask the community what they thought of buying a battery from this seller), my account got flagged so let me know if you want to see the product and I can PM it to you.

Thanks Nick.

Is there anybody else that has any ideas about what could be wrong? Thanks.

xiaobao12 said:

Is there anybody else that has any ideas about what could be wrong? Thanks.

Click to expand...

The other idea I was going to mention is...according to this article:

Service Battery indicator in Mac OS X - OS X Daily

The "Service Battery" problem could be related to OS 10.6. The article mentions that Apple may replace the battery even for out of warranty computers (they will also do a quick test with some software they have to make sure the problem is the battery).

So you got to contact Apple (phone or Apple Store)...to see how they will handle it.

HTH,

- Nick

Another article with suggestions on how to fix the problem:

MacBook and MacBook Pro battery issues with Snow Leopard upgrade | MacFixIt - CNET Reviews

- Nick

Macbook Battery Problem...4 hours

Hello. I just bough a macbook but when it is fully charged at 100% it only reads around 3 hours. I have claibrated it but it is not any better. Is this a dud battery or do I need to charge it a few time?????