Macbook (black) 13'' - "Replace Battery Now"

Hello everyone,

So I left my Macbook on by mistake for a period of days. I knew it had no charge so I plugged it in, but now instead of the light turning orange, it stays green and doesn't charge at all. The status on the battery says that I must replace it now.


Up until yesterday, my battery has been very good, I bought it in 2007, and it has gone through ~550 charge cycles. I was also under the impression that letting it lose its charge completely and then charging it back up was actually necessary for maintenance. Also, the computer does recognize that the battery is connected.


So do I have any hope of getting the battery to work again? I did some research and saw that I could reset the SMC, but I think that only applies to batteries that aren't recognized by the computer. If I have no hope does anyone know of a place to buy a battery that is cheaper than the $130 that apple offers?

Thanks everyone,
Dave

Dave250 said:

Up until yesterday, my battery has been very good, I bought it in 2007, and it has gone through ~550 charge cycles.

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What does "very good" mean? Very good is not a good way to describe a batteries "health"...give us some numbers...such as (on average) how much runtime that battery would get on a full charge (hours & minutes) during your "regular" computer use.

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

What does "very good" mean? Very good is not a good way to describe a batteries "health"...give us some numbers...such as (on average) how much runtime that battery would get on a full charge (hours & minutes) during your "regular" computer use.

- Nick

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I would say that it would last 3-4 hours easily. I could take it to school and not have to bring a charger and it would generally last the entire day with me browsing the internet and using Microsoft office.

Dave250 said:

I would say that it would last 3-4 hours easily. I could take it to school and not have to bring a charger and it would generally last the entire day with me browsing the internet and using Microsoft office.

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I see...3-4 hours is a good amount of runtime. It's not a good idea to let a battery rundown to completely zero charge (like seems to have happened with your laptop's battery).

Usually with Apple laptops (when the charge gets really low), the laptop usually shuts off automatically (before the battery is completely dead). Also...if your laptop had it's "sleep" settings set to the "automatic" default settings...it would have gone to "sleep" after 15-30 minutes of non-use...which would have helped a lot.

If your battery:

- did get run down close to zero or all the way to zero (since it most likely eventually went to sleep due to a very low charge in the battery after being left on & unattended)
- considering that the battery was certainly not new (~550 charge cycles)
- and the longer it was left in this "dead battery" state before being plugged back into the electricity

...the greater the chance that this battery has possibly/finally bit the dust!

As far as a new battery...Apple seems to sell the best. You can try buying something cheaper on e-Bay...but you may wind up getting what you pay for. Cheaper price many times = cheaper/lower quality battery.

HTH,

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

...Cheaper price many times = cheaper/lower quality battery.

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Or a fire in your living room

I've just had a similar problem with mine and i'm not sure what the problem is.

I left my macbook closed (therefore, asleep) without the charger plugged in accidentally and then went on holiday for a week!

I came back last night and now the magsafe adaptor status light stays green at all times (although the LED has been sporadic at best recently), the battery status says 0% and when clicked on says "battery not charging".

my system profiler gives these readings under power:

Battery Information:

Model Information:
Serial Number: DP-ASMB013-358f-8c1f
Manufacturer: DP
Device name: ASMB013
Pack Lot Code: 0001
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0102
Hardware Revision: 0300
Cell Revision: 0100
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 0
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 0
Health Information:
Cycle count: 1816
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -2
Voltage (mV): 8880

my macbook is quite an early one and has certainly has been hammered as i'm a design student. Has my battery finally given up?

I have been waiting to buy a mac book pro at christmas and i start my new masters course in just over a week

I'd say you got your money's worth out of that battery. At 1800+ cycles you've managed roughly a 5.5 cent cost per cycle.