Dead battery

[Caezar]

The battery of my 12-inch G4 1.5 Powerbook seems dead. The problems started a few weeks agao, when after just 20 minutes of usage, the powerbook would suddenly shut down. At restart, the clock would be reset.

Now it is even worse. The power indicator is always "Calculating...". The powerbook shuts down immediately when I pull the power adapter's plug. In short, the battery cannot even provide 1 second of power to my powerbook.

I did some research on this forum and found a link to another thread with detailed instructions on how to reset the PMU, the PRAM and the NVRAM. I followed all the steps, an yet nothing works.

I ordered a replacement battery, but it takes weeks to arrive (I am in Taiwan). Is there anything else I can try to revive my battery?

Caezar

 

[OutThere]

It could be your power manager has gone kaput...which would mean a replacement battery wouldn't do anything either.

You'll have to wait and see. Could just be the battery, otherwise, you'll have two batteries that don't charge and it'll be time to send your computer in.

 

[Caezar]

It could be your power manager has gone kaput...which would mean a replacement battery wouldn't do anything either.

You'll have to wait and see. Could just be the battery, otherwise, you'll have two batteries that don't charge and it'll be time to send your computer in.

Aie... Do you have an idea of the cost of repairing/replacing the PMU if it is the culprit?

Caezar

 

[Caezar]

Aie... Do you have an idea of the cost of repairing/replacing the PMU if it is the culprit?

Caezar

Apparently, the Powerbook 12" DVI does not have a separate PMU board. If I have to replace the logic board, it will cost me 700USD at the very least. This is infuriating.

How comes I see so many posts on this forum with people having similar PMU problems with the Powerbook and the Macbook? I would assume that after all these years, Apple figured out a way to produce reliable laptops...

 

[OutThere]

Well before passing judgment wait to see if your new battery works...

 

[Eniregnat]

...You'll have to wait and see. Could just be the battery, otherwise, you'll have two batteries that don't charge and it'll be time to send your computer in.

I had the same thing go wrong, it was just the battery. It went bad very quickly. It had hundreds of cycles on it, but what finally killed it was a bad AC adaptor. It wasn't making a good connection, so it would charge for a second, turn green, disconnect, etc... I got a new AC Adaptor and a second spare battery, and everything went fine. The AC adaptor was damaged when my laptop fell onto the ground while plugged in. It damaged my HD, and my Ethernet port.

There is a bit of irony here, I had to wait 2 weeks when I bought my computer for my spare battery. It was made in Taiwan.

 

[Littleodie914]

Yep, same thing with one of our older clamshell iBooks. It would mis-calculate how much juice was left in the battery, and die with about 15-20% left. A replacement battery from Apple or even a good third-pary company like NewerTech should fix things.

 

[Caezar]

Well before passing judgment wait to see if your new battery works...

I received my replacement battery today and, to my relief, it solved the problem. Now I am puzzled why my original battery died after only one year of use. I owned several laptops in the past (IBM, Dell) and they held up pretty well.

Besides the originl Apple and NuPower batteries, what are the other choices for the 12inch Powerbook G4?

Caezar

 

[d wade]

I received my replacement battery today and, to my relief, it solved the problem. Now I am puzzled why my original battery died after only one year of use. I owned several laptops in the past (IBM, Dell) and they held up pretty well.

could have been a factory problem? ive had laptops before and they last years. coulda just been a problem with yours. glad to hear your new one is ready to go