PB G4 15" Battery Insanity

[Seasought]

Last night while using my PB, it suddenly turned off. Upon connecting the power adapter I found that it hadn't fully shutdown and acted like it was coming out of sleep. I check out CoconutBattery and System Profiler and see that my maximum battery charge is now only 22% of what it used to be.

I have owned this laptop for a little under a month now.

I did some reading on the Apple forums and I think I'm going to take advantage of my 1 yr AppleCare and just ask them to put a new battery in it.

I have recalibrated the battery and when I normally use my PB I run the battery down until I get the warning, then plug in the adapter, rinse and repeat.

Am I overlooking anything here?

 

[grapes911]

The battery should not die this quickly. Call apple or bring it to the local apple store.


PS. Except when calibrating, there is no reason to run it down every time. Actually, this can be bad because the battery is calibrating every time you do this. Not that it is bad to calibrate it, but if you stop the charge while calibrating, you've messed up the calibration and have to do it all over again.


Edit: By the way, my PB is about 8 months old and still has 96% of the original battery capacity.

 

[Seasought]

The battery should not die this quickly. Call apple or bring it to the local apple store.


PS. Except when calibrating, there is no reason to run it down every time. Actually, this can be bad because the battery is calibrating every time you do this. Not that it is bad to calibrate it, but if you stop the charge while calibrating, you've messed up the calibration and have to do it all over again.


Edit: By the way, my PB is about 8 months old and still has 96% of the original battery capacity.

Thanks for the advice. I must admit I haven't successfully ran it down every time...I was so paranoid about the battery lasting and now look what happened.

I intend to head over to the Apple Store (located in a mall) that's about 10 minutes away from work. I just hope they don't give me the run around about installing a new battery and can swap in a new one and send me on my way within the hour.

 

[Sunrunner]

Thanks for the advice. I must admit I haven't successfully ran it down every time...I was so paranoid about the battery lasting and now look what happened.

I intend to head over to the Apple Store (located in a mall) that's about 10 minutes away from work. I just hope they don't give me the run around about installing a new battery and can swap in a new one and send me on my way within the hour.

If the Apple Store doesnt help you out: These days the extra capacity batteries are low-cost enough, you may want to consider just getting one of those. Then you can make your OEM battery an "emergency battery"

 

[grapes911]

I just hope they don't give me the run around about installing a new battery and can swap in a new one and send me on my way within the hour.

They will probably test. When my friends iPod died, they had to charge it and run it down while timing it. If it died with in a certain time period, the battery was covered by the warranty. I'm sure yours will be covered, but you'll probably have to wait for them to charge it and kill it. Plus, I'm not sure if they carry batteries in stock or not (they should).

Good luck.

 

[Seasought]

They will probably test. When my friends iPod died, they had to charge it and run it down while timing it. If it died with in a certain time period, the battery was covered by the warranty. I'm sure yours will be covered, but you'll probably have to wait for them to charge it and kill it. Plus, I'm not sure if they carry batteries in stock or not (they should).

Good luck.

Well crap.

If they won't simply do what I ask (swap out the battery for a new one) I should probably wait until the weekend so I'm not out of work all day. I would hope they wouldn't be averse to pulling one from a new PB they have in the back (I'd do it for a customer and have done similar things at previous employers).

As long as it works with the adapter plugged in I'm not complaining...until I can get the battery situation resolved.

Would any Apple store honor my warranty if I have a receipt on me at the time?

 

[Seasought]

If the Apple Store doesnt help you out: These days the extra capacity batteries are low-cost enough, you may want to consider just getting one of those. Then you can make your OEM battery an "emergency battery"

Are you referring to just buying another PB battery or something else in question? I'm open to the idea...do you have any links/names?

 

[grapes911]

If they won't simply do what I ask (swap out the battery for a new one)...

It's not that they won't do it, they just don't want to get screwed replacing parts that work. Any business would do the same.

Would any Apple store honor my warranty if I have a receipt on me at the time?

You shouldn't even need a receipt. They can scan the bar code on the laptop and get all your info. They can tell if you have warranty or not.

 

[grapes911]

Are you referring to just buying another PB battery or something else in question? I'm open to the idea...do you have any links/names?

While an extra bettery is never a bad idea, it will be foolish not to get apple to replace your current one.

 

[Seasought]

While an extra bettery is never a bad idea, it will be foolish not to get apple to replace your current one.

I agree.

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this with me, I'll update this thread with my results.

 

[grapes911]

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this with me, I'll update this thread with my results.

No problem. Hope all goes well.

 

[lieb39]

Just a FYI:

I have the same problem. After using my Powerbook for 4 weeks the battery just decided to last 20 minutes on a odd day. I went to the Apple shop, asked them about it, they just took it. I called them up the other day, they said they have ordered a new battery but hasn't come in yet. So I got my Powerbook back and now awaiting for the call that the new battery has come in.

It sucks but hey, it's free.

Cheers,

lieb39

 

[Seasought]

Just a FYI:

I have the same problem. After using my Powerbook for 4 weeks the battery just decided to last 20 minutes on a odd day. I went to the Apple shop, asked them about it, they just took it. I called them up the other day, they said they have ordered a new battery but hasn't come in yet. So I got my Powerbook back and now awaiting for the call that the new battery has come in.

It sucks but hey, it's free.

Cheers,

lieb39

Good to know I'm not alone out here.


I called a store that's a bit further away (better service) and they too said it isn't a problem and have a battery in stock they'll hold through the weekend. I asked if I could just have them switch the batterys without having to troubleshoot everything (I explained all the steps I took to figure things out) and they said 'no problem'.

So, I'll head over and get that tonight or tomorrow depending on when I get out of work.

 

[lieb39]

We're not alone, a couple of people have complained on the Apple support website: http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1034

Looks like my battery came in today. I'm off in this rainy weather.

Cheers,

lieb39

 

[Seasought]

We're not alone, a couple of people have complained on the Apple support website: http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1034

Looks like my battery came in today. I'm off in this rainy weather.

Cheers,

lieb39

Glad to hear it. Do post and let me/us know how things turn out. I wish it rained more in Arizona; I moved to the wrong state.

 

[lieb39]

I got my new battery & all is well. I checked System Profiler in store to make sure my Full Charge Capacity (mAh) was reasonable, which it was (4487.)

It may be a good idea to do the same. The capacity should be around mid 4000's.

Cheers,

lieb39

 

[LucT]

No problem. Hope all goes well.

Hi,

I guess you have the HD powerbook. The battery issue is a very commun one. Looks like Apple had a bad luck with a bad series of these new batteries.
Note that there is two models : A1078 is the old model, A1148 the more recent model that comes with the new PB generation. Both work with any powerbook 15" as I understood, but the calibrating process is a little different between the old and now powerbook model or battery. this is not 100% clear to me.
The new A1148 is mainly affected by the "early death" problem.

No lined screen ? No squeak sound when in safari typing ?

 

[grapes911]

Hi,

I guess you have the HD powerbook. The battery issue is a very commun one. Looks like Apple had a bad luck with a bad series of these new batteries.
Note that there is two models : A1078 is the old model, A1148 the more recent model that comes with the new PB generation. Both work with any powerbook 15" as I understood, but the calibrating process is a little different between the old and now powerbook model or battery. this is not 100% clear to me.
The new A1148 is mainly affected by the "early death" problem.

No lined screen ? No squeak sound when in safari typing ?

Are you speaking to me? I see no reason for you to be talking to me. I'm guessing you are talking to the original poster. It isn't polite to respond to one person and quote another. If you are talking to me, then no, I don't have a HD PowerBook.

 

[Seasought]

I got my new battery & all is well. I checked System Profiler in store to make sure my Full Charge Capacity (mAh) was reasonable, which it was (4487.)

It may be a good idea to do the same. The capacity should be around mid 4000's.

Cheers,

lieb39

Glad to hear it. I'll check mine in the store as well. I'll be heading to the store Saturday when the store opens.

 

[Seasought]

I managed to slip out of work for a bit and head to the Apple store nearby. Despite hordes and hordes of shoppers I was actually treated like a human being. A tech pulled me aside and said 'we can replace your battery it won't take but a sec...here's a new one, there's an adapter plugged in by the printers. Install it and power it up and I'll come check on things shortly.'

Long story short, I have a new battery...will recalibrate it once I get home in about an hour.

 

[Gokhan]

k

so can i phone apple explain problem and have them ship a replacement and keep the malfunctioning battery (only holds a hours charge) i am in the uk by the way

 

[Seasought]

so can i phone apple explain problem and have them ship a replacement and keep the malfunctioning battery (only holds a hours charge) i am in the uk by the way

I doubt they let you keep the malfunctioning battery (the guy at my Apple store kept mine to ship back to Apple). They'll probably make you ship your old one to them.

This is only my speculation though as I am not in the UK. I'm sure others here would know or you can just all them.

 

[Gokhan]

k

yeah i really wanna keep the battery as a backup one if i can any uk people who can shed some light on this ?

 

[iDM]

Battery Capacity low?

Hey everyone I didn't wanna start a new thread so I figured I'd post this question in here:

I got my PowerBook in September 2 years ago. I am running Coconut Battery right now and it says the Original Battery Capacity was 4200 mAH. It reads the current Battery Capacity is 1467. I was wondering if re-calibrating or really anything could raise this figure since the life of this battery is pretty damn low. Thanks for anyones help.

 

[kbonnel]

Hey everyone I didn't wanna start a new thread so I figured I'd post this question in here:

I got my PowerBook in September 2 years ago. I am running Coconut Battery right now and it says the Original Battery Capacity was 4200 mAH. It reads the current Battery Capacity is 1467. I was wondering if re-calibrating or really anything could raise this figure since the life of this battery is pretty damn low. Thanks for anyones help.

In the two years how much did you use the battery? If you used it alot, then it is to be expected that the battery will begin to not hold as much power. You could try a recalibration and see if that does anything.

Kimo