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Urgent assistance needed for a MBP Battery (Health) Please

A

ABernardoJr

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 19, 2006
364
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Before anybody accuses me of not searching this situation, believe me, I did search. Found a few responses that were sort of relevant, but my MBP's case seems pretty extreme compared to others.

I have had this computer for a few months and today I check to see the battery and it shows the icon saying it's fully charged at only about 34%?! I have calibrated it before, but honestly not as much as I should have, but still. Then, I unplug the charger (which is glowing a pretty dim green, not as bright as it should be and it's green at 34% ???) and it goes to sleep or goes to a black screen. Plug it back in, press the power button to get it up, and it shows the battery's charged full (the icon at the top right) but it is only at 0% this time! After looking at iStat Pro, it says the charger's plugged in, been through 109 cycles, it's "Calculating" the battery life still (been doing this for minutes now), the charge is at 0%, and the Battery Health is at only 15%. I'm confused. I'm beginning to think my dog getting a hold of the charger tip (where it plugs into the MBP) had a big part in messing it up. I don't know when it started either. Looking at the charger, it has a few scuffs, but I'm not sure if plugging it in like this would really drop the battery's health down to 15%?

The notebook runs with the charger plugged in, goes to a blank screen (off/sleep) when it isn't. Just noticed this now.

I'd definitely appreciate any insight upon this situation. I don't have any idea what the problem is. I was thinking of maybe re-calibrating it, but I'm not sure if this would work as the battery seems drained as soon as I unplug it. Maybe leave it off for the 5 hours or so? Or will this not help the battery health at all? Last time I checked the battery life (not even sure when though), it was around 98%-100% though. Is a new battery needed? A new adapter perhaps? Please help with this as soon as possible.
Thanks in advance.
 
First of all, do you fall into this recall? Link

If not...

Trying to calibrate certainly wouldn't hurt. Follow the normal procedure as best as possible. ...Although I doubt this is your problem.

Did this happen suddenly or gradually?

Chances are, you'll need to call Apple Care. They may choose to replace the battery or charger (or both).
 
Bring it in to Apple. If it's a manufacturing problem and it's under warranty they will replace it. Otherwise test it with someone else's battery/charger.
 
Thanks for the replies, I think I'll try to calibrate it or something and see if there is any change after the morning. I'll let unplug it, let it sleep/shut off, and leave it like this for a while. I hope something can fix this. I had a pretty serious problem with my iPod also before but somehow reworked my way around it and got it up and running myself, however I feel this may unfortunately not be so easy. I'll try to check the battery later if it matches the serial numbers of the affected batteries if things don't change, and will probably contact Apple if all else fails.

BTW, this did happen suddenly as far as I know. It seemed fine last time I really looked, then I checked and it was strange. Another thing is the adapter seems to glow the dim green when it isn't even plugged into the notebook. I don't recall if it's supposed to show any light when the adapter is unplugged, but it is for a while now.

P.S. If things turn very unfortunate, would it be needed that I send in the whole notebook to get it fixed or would I only need to send in the battery/charger or both? Or maybe take the whole set into the Apple store somewhere in San Diego?

Thanks for the replies here, I'm glad that this place still has helpful people like I recall from the past that I've consistently seen.

EDIT: Also looked at some of the hardware info of the Mac and read a few things just as background information maybe to help others help me out more. It says the full charge capacity (mAh) is 833 but the remaining mAh is 0, the Amperage mAh is 0, and strangely it says the AC Adapter is indeed connected, but for Charging it says No. Not sure what the thing is that is disrupting the notebook/battery's ability to recognize it being stuck at a 0% charge and supposedly draining I think?

EDIT again: I unplugged it, clicked the trackpad to see if it was sleeping to wake it up and it woke up. Running at 0% still, showing the empty red battery icon, and the health is now at 14%. Great. It says 0:00 time is left remaining, not sure how long this notebook will keep running without any supposed "battery power."

I'm beginning to think the battery and notebook are having some issues concerning the recognition between the two with how much battery power is really left and how much it says on the computer (not even just through the iStat widget, just checked through the System Profiler app). This computer has been on for about 10 minutes or so on its supposed 0%. Very strange, since its still working fine.
 
Apologies for this additional post, but the last was getting full and I have more information.

I installed the coconutbattery app, and its reporting the battery to be 1 yr old, having originally 5500 mAh and now having 819 mAh as it capacity. Its current battery charge is -1 mAh.

Does anybody know if this kind of problem can be reversed, whether it be through new batteries or via sending some parts or something in to Apple? This machine isn't dead is it? I mean it is still functioning now, apparently even into the negative (-) range of battery power. lol
 
Hiya,
Hmm.. seems you are indeed experiencing some odd problem, i'm curious have you tried resetting the MB/MBP PRAM? I don't know about newer laptops but older PowerBooks did store some information on the PRAM. It's worth a try i guess, I can't imagine it'll do any harm.

Oh, regarding you Magsafe adapter..
When it's unattached from your MB/MBP the LED should be off completely. Glowing Green when it's fully charges and Orange when it's charging.
 
Alright, just turned it back on and nothing is better. The health is now a 4%, still at a -1mAh charge while the adapter is plugged in. I did try resetting the PRAM earlier, no luck. I'm not sure what to do, I have limited computer access for a while so I'm trying to figure out how to solve this before it goes dead. Maybe taking it into the Apple store in San Diego today might help, but I don't know if I have a warranty still going with it or not.

Does anybody have any information about themselves taking something in for a battery/adapter issue with their notebooks? I don't want to walk in and feel dumb for going there when I should have done something else. Or perhaps does sending in the battery to Apple work (with the adapter included)? Please help with this, it's very important. :( Thanks for the help already though and thanks in advance for future help.
 
I've been searching and still haven't found any direct solution. Thinking about taking it into an Apple store, but I don't know the procedure in doing so. Do I need to call in first? Can I just walk in with it or something? Sorry for asking questions right after another, but this is pretty important for me. This Mac has been pretty well for me up till now, and I can't simply buy another one any time soon.
 
You'll want to set up an appointment at the Genius Bar at your local store to have them look at it. Find your store here and click on "Reserve" under "Genius Bar" near the top left to see available time slots.
 
Alright, thanks for helping also. A quick question though, and I apologize if this is common sense but I'm unsure about it now. Do you need a warranty to be able to really get any possible replacements or anything while making a reservation for the Genius Bar? I should still have a warranty that we bought from the authorized reseller that extends it to 3 years, I'm not sure what the details are about the warranty exactly though.
 
You say you've had it for a few months, so it should still be under Apple's standard one-year warranty if you bought it new. You can punch in the serial number here to see what coverage Apple thinks your machine has. Regardless, you don't need warranty coverage to get a Genius Bar appointment...the initial visit should be free, and then the warranty status just determines whether Apple covers any repairs or you need to pay for them.

It sounds like the reseller probably supplied their own extended warranty program, in which case you'd have to go through them once the standard warranty expires.
 
^ Many thanks for the link, just checked worried that the warranty with Apple expired (I think I've had this notebook for around a year or a few months short) although I am pretty sure we extended the warranty with the authorized reseller (not at an Apple Store but on base in San Diego), and the warranty is estimated to last until February 2nd, 2008, which is pretty great as it gives at least a month of time to possibly walk in with it to the Genius Bar and hopefully get the warranty in effect to replace or fix whatever is the problem without any real warranty confusion.
 
ABernardoJr said:
^ I am pretty sure we extended the warranty with the authorized reseller (not at an Apple Store but on base in San Diego), and the warranty is estimated to last until February 2nd, 2008,
Click to expand...

Batteries are only covered for 1 year. It's a different warranty than the hardware applecare warranty you extended. But if you have had the battery for less than a year and it has less than 300 cycles on it (which it does) then you should be able to waltz in to an apple store and they will give you a new battery :)
 
I gotcha, my bad. I phrased the situation poorly with the last post. Meant to say that we extended the warranty with the reseller (did not get the Apple Care I think, so the warranty from them would not be listed under the Apple link wildcowboy posted), but despite the warranty being extended through a different store, the original one-year warranty that Apple includes with all their products is still active for us.

With the CoconutBattery app, I think it says the battery is 12 months old, but I must have bought the notebook (new) well before than since the warranty goes until next February. It's well below 300 cycles also.

The battery should still be covered right? This notebook is apparently still under warranty with Apple for the standard 1 yr they include, so it should be fine I hope? lol
 
Again, I apologize for replying consecutively, but I have some interesting update with the battery. I just plugged in the Adapter and it's glowing orange (charging) for the first time in a while, so something somehow changed with the battery. However, it's still at 4% health and although it's charging and says it would take about an hour and a half to charge, it's been at 0% for a while. I'll still have to take it in to the Apple store (Genius Bar), but I still don't see how it started "charging" all of a sudden. Too bad it's still a weak battery. :(
 
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