[ValVashon]

The clamshell iBook that I got recently on eBay came with a battery that I thought was completely dead and unable to be recharged. I had an idea that the iBook sat for a long time without being powered or used, so the battery went dead.


I just bought a very slightly used battery from the moderator of this board (Gametes?) and it arrived partially charged. When I put it in the iBook it gave the life as about 7 1/2 hours, and the lightning bolt came on.

With the original battery, the iBook would recognize if the battery was in there or not, but the lightning bolt indicating charging never came on, except for once when the charging bars said 2 and the battery life was about 34 minutes or something like that. After I shut down and restarted, the battery again indicated that it was dead.

I decided to give the new battery a good soaking since I figured that it was partially drained anyway, so I unplugged the power connector and left it on (set to not sleep) overnight. This morning, the iBook was off, and upon starting it up I got the "you did not shutdown properly" message, and it had lost the name of the CD that I had left in the drive.

It now doesn't seem to be charging the new battery. If I unplug the power connector the screen immediately dims and I get the "reserve power" message. The control strip indicator shows no "battery level" and the lightning bolt comes on for a few minutes and then goes off for about five minutes. I just restarted with the set of extensions that has the "battery updater" in it, so I will see if that will help.

How long does it take to charge a battery and should the lightning bolt be flashing on and off? Do I need to be shut down for the battery to charge? The iBook has been on/sleeping/plugged in all morning and I have seen no evidence of the battery level increasing.

Has anybody else experienced this problem? Is this the "bad charging circuit" problem that I have heard about? What's the fix?

Val

[Macrat]

You might try giving this a shot:

From the Apple Knowledge Base

[ValVashon]

Thanks- I forgot to mention that I tried that already. Plus, when it is on "reserve power" it still shows 37 minutes (and sometimes more) of time left. I just went ahead and bought a new "charging board" on eBay.

Val

[ValVashon]

So- the new charging board did not fix the problem. The charging indicator still cycles from the "Plugged in" icon to the "lightning bolt" icon with no real evidence of charging, using the new, formerly charged battery. The DC voltages as measured from pin #1 (ground?)-
pin 2- 12.36 v; pin 3- 13.5 v; pin 4- 13.5 v; pin 5- 16.5 v; pin 6- 16.8 v. These measurements are taken with a battery in the circuit and the adapter plugged in and the iBook on. This indicates to me that charging voltage is present. These voltages are about the same regardless of which charging board is in the circuit.

Is this some sort of logic board problem? This machine also does not boot from the OS 9 CD.

Could anybody else confirm these voltages? As you look from the bottom of the iBook, pin #1 is on your right. Put your positive lead (yes that's right) on pin #1 and measure from there. If you scoot the battery away from the connector a bit the pins are easy to hold a lead against.

Did I drain the new battery so much that the iBook can't recharge it? Anybody in Seattle with a Clamshell want to get together so I can try my battery in your machine?

Val