[cnladd]

I've got a problem here that I'm just _hoping_ someone else has figured out (since I can't!)

First off, I started having the low battery power issues a few months back -- typically about 20 minutes or so. I was still under warranty, so I got a replacement battery. It worked great.

Now, my iBook is out of warranty, and I never purchased AppleCare (I modded the hardware, and I'm reluctant to pay for AppleCare when there's a huge chance they'll refuse to support me.)

Anyways, my new battery is only two months old. Lately, the little "screw thingy" that holds my battery in has gotten a bit loose. About two weeks ago, I pulled my iBook out of my bag and the "screw thingy" had gotten turned, and my battery fell out of my iBook. It didn't hit the floor or the desk or anything -- I caught it right away -- but it just fell out from the laptop.

Before I go any further, let me state that I _always_ keep my iBook on. When I'm in transit, I just shut the lid and let the iBook go to sleep. It's always powered on, and I usually have applications running. So, obviously, the battery falling out brought my iBook down, as well.

Well, ever since then, I've been having this really funky battery issue. My battery was fully charged before it fell out. Now, you know where those four lights are that indicate power level? Just one (the bottom one) is lit -- and it stays lit. When the battery is plugged in, the iBook says there's no battery installed (battery symbol with an "x" on the menu bar.)

For the life of me, I can't figure out how to fix this. It seems like the electronics in the battery are messed up somehow, but I can't figure out a way to "reset" it. The obvious answer is to wait for it to run out of power -- but that one little LED isn't going to reduce the power by much at all, so I'll be waiting for awhile. And, with this battery being so new, I'd rather not have to buy a new one, if I don't have to.

I've also tried all of the PROM and Power Manager resets that I could, all to no avail.

So, does anyone have any ideas on the best way to fix this? I'm going out of my mind here, not being able to use my iBook without the power cord. Any help would be seriously appreciated!

Thanks!


--
Nate L

[akuma-x]

Well if you find out how to fix this please make sure and post the info here.
I just got a new battery from apple after my other iBook battery died a slow death. now tonight I was working w/ the AC plugged in and all of a sudden it shows that I have no battery in the menu bar. I tried to reset the PMU and I get no LED lights on the battery it's self. the thing is before I reset the PMU I could run off the battery even thou it said there was none. but after resetting the PMU if I try and run off the battery the machine just dies.

I think I have about had it w/ this ibook.
I have had almost every issue so far. It will be a year next month that I have had the ibook and I have had the below work done on it.

AC adapter : just stop working- replaced (1st month I got it)
Logic board and other parts : screen would go black if you moved the machine - replaced (4th month I had it)
Battery : slowly died - replaced (started dyeing @ 6 months. had it replaced last month)

Now the new battery I just got less than a month ago is giving me this ****.

Grrrrrr...

[-Q-]

This was posted the other day over at Macintouch (July 9th if you want to read the posting fully):

[Rob Wyatt] I'd like to share a recent experience with my iBook (white, dual USB, 600mHz). I hadn't used it in a few weeks and when I turned it on, the battery was completely dead. I booted up the machine and was very surprised to find that the battery wasn't even recognized. There was a little "X" over the battery icon in the menubar (OS X 10.2). I attempted to re-seat the battery, zap PRAM (using the key combo upon startup), and reset the Power Manager. Nothing worked. So I called tech support and they had me do all of those things over again. Finally they agreed to send me a new battery.
In the meantime, I decided to try one other thing (after reading about iBook battery issues somewhere online). I booted into Open Firmware and typed "reset-nvram", followed by "reset-all". Surprise, surprise...my battery came back to life and recharged fine. Too bad Apple tech support didn't tell me to try this!
I figured I'd share this experience in case anyone else out there is having a similar problem.

To get to open firmware, just restart and hold down 'command' and 'option' and the 'o' and 'f' keys.

HTH.

Q

[akuma-x]

I just tried that right now and no luck.
I still have a dead battery.
I think I might just have to call Apple about this.