Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

rodrigo_la · Sep 18, 2003, 05:44 PM

Sorry guys but have a bit of a problem. I just bought a 'Clamshell' iBook from an ad on Craig's list. This is my first Mac in like 5 years and my first laptop ever so I'm trying to get used to it. It didn't come with any instructions so I'm reaching out to you guys for help.

The battery when I bought this computer seemed to be dead so I ordered a brand new one (well, one that works like new). I cannot figure out the status and this one also seems not to charge up.

Here's what I got: I plug in the AC adapter. The ring around where the AC plugs in turns green when I turn on the computer but amber once it boots up. The battery icon on the top right (next to the clock) has a lightning bolt going through it and the battery status on the control strip does too, but the gra bars indicating how much charge is left are all gray. I turn off the computer and after about a minute the ring around the AC turns green. I unplug the AC and the computer won't start up unless I plug the AC back in.

Any suggestions? What does the lightning bolt mean? Is that normal? let me know. Maybe its just something stupid I'm doing.

I thought it was a deal at $200, even though I was told I would have to replace a broken CD-Rom drive. I have now bought a CD drive (which I havent installed yet) and a new battery but not much luck yet. Anyway, any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

arclight · Sep 18, 2003, 06:01 PM

The lightning bolt means it's charging. The green light around the AC adapter indicates power and when it turns amber it's charging. You have to charge the battery for a few hours before you can use the laptop without an adapter. When the light turns back to green, it's finished charging.

rodrigo_la · Sep 18, 2003, 06:17 PM

Thanks for the reply. hmm... the interesting thing is that the ring IS green when the power is off. Well, I think I'll let it sit for 2-3 hours and then see what it does. Even if its not fully charged the battery level should show higher on the control strip right?

rodrigo_la · Sep 18, 2003, 08:10 PM

Well, now I started the iBook up again and had a red 'X' through the battery icon. I unplugged the AC, and naturally, it shut down. I plugged it back in, powered up and now it has the lightning bolt over the battery icon again, but the time is reset. I'm going to try to leave it on and re-charge and see what happens. Could this have to do with the clock battery out? Any suggestions out there?

BTW- I am running os9 on an iBook 366.

chabig · Sep 18, 2003, 10:08 PM

You might be interested in these two Apple articles:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58450
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449

Chris

rodrigo_la · Sep 20, 2003, 02:42 PM

Thank you Chris. That seemed to be the most promising solution yet. Although at first I couldn't find anything called Battery Update 2.0. It turns out Apple re-named it Battery Reset 2.0. Anyway The symptoms described in that article were exactly the ones I was experiencing. Alas, it did not fix my problem. Its wierd, the battery gets recognized when I first turn on the iBook (plugged into the wall, of course) and moments later loses it. The icon goes from the chargin lightning bolt to a red X over the battery.

I'm going to try to open the thing up and see what I see, but I'm quickly losing hope. If I can't fix it myself there will be an iBook being sold for parts on ebay soon.

rodrigo_la · Sep 20, 2003, 10:21 PM

ANother quick update-- I'm wondering now, could it be my on-board battery at fault? When I leave the computer unplugged the clock resets itself. Maybe this could result in the internal chip monitoring the battery usage to not work? What do you guys think? Where's a good place to buy those?

chabig · Sep 20, 2003, 11:53 PM

I don't know if that could cause your problem, but it's worth a try. You can probably buy those batteries at any computer store.

Chris

ccsccs7 · 12:10 AM

Originally posted by rodrigo_la:
ANother quick update-- I'm wondering now, could it be my on-board battery at fault? When I leave the computer unplugged the clock resets itself.

Well, there is no internal battery. The main battery is used. When it is removed, a small capacitor keeps the clock setting for 10 seconds.

chabig · Sep 21, 2003, 09:20 AM

Good catch. It didn't occur to me that these don't have batteries on the motherboad.

Chris

tooki · Sep 21, 2003, 07:28 PM

Did you reset the Power Manager as instructed in document 14449?

tooki

rodrigo_la · Sep 22, 2003, 02:44 AM

Yes, Tooki, I did do the Power Manager reset. Now that the clock battery option is out, I'm really out of ideas.

You know what sucks about all this? I've really come to like this little laptop. It's a great computer and exactly what I need for school right now. It's just not very portable and that defeats the whole purpose, doesn't it?

OK- one more idea, just so they won't say we didn't try

. Could it be that the 'new' battery that I ordered is just not working? That I just got two bad batteries in a row? Here's what I think suppourts this hypothesis:

1) Battery #1- The battery that came with the computer doesn't have all the problems listed in this thread. What I mean is, it doesn't switch to the 'X'ed out battery icon or anything like that. The battery icon comes up and just sits there with a little red line way at the bottom. No lightning bolt, no red X. Just the battery icon. The battery level on the power strip is always depleted but it shows up. When I plug in the AC plug and try to charge overnight, the ring around the plug always stays amber. It never charges, but that would indicate a dead battery so far right? OK.

2) New battery- the one I ordered online. This one is the one that causes the ring to turn amber and immediatley green when I try to charge, and the one that switches from lighning bolt icon to red X icon and has the battery level on the power strip disappear on me. Of course it also never charges.

So now a new question- how could I test these two batteries in a control environment? Maybe take it to a repair shop, I guess huh? I'm just really apprehensive about spending any more money just because I'm on a studen't budget and because I don't want this machine to become my own personal money pit.I dunno. Anyway, let me know what you guys think.

ccsccs7 · Sep 22, 2003, 04:44 AM

Originally posted by rodrigo_la:
So now a new question- how could I test these two batteries in a control environment? Maybe take it to a repair shop, I guess huh? I'm just really apprehensive about spending any more money just because I'm on a studen't budget and because I don't want this machine to become my own personal money pit.I dunno. Anyway, let me know what you guys think.

You could try taking it to the Genius Bar at an Apple store. Here's a link where you can find one near you (maybe).

chabig · Sep 22, 2003, 07:48 AM

Or just call Apple. The new battery must be covered by a warranty.