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marsbt · Sep 17, 2007, 11:26 PM

Hi,

Hi I started my Macbook Pro today and noticed that the battery indicator shows 0% capacity. But the computer kept on working without going to sleep. After using it for about 15minutes, the screen went very very dim so that I could only see the outline of a window. I closed all apps and rebooted the machine now with the power adapter plugged into it. It is still showing 0% battery charge and below is the section for Power in System Preferences

Battery Installed: Yes
First low level warning: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 4060
Remaining Capacity (mAh): 0
Amperage (mA): 3190
Voltage (mV): 11949
Cycle Count: 80

Has anyone seen this before with a Macbook Pro? My MBP is a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 processor with 1GB of RAM bought in April end 2006. Any help will be highly appreciated. Thanks.

Simon · Sep 18, 2007, 03:15 AM

Is your battery properly seated? What do the battery LEDs indicate?

marsbt · Sep 18, 2007, 08:36 AM

Yes, it is properly seated. I left the MBP running overnight and now it says 99% full. This is also something that doesn't feel right. Whenever I charge it, it goes only to 99% and not till 100%. Is it normal for a battery with only 80 cycles used up? The charge capacity is much lower than earlier (around 5400). And I do let the battery drain about once per month as recommended for calibration.

Battery Information:

Battery Installed: Yes
First low level warning: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 4060
Remaining Capacity (mAh): 4005
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12465
Cycle Count: 80

marsbt · Sep 18, 2007, 09:36 AM

On searching apple.com for battery issues I found this Apple - Support - MacBook and MacBook Pro Battery Update and the battery does seem to show reduced full charge capacity. Do you think apple would replace it? I'm still trying to get it to 100% though.

Simon · Sep 18, 2007, 01:43 PM

Yep. Your battery is toast. According to Apple it should retain 80% if its capacity within the first 300 cycles. Yours is far worse after only 80 cycles. Call Apple. They will send you a warranty replacement for free.

marsbt · Sep 18, 2007, 02:20 PM

Thanks Simon for the reply. I think that earlier on (when I got the free replacement battery) the full charge capacity was about 5200 or 5400 (can't remember exactly). Does apple say somewhere what the value should be?

I noticed the same problem a couple of months earlier too and called up Apple Support. However, the Apple Support guy was unwilling to talk any further about the issue after I gave him the serial number and he saw that its been over an year I bought this MBP and didn't buy the extended warranty. But according to the MB & MBP battery replacement page they do say that batteries are covered for two years if they show any of the 4 defective behaviours they list. The guy insisted on going to an Apple service center or Apple store if I didn't want to pay $50 for the support call

I got busy after that and only noticed now that the issue still remains.

Plus the charge never goes to 100% when charging and the green light comes up on the charger at 99%.

At present I am draining the battery for calibration and will see how it goes by tonight and how much is the max charge capacity tomorrow morning.

tinkered · Sep 18, 2007, 08:32 PM

If you are making a claim against the warranty you should not need to pay for the call. Simply explain you are making a warranty claim up front. I don't know what the warranty is on the replacement battery, you need to look it up and find out if it is still covered. If the warranty is expired and you have no applecare (as I would assume based on your posts) a support call will do you no good, as they will tell yo buy a new batter, which you can just do without their $50 advice.

Here the link for Apple's MBP 15" battery: The Apple Store (U.S.) - Rechargeable Battery - 15-inch MacBook Pro

marsbt · Sep 18, 2007, 09:32 PM

tinkered: yes, I was making a claim about faulty battery which Apple says is covered 2 years after the MBP purchase.(see link for battery update I gave above). However, the support person was adamant that I will need to setup a support ticket and that would cost me $50.

Update on the MBP: I used the MBP to drain out the battery. During that process I noticed that the full charge capacity returned to around 5115. Now it is sleeping after its charge went to 0% since the last 4.5hrs. I will start charging it in another half an hour and see how much charge it has when done and update here later.

Simon · Sep 19, 2007, 03:30 AM

Originally Posted by marsbt

Thanks Simon for the reply. I think that earlier on (when I got the free replacement battery) the full charge capacity was about 5200 or 5400 (can't remember exactly). Does apple say somewhere what the value should be?

On all of the new 15" MBP batteries I've seen it's around 5400 mAh.

marsbt · Sep 19, 2007, 10:59 AM

another update

I left the battery to drain and the MBP slept for about 7hrs. Then I charged it overnight. Now the battery indicator says 99% and the system information shows the following:

Battery Information:

Battery Installed: Yes
First low level warning: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 5226
Remaining Capacity (mAh): 5185
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12500
Cycle Count: 81

Although the Full Charge Capacity has come up to an acceptable level, the battery still does not charge to 100%. Is that normal?

I think I will monitor the battery capacity for another few cycles and see if it stays above the 5200 mark.

dimmer · Sep 19, 2007, 03:06 PM

Hmm, I doubt any software tool (even combined with hardware support) can actually tell a 100% charged battery from a 99% one. May Apple should use 20 rounding?

If your battery is "toast" it'll be obvious, but I'd hate to be the genius bar guy/gal meeting you with "It only goes to 99" issue. Maybe they have one in back that goes to 110?

marsbt · Sep 19, 2007, 10:21 PM

I'm not being a prick here. I am just stating what I have observed. Since the last few months charge applet does not go to 100% and neither does the Power section in System Profiler indicate that it has gone to the Full Charge Capacity. And I didn't ask Why, I just asked Is that normal?

About the rounding part, it is already done in the charge applet to withing an integer.

And just in case you are a so called "genius" bar guy/gal -- too bad, you don't know how to provide solutions to customers because that is their job.

tinkered · Sep 20, 2007, 12:57 AM

marsbt,
I am sorry to hear that a Apple support person tried to bilk you out of $50 for a warranty call, which is ridiculously and I am sorry to hear it happened to you. I would try calling back and manipulating the call to your needs. Here are some suggestions:

1) ask to be transfered to the manager until you meet some who can process your warranty claim for free.
2) say that a "genius" at your local apple store told you that your battery was the problem, but because the store was closing you couldn't finish processing the warranty request.
3) Finally read the apple warranty to the person (http://images.apple.com/legal/warran...puwarranty.pdf). Nothing more frustrating to a phone rep than a person politely rereading the warranty. You are not rude, so they have no cause to hang up, but if you rebuff every thing the rep says with a complete reading of the warranty they will want to quite, or give you what you want.

I hope my suggestions help. I learned them from the most irritating people I know (who often get what they want). Good luck.