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Pfhor · Mar 14, 2003, 02:01 PM

My brand new TiBook worked fine till one day, it suddently shuts off without any good reason. Then impossible to restart it without AC Power. Now I can even use it on the battery. I heard that the 10.2.4 update can be the culprit. I called Apple Assistance and they will change my battery. The only thing is that... they're in shortage of PB battery !!!

Someone experienced the same pb ?

Pfhor.

Karim · Mar 14, 2003, 02:04 PM

Try resetting the powermanager. Go to www.apple.com/support and do a search on Powerbook G4 and reset power manager to find out how. It involves flipping out the keyboard and pressing a small button.

This may cure the problem. If your battery has an internal short it would also cause the problem your seeing.

Pfhor · Mar 14, 2003, 02:07 PM

Yeah I tried to reset the power manager twice but same result. What do u mean by "internal short" Karim ?

Pfhor.

Karim · Mar 14, 2003, 02:16 PM

Usually when batteries fail suddenly they develop an internal short. A battery is basically metal wafers with electrolyte in between. If the metal's touch by metal fragments coming off (which rarely happens) they short and the battery can no longer take a charge. This is way oversimplified but it is the just of battery failures.

CheesePuff · Mar 14, 2003, 02:19 PM

I am having the same exact problem since upgrading to 10.2.4. I thought it was just me until I saw this thread and the one on PowerPage.

Karim · Mar 14, 2003, 02:25 PM

Well if it is widespread and possibly related to 10.2.4, for the record my 1GHZ/SD PBG4 hasn't had any battery related problems with either of my batteries since upping to 10.2.4

trowlFAZ · Mar 14, 2003, 03:15 PM

So I have been following various 10.2.4 - Battery issue threads. Up to now I have only seen newer powerbook affected. Up to today, it has been working great. Now all of sudden, the battery won't charge up all the way. It says it is charged, but only shows 98 percent.

16 years with Apple and now stuck with two broken products - PowerBook Pismo and G4MDD that is noisy.

I hope this stuff gets worked out and very fast!

[email protected]

spacecadet · Mar 14, 2003, 03:43 PM

Yes my 2 month old Powerbook g4 just started having the exact same problem today. The battery was working perfectly before, but now the battry won't charge up and i can't even use the computer without the AC power plugged in. As soon as i unplug the AC, the power just goes out and the computer turns off (though my battery says it has charge!). It won't power up again unless the AC is plugged in. Anyone know what is going on?

I'm going to try and reset the PMU now.

Karim · Mar 14, 2003, 03:45 PM

The 98% issue seems widespread. I believe the cure is just let the battery drain down once and then recharge and it should go all the way to 100%.

Pfhor · Mar 14, 2003, 03:53 PM

To use (and startup !!) it once again on the battery, I removed the battery, put it on and then, all seemed normal. I can startup the PB and use it normally but... after a while, same problem again and again and again... :-(

Pfhor.

Voch · Mar 14, 2003, 04:11 PM

Originally posted by trowlFAZ:
It says it is charged, but only shows 98 percent.

Originally posted by Karim:
The 98% issue seems widespread. I believe the cure is just let the battery drain down once and then recharge and it should go all the way to 100%.

Is the 98% battery an issue? Take a look at the second post in this thread. Sounds like 95%-100% is "fully charged" when the machine is in use (the computer does that on purpose?).

Voch

PBG4 User · Mar 14, 2003, 04:23 PM

I have a Rev. A 500 and the battery still works fine under 10.2.4.

But this is still using the older batteries (lower W/hr rating).

[edit]
My battery charge goes up to 100% as well.

CheesePuff · Mar 14, 2003, 04:38 PM

This worked for me:

1) Shut down the PowerBook, but keep the AC adapater plugged in.

2) Take off the keyboard.

3) Locate the very small button that is at the top right part of th keyboard opening... right to the left of the Power button.

4) Press that small button and keep it pressed until you see the AC adapater light turn to a different color.

5) Turn on the PowerBook while holding the command-option-p-r keys all down.

6) Wait for the PowerBook to restart again automatically (should do this after 5 or so seconds from holding down the above buttons).

7) Let it start-up, and it should be fine.

jjtillery · Mar 15, 2003, 05:29 PM

I've got a new G4 (gHz - gig ram - airport -superdrive, 2 batteries, etc, etc)

Ever since I upgraded to 10.2.4 I can't recharge either battery...

Tried resetting the PMU, but same result. The battery shows in the menu bar, but never charges - stays at 0%.

Since my main purpose in getting a powerbook is to use when I travel quite a bit of its functionality is lost. I would be nice to be able to use in on the airplane again.

CheesePuff · Mar 15, 2003, 07:04 PM

Originally posted by jjtillery:

I've got a new G4 (gHz - gig ram - airport -superdrive, 2 batteries, etc, etc)

Ever since I upgraded to 10.2.4 I can't recharge either battery...

Tried resetting the PMU, but same result. The battery shows in the menu bar, but never charges - stays at 0%.

Since my main purpose in getting a powerbook is to use when I travel quite a bit of its functionality is lost. I would be nice to be able to use in on the airplane again.

Well if it is this serious then I hope that you have called Apple, right?