[cross-posted this on Apple's boards, but for those who don't visit there regularly]
From what I seen, reading dozens of messages on these and other boards, there are at least three/four camps of people having problems (ignoring PB users):
*iBook users running OS 9; it appears that people in this category often have success with solutions that don't work for other users.
_____*iBook users running 10.2.4-10.2.8; there has been a recognized problem with late versions of Jaguar draining batteries and not charging right. Most of these users don't have their problems fixed with resetting the power manager, etc. New batteries sometimes help.
_____*iBook users who installed the "Battery Update." I didn't even know this existed, but apparently it introduced problems for many who hadn't any before. I'm not sure, but I think this was intended to cure problems for those in the late-Jaguar category.
_____*iBook users running Panther. Appear to have same types of problems as the late-Jaguar or Battery Update users. Resetting power manager, conditioning the battery, booting into Open Firmware don't seem to cure the problem. Some report that new batteries work just fine; some begin to experience the same problems with their new batteries.
OK, like many here the battery on our 4-year old original model iBook (300Mhz? i don't have it turned on at the moment) has recently started draining rapidly and being quite finicky in its recharging--charger plugged in, computer seems to see the charger, light is orange, but just doesn't charge; also doesn't consistently turn green when fully charged. Up to a month ago, we had been running OS 9.1, but I decided to upgrade it to Panther to "cure" some problems my wife has been having while web surfing (read: Microsoft letting IE languish without updates for YEARS).
Things were going alright until about 4 days ago. I'm not sure if there's simply a kick-in period for these battery issues, or whether it's related to my installation of the Safari 1.2 update (can't imagine that can be at fault). However now we've got all the problems noted by so many users.
This has been a great computer, with no real problems over its 4-year life span. We are on our third Yo-Yo adapter (one original--started to fray and spark; second from a friend getting rid of their iBook--started to fray; third, purchased right from Apple in August 03).
Sort of around the same time the battery problem started developing we noticed that depending on the position of the adapter plugging into the computer, the charging indicator may or may not illuminate at all. Even the smallest joggle, though, would make it start to light.
What is unique in our case from all the other accounts I've read is that I've noticed now that joggling the plug can actually change the brightness of the charging indicator ring. If it's just plugged in and orange, the computer sees the adapter but doesn't charge. Playing with it will make the light glow brighter, after which it appears to begin charging normally. Has anyone else noticed this? I'm not sure if this is common to most cases and people just don't notice, or whether this is our problem alone.
I haven't tried the PRAM, Open Firmware, or power manager resets in part because most people running similar OS/set-ups to ours have found it doesn't work. I'd like to know if others have this problem because i want to know if and how to invest our money for repairs, because...
*it could be a battery issue. We've had our original battery for the entire 4 years we've had the computer, and command-line tests does show it has pretty low capacity currently (only over 1000). Most people appear to have already replaced their batteries once or more than once by this point in the iBook life cycle (we also never properly conditioned our first battery). I'm willing to do this, but there are those who note that new batteries have been affected as well.
_____*it could be a power adapter issue. I hesitate to this believe this, though, because our situation is like that of too many others whose adapters have been fine. I'd also like to think that our August 2003 adapter would not by this point have any problems--especially since we've treated it quite well.
*it could be a software issue. Many have reported that modern batteries can just suddenly discharge without warning. We also know, though, that software can affect battery life (i.e. the 10.2.4+ battery firmware death issue). Perhaps some of the same code from these two instances is present in Panther and is continuing to cause problems, but perhaps just for iBook owners. This makes sense given the number of users posting that these problems have developed after installing Panther.
I know that there are users with problems, but who do not have Panther. I'm willing to believe that they are suffering from related but different problems (as shown by the fact that some have found relief in solutions that don't appear to work for Panther owners).
I'd like it to be a software issue, because that is of course the easiest to fix: just install a free software update. Of course, we have to wait for Apple to realize the problem and release the update--and one is never quite sure how long that would take.
What's probably best in the short time is gathering as much detail as possible about our circumstances to see if we can trace down just what we all have in common that might be leading to our problems.
Feel free to respond and let me know if you don't fit in the categories above, or if there's something unique about your situation (i.e. my battery charge indicator brightness issue).
--Matthew Roberts
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