[meem]

So I Ive had my tiBook 1ghz since Nov 2002 recently I have discovered that my battery just cuts out at a reading a little below 60%. I say "cuts out" because there is no "your battery is on reserve power warning" or anything. it just goes to sleep and wont wake up till I plug it in. At which point the percentage reads 0% and climbs to 99% at a regular pace
(I havent seen it at 100 for a while)
I did the battery info thing in terminal and it reads IOBatteryInfo" = ({"Capacity"=3523,"Amperage"=1125,"Current"=3520," Voltage"=16720,"Flags"=4})

which is not great but ok for an old battery from what I gather reading post about battery capacity.I would drain the battery in the machine but since it just goes to sleep I never get the indication that it is low. I'm wondering id it is a software or other hardware thing. I did hit the PMU button while it was shutdown but nothing changed.

Any suggestions. I still have applecare on this bad boy but I'd rather not trek out to the Applestore if I can avoid it. (But i do love it when they give you things cuz they have to

[vdrummer]

hey, we're twins - I have a 1Ghz TiBook from Nov. '02 as well, and mine has the EXACT same problem - it goes to sleep without warning while showing anywhere from 10% to 25% power left. I'm also not sure if it's a battery calibration or other software problem, or maybe hardware - though using a different battery doesn't change things.

It hasn't been enough of bother to go spend time researching it on the web, and I don't have applecare for this machine so I haven't planned on calling apple tech supp about it - those are the only suggestions that come to mind.

[amazing]

Batteries only have so many life-cycles, so they go kaput faster if you've used them more intensely. Have you reset the PMU and the PRAM? Download XCharge to get a graph of your use.

Beyond that, you're better off with a Newertech battery than an Apple battery. Apple's no longer making batteries for the Ti so any that you find will have been sitting on the shelf for awhile, not good for a battery.

http://www.newertech.com/newer_bats.html
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/powerbook/batteries/

[threestain]

I've got the same problem, with an April 2003 TiBook.

Can people go through the resetting PRAM and PMU again (and what it clears) and the terminal battery command?

Cheers

[meem]

Well i went to the Apple store yesterday and the guy just gave me a new battery. He didn't really say anything about what would have been the problem. Ofcourse it was really busy at the genius bar so maybe he figured on an old computer it wasn't worth researching it. and just gave me a new battery on apple care. Capacity of new battery is around 4200 ( don't feel like checking exact number right now). It discharges and charges correctly. So now my powerbook is lasting around 3 hours doing light work internet and stuff instead of 45 minutes.

Now I gotta inspect my computer more to see if I can get anthing else replaced before Applecare runs out

[meem]

threestain

Zap PRAM: hold down Command+Option+p+r while computer is restarting before it bongs. after a couple start up bongs let go and you have zapped PRAM : it clears out boot setting stored in ram and forces compuer to reinitialize suff (what stuff exactly i don't know)

Reset PMU: with the computer off lift up the keyboard and on the right side closeest to the screen there is a little button. Hold down for 2 seconds with pencil eraser and let go. only do this once i've been told. this also forces computer to reinitialize but specifically rechecking power usage.

Checking Battery capacity in Terminal : see this post http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=187251

My explanation is all laymans terms as i don't know anything about how batteries or electricity works. I'm sure some searchs in the forum or google will give you more precise answers epecially as to what reseting PRAM and PMU actually does

[amazing]

Originally posted by meem:
Well i went to the Apple store yesterday and the guy just gave me a new battery.

Now I gotta inspect my computer more to see if I can get anthing else replaced before Applecare runs out

Applecare and the genius bar: Gotta love it. If you'd called online, they'd have told you that batteries aren't covered under applecare, they're consumables. Congrats!

Be sure and check the hinges. Take out the 2 screws per hinge and remove the plastic covering to check whether the hinges are cracked. There's no risk in doing this, simply replace everything without over-tightening.