[e_x_blofeld]

hi there,

after a plethora of issues with my macbook a new one arose...
instead of going to sleep when the battery is low the computer shuts itself off.
I get the low battery warning, though.

Specs:
Macbook 2 GHz
2 GB Ram

System is 10.4.8
EFI Update Installed


Does anyone have an idea ?

[Hi I'm Ben]

Originally Posted by e_x_blofeld 

hi there,

after a plethora of issues with my macbook a new one arose...
instead of going to sleep when the battery is low the computer shuts itself off.
I get the low battery warning, though.

Specs:
Macbook 2 GHz
2 GB Ram

System is 10.4.8
EFI Update Installed


Does anyone have an idea ?

Oh sweet, yours gives you a warning? Mine just shuts off. ... not a battle I'm willing to fight about though.

[d_oob]

check out:

http://forums.macnn.com/66/ibook-and...mly-turns-off/

Starts with talking about RSS but goes into my experience with Battery getting to about 20% then shutting off without a low-battery warning.

[e_x_blofeld]

yeah, well,

but mine gives me the low battery warning, though.

[d_oob]

Does it shut off right after the warning, while giving the warning or a little bit after you click OK? If any of those, it is the same thing that I am experiencing.

[jesrae]

Ok, I think I've figured it out. Your MBs are NOT in fact shutting down. Or rather, they are going into safe sleep and then shutting down, but before they do that, they record the current state of everything so that when you plug back in and it wakes up, all will go back to normal. However, it may take a couple of minutes of charging before it will wake back up, so it might seem like a shut down that requires a restart. Try just plugging it in and waiting next time.

[d_oob]

Interesting. Are you sure it is going into safe sleep? Does the white light on the front 'snore'?

I am going to try this out next time I unplug. Still, why no warning? And why at 20% or 8%? Why not 1%? It does seem like a software problem. I hope there is a really solid update coming soon because I'd really like to use my 'Portable Laptop' portably as in charging it up, unplugging, and using it anywhere in the house I damn want to. I hate feeling like I am ruled by the unknown of the stupid battery dying on me.

Till I i figure out what's going on or till they update us with some real firm ware, BOO APPLE !

[Simon]

It's easy to find out if it's going to safe sleep or shutting off. If it boots from scratch it had previously shut off. If it wakes and shows a gray screen, then some dots (like a progress bar) on the bottom of a grayish see-through kinda screen it's waking from safe sleep.

[Hi I'm Ben]

Originally Posted by jesrae 

Ok, I think I've figured it out. Your MBs are NOT in fact shutting down. Or rather, they are going into safe sleep and then shutting down, but before they do that, they record the current state of everything so that when you plug back in and it wakes up, all will go back to normal.

No, It's definitely shutting down. Mine did it without warning while I was typing notes for a class. There was no "waking it up" when I plugged it in. I had to actually turn it back on. The computer had turned off.

[Simon]

What do your batteries show after this happens? Are there one or two lights left on or is it only one light that blinks fast?

[Hi I'm Ben]

Originally Posted by Simon 

What do your batteries show after this happens? Are there one or two lights left on or is it only one light that blinks fast?

Yep.

This behavior is completely different from my iBook. The iBook would warn me it was going go to sleep, then eventually just cut to sleep mode. Where after plugging in it would turn back on and everything was okay.

This is not the case with the MacBook (although mine is busy getting a logic board replacement as we speak). The MacBook displayed no warning of low battery and just instantly shut off.

[jesrae]

OK, I had been told that the safe sleep would sometimes go into a real shut down, but with my new replacement battery now I'm getting warnings again and it's going down to 1% charge before going into sleep and waking up on its own when plugged back in. So yeah, to anyone with this problem, bring yours in and ask for a replacement battery.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Hi I'm Ben 

This behavior is completely different from my iBook. The iBook would warn me it was going go to sleep, then eventually just cut to sleep mode. Where after plugging in it would turn back on and everything was okay.

Well that is the way it should be on the MB as well.

For you guys that are suffering from sudden shutdowns due to an empty battery, try this:
• reset the PRAM (boot holding cmd-opt-p-r and wait till it reboots)
• reset the SMC (shutdown, remove AC power and battery, press and hold power button for 5 seconds, put battery back in, reboot)
• recalibrate the battery exactly the way Apple says (Mac Help > search for "calibrate macbook battery"), no shortcuts here!

In my case the MB now properly goes to sleep when the battery is run down. As soon as AC power is attached I can wake it. There are no more sudden shutdowns.

If it doesn't do the trick for you, either the battery is toast (get a replacement from Apple) or it is a software issue with either 10.4.8 or the last firmware updates. I have this feeling that it could be software. I guess we'll see. Has anybody convinced Apple to send out a new battery due to these issues?

[acoustix]

When you leave your MacBook and it first goes to the screen saver and then goes black, and the front white light is on constantly (not slowly going on and off like when it is sleeping) what state is that called that the computer is in?

[Simon]

Originally Posted by acoustix 

When you leave your MacBook and it first goes to the screen saver and then goes black, and the front white light is on constantly (not slowly going on and off like when it is sleeping) what state is that called that the computer is in?

That's no special state. It's just that display sleep has been activated. Settings for this are in Sys Prefs > Energy Saver > Sleep> "Put the display to sleep when the computer is inactive for:".

The front light is on to indicate that the computer is on and awake. With the display off, there would be no other way of telling.

[e_x_blofeld]

too wrap it up:

my macbook shuts down approximately 5 to 10 minutes after the "your battery is empty, yadda, yadda" warning appears. No sleep, no safesleep, infact: the "sleepimage" file ins /var/tmp does not get changed. resetting pram / power manager does not change a thing.
however if i use a friend's macbook battery sleep works normal again.

i called the apple support morons, and first they made me give them my creditcard number, because the 90 day telephone support has expired! on explaining this was a warranty issue the guy said, this might well be but in order to confirm this he has to do the "troubleshooting" with me, which costs money...

then he insisted that i install the smc-update and this would fix my problem... yeah right.
now i have a louder macbook which still shuts down on an empty battery.

because i did not want to wait on the phone until the battery was depleted, i have to call again today...

i will keep you posted.

p.s.:

sigh, what happened to thoroughness and sanity in these forums .

here is what i wrote:

instead of going to sleep when the battery is low the computer shuts itself off.

here is what jesrae says...

Ok, I think I've figured it out. Your MBs are NOT in fact shutting down.

wow, cool thanks for coming over and fixing it, oh, wait.... it still shuts down

[Hi I'm Ben]

Originally Posted by e_x_blofeld 

too wrap it up:
then he insisted that i install the smc-update and this would fix my problem... yeah right.
now i have a louder macbook which still shuts down on an empty battery.

I brought my computer into the Apple store (for the seventh time) about my flickering screen yesterday. The guy looks at it and sees I have to install the firmware update.. he goes "Oh! There it is! That's it!" I say "I'm not comfortable calling that the problem" So since I refused to leave till it happened -- and of course it happened he sent it out for a new logic board or something.


Funny thing is... i had a VIDEO recorded that i put on the desktop showing exactly what my screen was doing. He completely ignored that fact and wouldn't really do anything until he saw it in person. Quite irritating considering I had already brought the computer in for this problem previously.

[jesrae]

Originally Posted by Simon 

Well that is the way it should be on the MB as well.

For you guys that are suffering from sudden shutdowns due to an empty battery, try this:
• reset the PMU (boot holding cmd-opt-p-r and wait till it reboots)
• reset the SMC (shutdown, remove AC power and battery, press and hold power button for 5 seconds, put battery back in, reboot)
• recalibrate the battery exactly the way Apple says (Mac Help > search for "calibrate macbook battery"), no shortcuts here!

In my case the MB now properly goes to sleep when the battery is run down. As soon as AC power is attached I can wake it. There are no more sudden shutdowns.

If it doesn't do the trick for you, either the battery is toast (get a replacement from Apple) or it is a software issue with either 10.4.8 or the last firmware updates. I have this feeling that it could be software. I guess we'll see. Has anybody convinced Apple to send out a new battery due to these issues?

I did all of that, except for recalibrating the battery (impossible when your MB shuts down instead of going to sleep). Still shutting down. Went to my local Apple store, got my battery replaced and am now a happy camper. Particularly happy actually, since I'd already worn my original one down to 75% of its original capacity in the first 5 months. Don't know if that has anything to do with anything, but a nice fresh battery is excellent.

[jesrae]

Originally Posted by e_x_blofeld 

too wrap it up:
sigh, what happened to thoroughness and sanity in these forums .

Sorry, my bad. I was talking to someone very knowledgeable about the same problem, which I've been having, and they explained that at a certain point it would seem like the computer was actually shutting down, not sleeping, hence the confusion. I've realized they were wrong though, since like I posted above, now that I have a new battery, mine is behaving normally.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by jesrae 

I did all of that, except for recalibrating the battery (impossible when your MB shuts down instead of going to sleep).

Actually it's not at all impossible. The recalibration process works just fine even if the thing shuts down. If it shuts down because the battery has run fully down that's fine. The calibration process just needs to run the battery completely down.

[acoustix]

Originally Posted by Simon 

That's no special state. It's just that display sleep has been activated. Settings for this are in Sys Prefs > Energy Saver > Sleep> "Put the display to sleep when the computer is inactive for:".

The front light is on to indicate that the computer is on and awake. With the display off, there would be no other way of telling.

Thanks Simon...

[e_x_blofeld]

ok, update:
they will send me a new battery.
this will help i hope

[d_oob]

Tried the PMU reset. Tried resetting SMC. Then tried running the battery down again... at 20% it went off. NOT deep sleep, NOT sleep, OFF. How do I know it wasn't sleeping or out brusing its teeth? No snoring light on the front. Plugged in power and waited a few minutes then tried to wake it up - press spacebar, press trackpad button, press anything. Nothing. So I pressed the power button. 'Bong!' It starts up. So it wasn't sleeping. It was off. At least it is semi consistent. At around 20% (although I've been able to get it down to 8%) it will shut off while on battery power alone. No there wasn't a green blinking light on the battery when it shut off. There were no lights on. I had to press the the battery button several times before I got 1 light to show.

I am going to bring this down to the Apple Store, making sure I have about 30% battery power left and then showing it to the Genius person, make them watch as the battery slowly drains, and prove to them there is something wrong. Maybe all I need is a new battery like Jesrae ended up getting. We'll see.

[d_oob]

What is this?:



First low level warning? What is it and How can I turn it on?

[Simon]

IIRC is changes to 'yes' when your battery has run down almost entirely and the system gives you the low battery warning.

[d_oob]

Ok thanks for clearing that up. I was thinking this had to somehow do with why I wasn't getting 'Low-Battery' warnings.

[bernt]

Just to clarify one thing. The Intel Macs havn't got a PMU anymore, but SMC instead. So apple+alt+p+r does not reset PMU, but PRAM.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by bernt 

Just to clarify one thing. The Intel Macs havn't got a PMU anymore, but SMC instead. So apple+alt+p+r does not reset PMU, but PRAM.

Yeah, stupid typo on my behalf. Cmd-option-p-r has always reset the PRAM, not the PMU of course. I corrected it in my original post.

[frdmfghtr]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I think my question pertains to the topic.

My C2D MacBook shutdown last night after I feel asleep watching a DVD and the battery ran down to 0%. When I plugged it in this morning and hit the power button to restart, it rebooted normally, instead of waking form SafeSleep.

Do you have to wait a few minutes after plugging your MacBook in to wake up from SafeSleep?

[sideus]

My 3 month old Macbook (black) does not go into sleep after the low battery warning. At 0% the Macbook shutsdown completely instead of going into sleep and I lose all my work. Is this battery related or software?