[jmatero]

When the HECK is Apple going to fix the false "Low Battery" warning in OSX? My iBook warns me at 60% that the power is running low and then it shuts off WITHOUT the warning when it DOES run low. This has been going on since 10.2 on my 700mhz iBook and there is STILL no fix. I shocked that nobody on the boards here mentions it much!

[Vanquish]

maybe it's only a problem on your computer, lighten up.

[MUGlover]

You mentioned 10.2, which does have some issues with battery life. An upgrade to 10.2.1 should improve things. If not, it might be just your computer and Apple's phone support on batteries has been very helpful.

[MartiNZ]

Hmm this is an annoying issue, and it was happening all the time on my 600MHz on 10.2 through 10.2.2 - but only when waking up from sleep. It would just bring up the warning and let me carry on regardless. I never had it go comatose unexpectedly.

Haven't had long enough to test if this happens on my 800 - had actually forgotten about the issue. But I'd be surprised if it was so hardware related, actually. Mind you, the 800 wouldn't properly install 10.2 - I tried taking it from my bought CDs after having a few issues with the included 10.2.1, but the installer came up showing only 640x480 of the screen, in the middle, and stayed that way until I reinstalled 10.2.1.

So they've obviously made some changes, and maybe the fault was partially that of the battery, and could have been fixed. We'll see.

[babynino]

I tell you guys that after i have upgraded from 700mhz to 800mhz iBook 12" a week ago, the low battery warning still showed up. It happened after i wake up the iBook from its sleep and still at 65% battery life. Well its no big deal to me yet, if it does affect the battery perfomance then ill bring it back to the Apple Store.

[MartiNZ]

Well I said we'll see, and we have now seen. It still happens on my new 800 combo... hopefully it will be fixed before too long - maybe in the 10.2.3 that maybe before Christmas .

[Captain Obvious]

Originally posted by Chris Gilpin:
Not a problem with my iBook (500 though)

Well it is on mine but it happens around 20-something percent. And its not the battery because I have two and it happens with both.

[fibroptikl]

It's probably due to OS X.2 or some sort of bug. I don't have that problem, but out of the 40 hours I've used my computer, all but 2 of those hours were on AC current.

[diamondsw]

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106991

The problem is that when you wake from sleep, very often OS X will report that the battery is low, when it in fact is not. I saw this on my old Pismo and on my new iBook.

The algorithm is designed so that once the alert is displayed once and acknowledged, it never shows up again until the computer is plugged in, or it goes to sleep due to the battery draining the whole way down. Essentially, as far as OS X is concerned, you were warned, so why warn you again? So if you get the warning erroneously (I've seen it at 60% charge, for instance) and aren't plugged in, then the computer won't warn you at all until it goes into forced sleep to protect memory contents. Not nice.

[bleee]

This problem still exists on 10.2.2 I experienced it this morning I have a late 2001 iBook.

[dcmacdaddy]

Originally posted by MartiNZ:
Hmm this is an annoying issue, and it was happening all the time on my 600MHz on 10.2 through 10.2.2 - but only when waking up from sleep. It would just bring up the warning and let me carry on regardless. I never had it go comatose unexpectedly.

Haven't had long enough to test if this happens on my 800 - had actually forgotten about the issue. But I'd be surprised if it was so hardware related, actually.

Happens all the time on my 800 running 10.2.2. I wake it from sleep and the message will pop up when the battery is showing anywhere from 20% - 60% battery life remaining. Only thing I have noticed is that if the laptop is not in a warm environment, say if I use it immediately after walking home from work in 30F weather--I carry it in my backpack--it occurs much more frequently. I wonder if the battery and/or charge indicator is extremely temperature sensitive.

Just my $.02

[Guido]

I too have lost virtually all batter life after upgrading to jag. 10.2 (now up to 10.2.2). I've read other discussion on Apple's forums and there are MANY others complaining of the same problem with no solutions being offered.

The only solution that seems to have worked is one guy spending $130 for a new battery.

Has anyone SOLVED the problem short of buying a new battery?

[Eug]

Happened to me both on my iBook in X.2 and my TiBook in X.2. I dunno if it's an issue in X.2.3 because I haven't had it long enough to say.

[babynino]

Argh! Hoping that somehow the 10.2.3 will fix this issue, but it didnt. Ived downloaded and installed the huge 10.2.3 update yesterday and yet when i woke up up my iBook from its humble sleep this morning, the battery warning showed up at 40% battery life. Oh well, I guess this bug is still here to stay Again not much issue for me, FYI only

Oh and my iBook will be replaced today Since ived upgraded to the 12" 800mhz last week, ived noticed that the bottom of the LCD screen has a white horizontal glow which is very noticeable when im watching DVD's and the sleep light is not glowing right, more like red than white and doesnt glow that bright. On my way to Apple Store in a while to get a new unit yahoo!!

Happy Holidays!!

[jwblase]

I'm glad I looked here, because my wife's iBook has been having this same problem. I didn't believe her at first, until it happened to me when I was borrowing the 'book yesterday.

Unless the iBook is plugged in, the battery drains unacceptably fast (at least that's what the battery indicator on the battery itself says), and then, without warning... *blip* it goes into sleep because the battery is "low".

However, if I restart the computer, it's fine!

I read somewhere that this could be a power manager issue. On the old powerbooks, there was a way to reset the power manager. Is there a way to do that on iBooks?

JB

[mjarski15]

Originally posted by jwblase:
I'm glad I looked here, because my wife's iBook has been having this same problem. I didn't believe her at first, until it happened to me when I was borrowing the 'book yesterday.

Unless the iBook is plugged in, the battery drains unacceptably fast (at least that's what the battery indicator on the battery itself says), and then, without warning... *blip* it goes into sleep because the battery is "low".

However, if I restart the computer, it's fine!

I read somewhere that this could be a power manager issue. On the old powerbooks, there was a way to reset the power manager. Is there a way to do that on iBooks?

JB

You can reset the power management on the newer iBooks. There is a KB article on Apple's support page. Sorry that I don't have a link but just search under 'Power Management' and you will find the article. I noticed a little dip in my battery life so I tried resetting the power management and it seems like everything is okay again, but I don't know if it is a placebo effect.

I think that it is also strange that only some people get the Power warning bug while others don't (I don't, lucky me) using the same machine with the same OS. I am NOT implying that it isn't happening but how is it happening? Anyone else confused on this like I am?

[jwblase]

Alright: I zapped the heck out of the PRAM, and reset the power manager several times. Let's see how that handles it!

JB

[jmatero]

Apple is aware of this issue.... in OSX 10.2.... ibooks and some powerbooks will display "you are running on reserve power" message when waking from sleep with under 70% power remaining. There is no current fix and resetting the PRAM and Power Management has no effect. There is a knowlege base article on this issue:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106991

The article clearly states:

Symptom: You see an alert box with a message that says "You are now running on reserve battery power," but your battery still has ample charge. This usually happens when waking from an extended period of sleep, or after unplugging the AC adapter.

Products affected:
* Mac OS X 10.2
* PowerBook computers
* iBook computers

Solution: The message can be safely ignored if the battery status indicator shows adequate battery power. Under normal circumstances, the warning would not appear until you were down to approximately eight percent.
This document will be updated as more information becomes available.

[jtc]

Originally posted by jmatero:
Apple is aware of this issue.... in OSX 10.2.... ibooks and some powerbooks will display "you are running on reserve power" message when waking from sleep with under 70% power remaining.

It's not just under 70%, it can happen at almost 100% on mine.