Please HELP iBook Battery Problem (OT)

Hank53935 · Mar 10, 2003

Just wondering if ANYONE can help me. I have a dual USB, Firewire iBook and I always keep it pluged in. The other day I noticed that my battery light on the bottom was flashing, like it was dead. My Computer says it's full but when I disconnect power it quickly shows 10 min.s of battery time remaining.

I let it drain down and plugged it back in. It started to charge! But wait, it didn't. Even though the status bar showed it was getting full again, the light still flashes on the bottom, and when unplugged, quickly goes down to 5 min.s or so.

I've tried a few other things but still can't get it to work.

I know this isn't quite the right place to post this (maybe a mac page would be better) I just really like the wealth of information I find here at dpreview.

Thank you so much for any and all help!

Hank

--
http://www.pbase.com/lumbardh

There's only two things you really need to fix anything, Duct Tape and WD-40. If it's supposed to move and it doesn't, use WD-40. If it moves and it's not supposed to, use Duct Tape.

Ken P · Mar 10, 2003

Lots of chatter on http://www.MacFixIt . about the effect of OS 10.2.4 Upgrade on iBook batteries. They say in part:

"Users affected by the strange bug that causes portable (PowerBook/iBook) battery capacity to quickly deplete after upgrading to Mac OS X 10.2.4 should investigate a replacement battery, according to reader reports suggesting that Mac OS X 10.2.4 can be safely installed with the new power packs. "

If you are running 10.2.4, this may be your problem.

Hank said:
Just wondering if ANYONE can help me. I have a dual USB, Firewire
iBook and I always keep it pluged in. The other day I noticed that
my battery light on the bottom was flashing, like it was dead. My
Computer says it's full but when I disconnect power it quickly
shows 10 min.s of battery time remaining.

I let it drain down and plugged it back in. It started to charge!
But wait, it didn't. Even though the status bar showed it was
getting full again, the light still flashes on the bottom, and when
unplugged, quickly goes down to 5 min.s or so.

I've tried a few other things but still can't get it to work.

I know this isn't quite the right place to post this (maybe a mac
page would be better) I just really like the wealth of information
I find here at dpreview.

Thank you so much for any and all help!

Hank

--
http://www.pbase.com/lumbardh

There's only two things you really need to fix anything, Duct Tape
and WD-40. If it's supposed to move and it doesn't, use WD-40. If
it moves and it's not supposed to, use Duct Tape.

--
Ken P

Hank53935 · Mar 10, 2003

Ken P said:
If you are running 10.2.4, this may be your problem.

Hank said:

Just wondering if ANYONE can help me. I have a dual USB, Firewire
iBook and I always keep it pluged in. The other day I noticed that
my battery light on the bottom was flashing, like it was dead. My
Computer says it's full but when I disconnect power it quickly
shows 10 min.s of battery time remaining.

I let it drain down and plugged it back in. It started to charge!
But wait, it didn't. Even though the status bar showed it was
getting full again, the light still flashes on the bottom, and when
unplugged, quickly goes down to 5 min.s or so.

I've tried a few other things but still can't get it to work.

I know this isn't quite the right place to post this (maybe a mac
page would be better) I just really like the wealth of information
I find here at dpreview.

Thank you so much for any and all help!

Hank

--
http://www.pbase.com/lumbardh

There's only two things you really need to fix anything, Duct Tape
and WD-40. If it's supposed to move and it doesn't, use WD-40. If
it moves and it's not supposed to, use Duct Tape.

Click to expand...

--
Ken P

--
http://www.pbase.com/lumbardh

There's only two things you really need to fix anything, Duct Tape and WD-40. If it's supposed to move and it doesn't, use WD-40. If it moves and it's not supposed to, use Duct Tape.

macFanDave · Mar 11, 2003

Did you let it overheat?

Once I left my iBook on the carpet and let Folding@Home run all night, when I picked it up it was the hottest I had ever felt it! After that, the battery couldn't hold more than a 37 minute charge!

I'm sure the overheating damaged the battery and I had to get a new one. Keeping your iBook on a hard surface is a must, leaving it on a carpet or a bed means lots of heat build-up which I believe can ruin a battery.

rustedborg · Mar 11, 2003

I left my Powerbook on the bed for a weekend while I was out of town.

When I came back I was amazed the whole thing hadn't melted.

I didn't initially attribute the battery power loss to the heat build up ... but I discovered shortly after that my Powerbook battery wouldn't stay charged for more than about half an hour.

macFanDave said:
Did you let it overheat?

Once I left my iBook on the carpet and let Folding@Home run all
night, when I picked it up it was the hottest I had ever felt it!
After that, the battery couldn't hold more than a 37 minute charge!

I'm sure the overheating damaged the battery and I had to get a new
one. Keeping your iBook on a hard surface is a must, leaving it on
a carpet or a bed means lots of heat build-up which I believe can
ruin a battery.

Nils Petter Dale · Mar 12, 2003

I don't think this covers your entire problem, but try to run down the battery , and then charge the battery with the machine turned off. Seems that the system can prevent the battery from getting fully loaded when you load it plugged in. Doing this gives me about 30% more time on my iBook.
Nils P

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Please HELP iBook Battery Problem (OT)

Hank53935

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Ken P

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Hank53935

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macFanDave

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rustedborg

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Nils Petter Dale

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