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Battery life abysmal since upgrading to leopard

I have recently upgraded to leopard on my first gen 2.16 ghz Core Duo MBP. I noticed that I had significantly reduced battery life since this upgrade (from about 2-3 hours down to about 30-40 minutes), so I decided to check out the battery status with coconutbattery. I've been tracking the maximum capacity of the battery the last two days, and it keeps jumping up and down. on 11/07 it was at 37% (2089 mAh), so I decided to recalibrate the battery, thinking it may help. Just before recalibration, it read that I had a max capacity of 34% (1907 mAh). I let the battery drain overnight and charge this morning. I then checked out the max capacity, and it was at 28% (1542 mAh). About 10 minutes later, the max capacity jumped back up to 35% (1931 mAh). It seems really strange that this keeps occurring.

Below I have posted the contents of the battery section of Apple system profiler. I know I have a fair amount of battery cycles on this, but I don't understand why the battery life has gone down so significantly. I don't hear any fans whirring/drives spinning/etc. that would indicate a major drain of power. Is this something that could possibly be addressed with a 10.5.1 update, or would it be worth calling applecare to see if they'll replace my battery?


Battery Information:

Model Information:
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0003
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0400
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 712
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 1542
Health Information:
Cycle count: 639
Battery health: Fair
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -3327
Voltage (mV): 10591

Message was edited by: Kyle DePasquale

MacBook Pro 2.16 Ghz Intel Core Duo, Mac OS X (10.5), 1 GB RAM

Posted on Nov 8, 2007 12:03 PM

Reply
49 replies

Nov 8, 2007 5:00 PM in response to Kyle DePasquale

not that my reply will help, but I wanted to let you know that you are not alone. Since upgrading to Leopard, I too have had terrible battery life, 1 hour at max. I do not have many cycles (59) but my battery health consistently reads close to 40% and lasts at max an hour. I've had the battery replaced twice because it was bad (one being the recall). Hopefully we will bet some answers.

Nov 9, 2007 1:54 PM in response to Kyle DePasquale

I, too, have the same problem with a 9 month old MBP Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz, I just bought second hand. I'm trying to decide if the battery is bad or if it's a problem with the OS. Here is my info:

Battery Information:

Model Information:
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0003
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0400
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 1019
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 1035
Health Information:
Cycle count: 13
Battery health: Fair
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1894
Voltage (mV): 12168

Nov 9, 2007 2:35 PM in response to Kyle DePasquale

The reason you are getting such awful battery life is because you need a new battery! MacBook Pro batteries are rated for 300 cycles, most people can get 400 out of it. You are close to 700! Just spend $129 for a new battery and you will be back to getting battery life like when your computer was new. I upgraded to Leopard and saw no difference on my Macbook Pro and I have 35 cycles on my battery.
Also, based on the info you have provided, you are putting on almost 2 cycles per day! If you are near your power source, plug your laptop in. Plug it in if you can!

Nov 10, 2007 10:43 AM in response to Merged Content 1

Normally I'd agree with you about the number of cycles. However, having experienced the same issues described above with only 124 cycles, I'm not convinced. I checked my Full Charge Capacity prior to the upgrade and saw 4705 mAh. Now I'm sitting at 2038. It was lower prior to connecting the charger. Battery Health has dropped to Fair as well.

Here is the current System Profiler Information:

Model Information:
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0003
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0400
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 1185
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 2038
Health Information:
Cycle count: 124
Battery health: Fair
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 1346
Voltage (mV): 12521



The other key factor that I'm seeing in ALL of the cases here is 15" MacBook Pro 2.16 Core Duo.

Erik

Nov 10, 2007 1:37 PM in response to Kyle DePasquale

I have the same problem as the OP..my battery has gone from useable to POOR with the installation of Leopard...IMO, there is a major problem with the PMU and Leopard....this happened with 10.2 upgrade, if my memory is correct. So, until Apple fixes THIS bug, I'm gonna have to NOT use my $2K portable machine with the battery....***!!!

Battery Information:

Model Information:
Manufacturer: SMP
Device name: ASMB014
Pack Lot Code: 0001
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0102
Hardware Revision: 0202
Cell Revision: 0100
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 0
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 0
Health Information:
Cycle count: 96
Battery health: Poor
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12488

Nov 10, 2007 4:52 PM in response to Kyle DePasquale

Hi people

I have the same problem. Battery was great before Leopard, 93% health (istat nano, Battery health Monitor, Coconut Battery), and now its very bad. Here is my info:

Model Information:
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0003
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0400
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 3108
Fully charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full charge capacity (mAh): 3347
Health Information:
Cycle count: 46
Battery health: Fair
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 330
Voltage (mV): 12594

When I found out, because my computer went to sleep before it was its time, I had a battery health of 58%. Did a SMC reset. Suddenly, battery health went to 88%. During the next battery use the health dropped to 61%. Then to 58. Did another SMC reset. The health went to 80%, then right off to 51%. Right now it's at 61%. The strange thing is that whenever I connect the AC adapter, it says 45 minutes till complete charge, with 20% of charge in the battery. With 70% charge, still says 45 minutes, same with 95% charge....

So this is strange, I already bought another battery, but now I am afraid of installing and messing it up. This seems to be clearly a malfunction of some kind....

Nov 10, 2007 5:38 PM in response to Kyle DePasquale

I have noticed the exact opposite with my 15" MBP. I went from about 2 hours to 2 hours and 10 minutes, to well over 2.5 hours now. Full screen brightness, wi-fi, bluetooth, all enabled and heavy usage.

Before I upgraded from Tiger I was having lots of problems with both of my batteries, now they work better.

Sorry to hear about your troubles!

-Charlie

Nov 10, 2007 8:05 PM in response to Kyle DePasquale

Since it's a new OS, there probably was a rewrite to the power management code. I'm starting to think that for some reason this new code is working well for some people, and is working really badly for others.

Normally I'd agree about having so many cycles on my battery, however because I didn't have this issue when I had tiger (it was a very obvious change with leopard), and because coconut battery keeps changing what it says my max capacity is (it's now up to 40%) , that whatever code controls all of this definitely has some bugs that need to be worked out.

Hopefully Apple can at least check out this issue and at least see if there indeed is a problem with their power management code.

Nov 11, 2007 3:37 PM in response to ErikW

Here's an update following my trip to the Apple Store today. Although the Genius did not want to acknowledge Leopard as the culprit, but rather that batteries age, he did indicate that my battery was eligible for replacement under the 2006 MacBook Pro Battery Exchange program. I had checked previously and did not think it was eligible. So I went ahead and made the exchange. He did reset the Power Manager while the old battery was installed, which had no effect.

Here is the System Profiler entry for the new battery:

Battery Information:

Model Information:
Manufacturer: SMP
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0002
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0102
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0200
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 1954
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 5447
Health Information:
Cycle count: 1
Battery health: Good
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -2530
Voltage (mV): 11169



Obviously Full Charge Capacity of 5447 is much better than before. Also of note, the Manufacturer is SMP, rather than Sony, and of course the Lot Codes are all different. I am doing a full cycle right now, waiting for the charge to drop. So far, I've been able to work longer with the 33% charge it came with than a previous full charge. All good news so far.

The replacement battery has a 90 Day Warranty, so I'm going to watch it closely to be sure Leopard's Power Management does not negatively affect the new battery.

Erik

Nov 12, 2007 3:34 PM in response to dbarnw

I am also having this problem. Here is my battery info, I'm not sure if I qualify for a replacement.

Battery Information:

Model Information:
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0003
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0400
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 2056
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 2387
Health Information:
Cycle count: 148
Battery health: Fair
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1789
Voltage (mV): 11774

Nov 12, 2007 8:29 PM in response to catch2205

catch2205:

I'd recommend running the System Profiler to see if you have a similar profile as those of us who experienced the problems. Also, check the battery exchange, as I was unaware that I qualified. Previously I had checked, but it wasn't until I was sitting at the Genius Bar with the battery problem did I learn that I qualified. So far, performance has improved. Full charge on the new battery is hovering at 5456.

I guess I feel like the issue is partially Leopard, and partially the particular battery when exposed to Leopard's power management software.


Erik

Battery life abysmal since upgrading to leopard

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