MacBook Pro suddenly turning off completely @ 75% battery power...

Question

Level 1

0 points

MacBook Pro suddenly turning off completely @ 75% battery power...

Hi all,

Over the past few days, my MBP has been turning itself off completely whenever the battery power drops to about 75% of capacity. There are still three (or sometimes four) lights showing on the bottom of the battery in these cases, but there just doesn't seem to be enough power left to restart the machine - if I try to restart it, it dies again after just a few seconds.

If I plug in the AC adaptor I can restart normally, whereupon the on-screen battery meter still shows around a 75% charge. This is confirmed with System Profiler and iStat Pro too. However, if I unplug the power adaptor, the computer will shut down completely again within a couple of minutes. My cycle count is currently at 473 and my battery health usually shows at around 70-80% (although it did drop to 43% recently - it's now back up to 73%).

I am currently running Tiger 10.4.11 with all the latest updates (including the battery ones), and the problem did seem to start after I installed the last Security Update. This seems to be similar to problems others have mentioned on here, but with slight variations. Does anyone have any clue what's going on? Can it be fixed without a trek to a Genius Bar?

Maybe I'll take it into my local Genius Bar and ask them to have a look anyway. I'm still having a problem with a HDD-like grinding noise coming from under the left speaker grille too (I posted a question a while back about that), not to mention that the finish is peeling off under the left Option key!! Unfortunately my MBP is now 18 months old and out of warranty, but I certainly don't expect these kind of problems from a premium laptop brand.

Admittedly my battery is fairly old now, but it's still showing decent health and capacity, and was working absolutely fine until just a few days ago. Even if I charge it all night, it still shuts the computer down completely at about 75% charge. Does anyone have any idea why my battery's suddenly gone crazy?

Thanks a lot,
Rob.

MacBook Pro 15, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Aug 29, 2008 8:03 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Aug 29, 2008 9:33 AM in response to RobUK001

They will most likely tell you to purchase a new battery. You may have a faulty cell in there that drops out, leading to the sudden power offs. Typical lifespan of a Li-based battery is 400-500 cycles.

Reply

Answer 2

Aug 29, 2008 12:37 PM in response to RobUK001

I too have just started the exact same problem with my MacBook Pro 15". In fact I really am cheesed with it, I'm using my G3 Blue & White to post this message.

I bought my MacBook in March 2007. My battery get's to 60% before turning off. You try and boot up again without connecting the battery and the furthest you get is the Mac "bong", and it turns off again. I have just downloaded CoconutBattery to review my settings, I can see that there have been only 136 LoadCycles since I have had the Mac.

I know there was an update not so long back but what did it do? Has this had something to do with it?

Like you, I am not happy, you pay top dollar for a machine that claims to "just work", yet prior to this laptop I had a dell laptop that was 5 years old, and it was 2nd hand and the battery never let me down once. It also had a good life span too.

Message was edited by: austin1100

Reply

Answer 3

Aug 29, 2008 1:31 PM in response to austin1100

I have just tried to recharge my battery.

I get up to 88% on the current the charge, the power adapter LED then starts flashing between green (fully charged) and Amber (charging).

Any thoughts? Or is my laptop just past it?

Reply

Answer 4

RobUK001 Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 29, 2008 3:50 PM in response to austin1100

Funnily enough, I bought my MacBook Pro in March 2007 too. I'm sure it's something to do with the last update I downloaded though - my battery always worked absolutely fine until just a few days ago, and then this problem started very suddenly.

The weird thing is, this is not the way batteries usually die. My 12" Powerbook's battery did eventually give up after about three years, but all that happened in that case was that it just took less and less of a charge until even a full 100% charge only lasted about six or seven minutes before I got a low battery warning. My MBP battery still shows a 75% charge when the computer dies - if it was just an 'ageing battery' problem, why would it shut down completely and not give a low battery warning first? Why would both the on-screen display and the battery lights still show such a high charge level? Also, it seems that even people with much newer computers (and/or batteries) have reported similar problems.

It's interesting to read other people's experiences, anyway. A laptop in this price range really shouldn't be 'past it' after less than eighteen months. Obviously technology moves on and they become outdated, but they shouldn't start to self-destruct! Other manufacturers' hardware certainly seem to last much longer than this (I've still got an HP laptop that's five years old, and it works as well as ever!).

Cheers,
Rob.

Reply

Answer 5

treve

Level 1

0 points

Sep 1, 2008 1:12 PM in response to RobUK001

i have the same problem with my mbp 17". the charger light alternates between green and amber when approaching full charge and i've been getting the same sudden power offs (no low battery warning).

i'm going to run software update (need to clear for hard drive space first) and see if that helps.

Reply

Answer 6

ibrandt

Level 1

4 points

Sep 15, 2008 11:35 PM in response to RobUK001

I'm getting the same symptoms as the original poster with the battery that came with my 2.4Ghz MacBook Pro (purchased 12 months ago). I get down to 48%-50% and then the laptop powers off without warning. No reserve power dialog or anything. It's repeatable--happens every time.

I'm on the power adapter most of the time, so I'm not sure exactly when it started. It was at least after July as I took a flight and got through a whole DVD no problem. I clearly remember it draining down to forced sleep mode shortly after the movie.

When the computer quits the battery's on-board indicator has two solid lights left. CoconutBattery says I've had 47 load cycles on this battery and it's down to 88% capacity.

I tried SMC reset and PRAM clear to no avail. I'm writing this on the newer battery I bought before that flight (only 2 load-cycles and 99% current capacity according to Coconut). I'm down to 17% charge remaining so it appears to be specific to the original battery. Hope this qualifies for Apples extended battery warranty as I don't have AppleCare.

The previous poster's theory about one bad cell sounds very probable--the remaining healthy cells carry the load for a while but then give in--but I'm not a battery expert so who knows?

Edit: I just upgraded to 10.5.5. No help on the original battery.

Reply

Answer 7

Kerner

Level 1

8 points

Sep 17, 2008 3:26 AM in response to ibrandt

I'm having the same experience at about 40%. Over the past three days of this experience iStat has seen my battery health go from 90% to 38%. I do have about 275 cycles on the battery.

Every other time I've had aging battery issues the health has decreased and the charge life has decreased, but I'd still get the normal warning messages. I'm not sure why it's just shutting off if this is the issue. I've used countless Apple laptops since the WallStreet era of PBG3 and never seen this pattern before.

I'm going to get a new battery and contact AppleCare as well.

Reply

Answer 8

ambabu

Level 1

0 points

Sep 17, 2008 8:40 AM in response to RobUK001

Hi everyone, I'm the owner of a MBP which fall into the same battery problems you've listed previously. I may say that this issue appeared suddenly last year,(I can be wrong on date) i.e working fine on AC, shutting with no warn on battery, but some days later Apple made a recall for the battery replacement. Once substituted the battery, the problem disappeared until last week. Now it is not possible to work on battery power, an a complete re-installation of the OS and all the updates made any difference, except for the time lost for doing it.
I'll hope in a response from Apple, because I feel that this battery problem may be a problem of the producer, more than a problem of the user.
I'll stay in touch.

Reply

Answer 9

Sep 17, 2008 9:20 AM in response to RobUK001

Same problem.. 15month old 15" macbook pro which suddenly switches off anywhere between 10% and 50% battery charge when not plugged in. This was a problem in 2006 and my old macbook pro had the battery recalled, now the same problem seems to have come back. Must be software??

Reply

Answer 10

timpr

Level 1

0 points

Sep 17, 2008 9:42 AM in response to anthonystonehouse

I've got the same problem just started a few weeks ago - 75% now sometimes more and the computer quits without warning - The battery should be at about half its life.... 224 cycles. Does Apple monitor these discussions? Are there any Apple responses to this problem?

Thanks - Tim

Reply

Answer 11

Sep 17, 2008 10:34 AM in response to RobUK001

Wow. I didn't expect to find this many people with the same problem!
I've just started noticing my problem since I normally have it plugged in. This battery is the one that Apple provided as a replacement during a recall. Now, only get about 20 minutes on it before the laptop shuts off.

Here are the details:

Battery Information:

Model Information:
Serial Number: Sony-ASMB012-355b-9d0b
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): 484
Fully charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full charge capacity (mAh): 761
Health Information:
Cycle count: 31
Condition: Check battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 1038
Voltage (mV): 12533

Reply

Answer 12

Sep 17, 2008 10:28 PM in response to Ken Trajanowski

O man this is a relief to find that I'm not only one having this problem .

Reply

Answer 13

ibrandt

Level 1

4 points

Sep 17, 2008 11:04 PM in response to ibrandt

Went to the Apple Store to demo the issue and claim a new battery under the extended warranty detailed at http://www.apple.com/support/macbook_macbookpro/batteryupdate/.

Well, of course the battery behaved differently for the first time at the store. This time it drained all the way down to about 41%, then jumped to 1%, then the computer went to sleep. When I plugged it back in it said it was at 4% instead of 41% as it would have before. It had one solid light on the on-board indicator. So with it seemingly drained I've since been trying to go through the calibration procedure a few times. Usually it has gone to sleep, but the last time it powered off again without warning. I'm now up to 46 load cycles (was 45 at my previous post, "47" was a typo), and I have suddenly dropped from 88% to 36% of the original battery capacity.

The Mac Genius pointed out the the extended battery warranty is only for the Core Duo MacBook Pros, not for the Core 2 Duo. What a load of bull! These batteries are clearly defective if so many of us are having the same issue at so few load cycles. I hope we can raise enough noise here to cause Apple to take notice and stand behind their product with an extended warranty for the Core 2 Duos as well.

My Current Battery Information:

Model Information:
Serial Number: Sony-ASMB012-36ee-c4c5
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0003
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 186
Fully charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full charge capacity (mAh): 2045
Health Information:
Cycle count: 46
Condition: Check battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 2461
Voltage (mV): 12147

Reply

Answer 14

ambabu

Level 1

0 points

Sep 18, 2008 12:40 AM in response to RobUK001

Hi everybody, a possible solution to this problem came from a small window in the support page, battery update. There is a link to a problem-solving page which reports the problem and the step to control if the battery can be replaced by Apple. Mine is one of these, because of the "remaining cycles value is<300.
Hope it may help all of you.

Reply

Answer 15

ambabu

Level 1

0 points

Sep 18, 2008 12:45 AM in response to RobUK001

the window in the lower right corner of the support page is titled: Services & Programs, below the menu Exchange & extension the second item is Mac Book & Mac Book pro - Battery update 1.2
Follow the link, and check your system.
Have a nice day

Reply