Dead battery or issue of the motherboard?

Question

Level 1

8 points

Dead battery or issue of the motherboard?

Obvious problem: the macbook works only if connected on the main power source. if unplugged it turns off.
when i plug it i see the led becoming GREEN so it seems allright.
I have checked the settings infos and about the battery it says that it is 4005mV and 55mA and its condition is bad (i don't know how to translate in english, i m italian).
so i just would like to know if it may be a mother board issue or if i just have to replace the battery. the macbook is a 2,1 one with an interl c2d 1.83.
The leds of the battery don't turn on to show the charge and in the home page of leopard i see that the icon of the battery is empty with the symbol of the main power (so it shows it's connected but not charging)

any idea?

many thanks

Macbook 2,1, Mac OS X (10.5), intel c2d 1.83 - 512mb - 60gb

Posted on Jan 17, 2009 5:56 AM

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Answer 1

dmirab Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 17, 2009 10:19 AM in response to dmirab

update:
i have updated leopard from the 10.5 to the 10.5.6 on the macbook. it did it succesfully and as soon as it rebooted, the icon of the battery near the clock on the home page of leopard, showed the symbol of the charging.
is it a good thing?
then it disappeared, it lasted only few seconds

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Answer 2

gpotts

Level 3

585 points

Jan 17, 2009 9:44 PM in response to dmirab

How long have you had the computer, how many cycles does the battery have, do you have Applecare?

Next, make sure you have all of the updates for your computer. After that, reset your SMC by removing your battery and unplugging your magsafe power adapter and holding down the power button for 5 seconds. Then hold down command-option-p-r at startup until it makes the chime sound twice. After that, do what is called calibrating the battery. Charge your battery and leave it in the charged state for 2 hours. After that, let it run without being plugged in until it goes to sleep on its own. Next, let it stay asleep for 5 hours. Then plug it in and let it charge fully again.

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Answer 3

dmirab Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 18, 2009 1:30 AM in response to gpotts

i have mac osx 10.5.6
after the update i saw the charging symbol in the icon of the battery in the home page.
i have already tried what you told me, (power button for 5 secs without charger and battery and also reset of pram) but nothing worked really. I don't have an applecare and the battery has got 95 cycles of charge.
i can't calibrate it because i can't charge it. when i plug the magsafe on the macbook, it works but it doesn't charge the battery, so i m not able to use the laptop without magsafe

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Answer 4

dmirab Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 21, 2009 12:45 AM in response to dmirab

It was the battery. I went to the Apple repair center and they tried a new battery in my macbook and it worked fine. I was afraid it was a problem of the motherboard or of the dc circuit
thanks to everybody and hope this topic will help someone

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