MacBook battery shows X icon - "Battery not Charging"

Draining a Lithium Ion/Polymer battery until it is fully discharged will cause you to run through battery cycles more quickly effectively reducing the life of your battery. However, a "normal" full discharge should not have any other negative impact (as in not being able to charge it again). I use the term "normal" to mean that once your battery discharges, you charge it back up again relatively soon. Lithium Ion/Polymer batteries have circuitry in them that will prevent them from charging if the charge drops below a certain critical level. This is for safety reasons. In order for your battery to reach this low point however, it would need to be left discharged for quite some time... generally weeks (this is why it is always recommended that if you plan to remove and store your battery for an extended period, you do so with a 60% or so charge still in the battery).

Unfortunately, an "X" in the battery indicator means your computer is not recognizing the battery and usually means a bad battery (I know... not something you want to hear). If you go into About This Mac / Additional Info... and select "Power" in the left column... then scroll down in the right column until you see the battery information... how many cycles are there? If you could cut and paste all of the battery section, we may be able to come up with a better idea of what the problem may be.

Ok, so i think this is a common problem, I'm actually having the same problem, Macbook white, battery just new, info:
Battery Information:

Model Information:
Device name: ASMB016
Pack Lot Code: 0002
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0110
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0200
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 0
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 0
Health Information:
Cycle count: 76
Condition: Replace Now
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 6391

So the battery is dead and it tells me to replace now.
They say, it is after a power break when you reboot it and you realized the battery is damaged again, i mean i know that my battery cycles have run a little faster, but come on, 76?? this guy has less than 30, this is power management problem, so you know it's not the batteries, the problem is in the computer.
This will mean that you will have to buy a new battery every month, the procedure the macbook is using to charge the battery is actually damaging it by the cycle, so that would mean a general power issue.
And as i remember, (but i hope im wrong) in a portable computer like this, the power is controlled by the motherboard, which will mean that we're doomed. I mean maybe it could be repairable, but if not, you'll have to replace it, wouldn't you??
so what you think?? Am i overreacting??

You are not over reacting, this is an issue apple should deal with. Quality assurance. The computer should not be running batteries like this.

My problem: on my Macbook (2007)- battery was performing perfectly up until I left it fully discharged for 2 days, now battery icon shows an 'X' - comp. is entirely not recognizing the presence of a battery- 'battery not installed'. Only powers up with AC connection. Have reset system management, PRAM, all other apple suggestions. I want to refuse to believe that leaving a perfectly fine battery discharged for 2 days would cause it to die... however as battery is not being recognized I can't say how many cycles it was/is at. Any suggestions?

Next to replacing the battery, what else could cause such a problem? I see others mentioning the power connector but I can't see how it could affect the charging circuits. I don't think there hasn't been a component in this laptop that hasn't been replaced by Apple at least once. The charger has been replaced three times, four batteries and this latest replacement, I got a year or so ago has 6 cycles.

So I guess what we're seeing is Apple is aware of this issue but they choose not to do anything about this? The previous battery replacement program is no longer in effect even if you have a battery that was within replacement guidelines?

Even though I don't use this laptop anymore, I'm still rather peeved since this thing never worked right to begin with.

What to do?

Model Information:
Serial Number: XXXX-ASMB016
Device name: ASMB016
Pack Lot Code: 0002
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0102
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 0
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 0
Health Information:
_*Cycle count: 6*_
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 64
Voltage (mV): 3943

Hi All,

Unfortunately I'm now also experiencing this issue, after having left my black MacBook to "rest" during the Christmas break.

The MagSafe connector shines green when connected to power, and the laptop simply cuts off when it is disconnected.

I've cleaned the battery/charging terminals to no avail, and even tried a friend's battery to see whether that would fix the issue - it doesn't!

So, I'm now thinking that this may be a motherboard issue :\

Anyone got through to Apple about this?

yep.. this happened to me too. my mb is outta warranty though, so dunno if ill bother going to apple. still annoying that its happened.

haven't tried another battery yet, but if others dont work maybe its a firmware issue??

its not a firmware issue its a hardware issue. if you take the battery out and see the gold pins inside your computer you can fix the issue for $12.50 for the part. but here is the catch i went to the apple store and they had the part but they wont sell it to you. they have to do it for an extra $85.00. this is how apple has you by the balls.

I've got the battery that won't recharge as well.

This many people having the same battery problem is ridiculous.

I've used powerbooks for years and never saw anything like this.

I've got not "x" icon, it just says (Calculating...) forever. Green light on the cable, or sometimes orange or dark orange at first - but battery is not charging

after being closeted.

There are two possible fixes on the apple support site for MB http://support.apple.com/downloads/#macbook

Battery Update 1.4 http://support.apple.com/kb/DL788
This update improves the ability of MacBook batteries to maintain a charge when the system is shut down and not used for an extended period of time.

and

MacBook SMC Firmware Update 1.2 http://support.apple.com/kb/DL742
This SMC Firmware Update improves the sensing and accuracy of the MagSafe Power Adapter indicator light, and the battery charge indicator lights on MacBook (Late 2008) computers.

Maybe these will help?

I am having the same problems with my MB - left it off for a few days and now it won't charge. I installed Battery Update 1.4, tried to install SMC update but I got an alert that my computer does not need it. Still having the same issue - nothing has changed. I've read in another topic discussion that some people were able to take it back to the Apple Store and get a replacement battery at no charge. I will take mine this weekend and see what happens.

Nonette

I've had my MacBook for almost 2 years, this happened after upgrading to Snow Leopard for me, is there really anything I can do about this except see if I can get my hands on another battery?

This is so frustrating, I rely on this computer for SO much, I hate PC's with a passion, but I'm not ready to drop another $2000 on a new laptop... I hope someone can shed a bit of light on this for me... That would be awesome.