MacBook Pro Battery 'Service Battery' after Snow Upgrade

"pple support had me trash the com.apple.PowerManagement.plist file and restart the Mac. Service Battery is now longer appearing."

It may be helpful if you told us where-abouts to find this file, so we could try this too. 😉

Did a Google search and found info on it's location:

HD > Library > Preferences > SystemConfiguration > com.apple.PowerManagement.plist

However, on deleting this and rebooting, I still have the "Service Battery" warning.

Same here. Deleted the file and Service Battery warning disappeared. However, my MBP shutdown at 88% charge and when I rebooted the warning had returned.

Satchmo wrote:
+Service Battery+ appeared today on my Macbook Pro which has been running Snow Leopard for a few days. The battery dept. at Apple support had me trash the com.apple.PowerManagement.plist file and restart the Mac. +Service Battery+ is now longer appearing.

A half-hour after the foregoing +Service Battery+ reappeared and the battery indicator reads that charge is being lost rapidly. The Full Charge Capacity has dropped from 4421 to 2945.

Apple tech had me send my System Profiler info to them and, based on that info, they are replacing the battery under AppleCare.

If this is a software glitch, it is a costly one for Apple, so a fix should be available pronto!

Thanks for the update Satchmo.

At least we know removing that file doesn't help anyone.

Same issue here. Service Battery message after upgrading yesterday to Snow Leopard. Battery running down while in sleep mode fairly quickly as well, which is disturbing. I have an extra battery and I tried that and message and behavior the same for the second battery. Running hotter than normal too. Tried resetting SMC, no good. Only 99 cycles. Must be a SL program bug. Apple better fix this one quickly. Guess the brain trust shouldn't have released it early...

I tried deleting the plist, but this did not work. I did install battery update 1.2 but nothing is changing. My battery seems to get really hot while using my MBP1,1...I mean hotter than usual. Like approaching the surface of the sun hot.

This is turning my laptop into a desktop. Apple OS upgrades typically do not leave me wanting to get my money back. Unfortunately, this time I feel like I should have stayed on Leopard.

FWIW here is my battery info again:

Battery Information:

Model Information:
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0001
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0110
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 1297
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 1403
Health Information:
Cycle count: 211
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1632
Voltage (mV): 11792

I was able to calibrate the battery, and now it does not suddenly shut down (so far) but it still lasts far shorter than under Leopard....

My battery 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): 1331
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 1374
Health Information:
Cycle count: 301
Condition: Replace Now
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12403


So far it looks like most, if not all are the Sony ASMB012

When people mention "calibrating the battery", is that an SMC reset?

(have tried resetting SMC and PRAM to no avail)

wastedyuthe wrote:
When people mention "calibrating the battery", is that an SMC reset?

(have tried resetting SMC and PRAM to no avail)

No, resetting SMC is something different. Calibrating you battery is explained here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490. You should do this once a month.

Ah, thanks Tiefschwarz.

Unfortunately I am unable to calibrate it then if that's the case, as part of the method is to let the battery drain down till it sleeps. My battery, the same as others reported here, gets to approx 75% then shuts down (doesn't go into sleep mode- no warning). Turn it back on with power and it is still showing around 75%.

well for those of us without applecare - this is ridiculous

1) genius' never performed a direct diagnostic on my battery
2) several "genius's" stated -
"there is nothing on the battery to update",
"there is no software on the battery to update"
"there is no firmware on the battery"
"we know the website says each battery is updated"
"if you don't like the wording, take that up with apple legal"

For a few seconds, the apple "genius" put a different battery into my computer and it did not show "service battery". This was the extent of their diagnostic, besides their verbal ducking and weaving.

has anyone tried putting their "bad" battery into another computer that does not have Snow Leopard installed?

I had the same problem and it is now solved....by the replacement of the battery !

In fact, the battery was swollen.

Hopefully, my Applecare still worked 😉

Just wanted to add my experience to this thread.

1) The experience of upgrading to Snow Leopard was disastrous for me. I had a 2007 A1226 MBP with VM Ware Fusion running Win XP on a 10 GB install...apart from that there was nothing unusual installed. The installation of SL stopped halfway and I saw the error "could not complete installation" after which I cancelled out of the process. This had my MBP in a state of limbo and I could not start it up again..it would cycle in the start screen for about 4 minutes then go to sleep. I had to re-install OSX 10.5 - wipe out everything i had - then re-install SL to get it to work.

2) After installing SL, I am seeing the "service battery" message in the power notification icon..also, the battery is not lasting as long. I have no down that it is a software bug since my battery was in good condition right before making this upgrade. Apple is losing the plot...more of this junk and I may be forced to start making my own computers!

I'm seeing the same thing. My MBP about 1 year old, was fine, now only gets 2~ hours of battery time, before i was getting 3-4~ ours of battery time.