MacBook Pro Battery 'Service Battery' after Snow Upgrade

I got my MacBook Pro in August last year. I'm more than likely to be plugged in when using my Mac, but it does bother me that it constantly has this message of having the battery serviced. I have about 2 hours of battery life right now and it shows 97% charge.

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Battery Information:

Model Information:
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0000
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0110
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 3839
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 3943
Health Information:
Cycle count: 86
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12400

I have the same problem. My battery started acting weird two days ago It went from 30% to 10% in a second. I have the service battery menu item as well. Also my baterry is charging very slow , and the until full message goes nuts. It will go from 10 hours to 1 hour to 2 hours. My macbook pro is only one year old.

Well, update to this bizarre tale

In desperation, I cycled my battery again. Then re-calibrated it.

from
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490
as follows:

PowerBook G4 (15-inch Double-Layer SD), MacBook (all models), MacBook Pro (all models), MacBook Pro (17-inch) (all models) and MacBook Air
The battery calibration for the PowerBook G4 (15-inch Double-Layer SD) and any model of MacBook or MacBook Pro has been updated because of a new battery released with this computer. With these computers, follow these steps to calibrate your battery:

Plug in the power adapter and fully charge your PowerBook's battery until the light ring or LED on the power adapter plug changes to green and the onscreen meter in the menu bar indicates that the battery is fully charged.
Allow the battery to rest in the fully charged state for at least two hours. You may use your computer during this time as long as the adapter is plugged in.
Disconnect the power adapter while the computer still on and start running the computer off battery power. You may use your computer during this time. When your battery gets low, the low battery warning dialog appears on the screen.
At this point, save your work. Continue to use your computer; when the battery gets very low, the computer will automatically go to sleep.
Turn off the computer or allow it to sleep for five hours or more.
Connect the power adapter and leave it connected until the battery is fully charged again.

Now-
1) service battery notice is gone
2) my battery seems to indicate longer life but
3) is still not lasting the 3+ hours I got PREVIOUS to snow leopard "upgrade"

The capacity previous to this calibration (which I have done for the second time) was 2900 mAh
NOW it has a slightly longer life. About 2.5 hours and it shows almost double the capacity. However, the life of the battery is NOT double or anywhere close to the 4 to 5 hours it was supposed to have when new.

I am happy there has been some positive change. However, I am NOT happy that
1) Apple and the "genius" said I have a bad battery
2) told me to purchase another battery
3) contradicted each other by saying the battery itself is not updateable
4) did not actually test my battery in any tangible/direct way

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): 4063
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 5159
Health Information:
Cycle count: 76
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1846
Voltage (mV): 11543

Strangest thing just happened. My computer was not charging at all and my battery said "service battery" for the last 2 or 3 weeks, since I upgraded to SL. All of a sudden, it is charging again. I was watching a video on my computer and when I moved it, the power cord pulled out. This puts the computer to sleep since the battery was at 0%. When I plugged back in, the light on the power cord was orange and the computer was charging for the first time in weeks. I don't know how or why this happened. The battery got to 100% and it is nowhere where it used to be (drains really fast now and only lasts 30 minutes). But this is better than what it was doing with a 0% non charging battery. Maybe I should bring it back to the Apple store for another look now that it's charging. I don't know.

I would love to try calibrating my battery by letting it drain down to 0%, but how do I do so when it likes to keep turning off prematurely at 60-75%? Shall I just turn it on and let it keep draining down a bit at a time till it (hopefully) gets to around 0%?

Update ...
I calibrated the battery. All the bizarre problems where corrected, but my MacBook pro shuted down without any warning and having 50% of charge... Relly weird definetly there is something really bad going on !

Well- that was short lived

put my laptop to sleep for a few hours

came back to it and the service battery notice is back
now it is back to the way it was prior to the calibration
Coconut battery 2.6.5 says the battery has a current capacity of 3207mAh (original 5500)
only a few hours ago, before I put my laptop to sleep and after a calibration, Coconut reported my battery to be 93% of 5500mAh.

Now, it is pretty much back to where it was previous to the calibration

this is what the system profiler says now

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): 1032
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 3207
Health Information:
Cycle count: 77
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1677
Voltage (mV): 11477

Hello Apple, is there anybody home? Obviously a huge OS issue. I'm having the same problems with a BRAND NEW battery.

Anotherone here.
Tried calibrating the battery, resetting smc.
Got better for a while, I thought. Just to see the computer dying on me at 30% battery... Connected the charger and suddenly I had 0% battery.
Coconut said I had 52% battery capacity left.
Recharged, and checked with Coconut again, and now I suddenly have 76% capacity.
Even though my mac is 17 months old and not under warranty, Im still going to contact Apple and request a new battery since my battery was much better under 10.5.

Battery Information:

Model Information:
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0000
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0110
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 4185
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 4282
Health Information:
Cycle count: 224
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -456
Voltage (mV): 12053

I do have same problems with december 2008 Macbook Pro. Only 140 cycles and battery status is jumping from 40% to 75%... Mac store had no clue but also not willing to give me a new battery either.

I also have the same problems since the upgrade to SL. Only 188 cycles, capacity 46% at the moment and changing between 43% and 52%. Every option mentioned for this 'Service Battery' tried and nothing helps. My opinion: a problem in SL.

Attempted to calibrate my battery last night, as it was stuck on 96% plugged in, and wouldn't go any higher.

It cut off at 55% battery, and so I had to plug it back in for it to start up again. Then I unplugged it, and it drained to 50% before cutting off. Again, I had to plug it in to turn it on again, and so on and so on. Eventually, I managed to drain it to about 18%, and it would not stay on any longer than a minute at a time. It was also coming up with the battery low warning (which I hadn't seen in ages), so I assumed it was at the lowest I could go. I left it overnight, and it fully charged to 100% this morning. I also repaired disk permissions and repaired disk from the OS disk.
However, it still says Service Battery. I will see how long the battery lasts for a few cycles and report back.

Following on from my above post, it has just quit on me at 37%, so the issue is still definitely there, although it lasted longer than previous times (maybe just coincidence). Will have to look at my receipt to see if I am still covered under warranty, although I do think the software broke it as it was fine before SL.

Same here!
Early 2008 MBP

When on battery it shuts down early (before the warning) although there are at least 20-30 minutes left (used to go to sleep with 6 mins left). I have only 140 cycles on this battery.
Health used to be 90ish before Snow Leopard. Now I get anything between 60% and 82%. And the Service Warning.

I calibrated the battery twice. Which improved things slightly: I at least get a warning before going to sleep now BUT the time I can run on battery is still less than 2 hours (used to be 4 hours).

I hate to be a bummer here but the most likely explanation for most people here (and myself) is this:

You (like me) use your laptop mostly with an AC adaptor plugged in. You rarely if ever calibrate your battery, even though it should be done monthly. Due to this neglect your battery ended up dying at a time near when SL was released but you didn't realize it because you were plugged in most of the time.

After installing SL you discover the new feature which shows you the battery health and it's saying your battery needs servicing. Now you realize that it's operating erratically and correlate bad battery with SL install when in fact the battery just died (which can happen quite quickly).

Most of our problems are just coincidence and if you're outside of the warranty period like I am, apple doesn't owe you anything. If you've got applecare, get your butt over to the genius bar and get them to replace your battery for free. I replaced mine (for $129) and it's working just fine in SL. My previous battery only had 87 cycles on it.

I think it's total crap that a modern battery would be dead after only 87 cycles and a year of use and I hope apple addresses this issue but the fact of the matter is that it lasted 1 year and that's apple's warranty period.

Now, if I end up having trouble with my new battery then there is something more going on but so far that is not the case. I suggest you all go out and get a new battery, it comes with a *1 year warranty*.

FWIW, I contacted TUAW about this issue and they had me look into it more thoroughly before they would post about it. They don't believe there's a real issue and at this point I tend to agree with them.