MacBook Pro Battery 'Service Battery' after Snow Upgrade

I'm 2 months past the warranty period.

You can still take your computer/battery to the "genius" bar and have them do a hardware test of your battery. Regardless of the outcome, let them know about the forum and hopefully they record you as another data point. You don't have to buy a new battery if you don't want to but at least you showed them that there's a problem.

Yes, good point.

I performed two tests on my MBP today without any luck.

First was deleting the file com.apple.PowerManagement.plist under HD/Library/Preferences/System Configuration and after the restart the message on the battery menu, displayed again. Then realized that file only contains some configuration of the power settings of your Mac and tried to find something bigger.

I found a promising package called "PowerManagement.bundle" stored under HD/System/Library/System Configuration. I tried two things in here, one was restoring an older Time Machine copy of the PowerManagement.bundle (probably the one that came with the clean install on DVD and not the one present in 10.6.1) and restarting MBP, with no effects. The other one was taking that file from a Leopard installation, removing the .bundle from its location and applying the Leopard .bundle (which differs in size from the one in SL) but guess what? Same message on battery meter, no effects even with this substitution.

So I'm starting to wonder if SL could really have damaged my battery in any way and if returning to Leopard is going to solve this issue or not. And in addition, I'm starting to run out of ideas, guys, is there someone with any guess on how to overcome this? I ask because I guess we will have to wait a looong time until Apple acknowledge this problem, recognise it and find a solution (just a hunch).

Once the 'Service Battery' warning appears, should it continue to display if there's a genuine problem?

I ask because after appearing on 9/10, the message disappeared(1) and hasn't appeared again until tonight, despite using both AC and battery power every day. I tried a reset again but the warning remains.

(1) Possibly due to a SMC reset, though I believe the timing may have been coincidental

I gave up, restored Leopard. I think I'll wait awhile and see if the bugs get worked out. I'm not buying a $100.00 battery because it is incompatible with the $30.00 software!

Hey folks, I just wanted to post a follow up. I calibrated the battery the first time this happened. It did not seem to help. It took a long time to charge and seemed a little warm to me. I let it rest for a night, then re-calibrated the battery. It still gave a warning message. However, after one night passed the service battery message went away. It has yet to come back, even with multiple sleeps. Somehow I doubt this is fixed for good.

Sorry you could not be more wrong. After reverting to Leopard I get 1 1/2 hours of battery life, rather than 15min. I take my battery out when I'm plugged in. My Mac warns me 10min before it goes dead in Leopard.Under Snow Leopard it shuts down at %75 after 15 to 20 min, and with no warning. I fail to see how it is that this is coincidence. Just not possible. However it is a good way to get people to buy new batteries.

I have exactly the same issue with the battery power still around 4017mAh but "service battery" signal comes up. The computer shutting down at 86% if it's not plugged in.
I took it to the service center in Melbourne Australia, the guy said he has not heard of the issue either. None of his team has encounter this kind of issue either.
He did a battery test for me and the result says "replace battery". I do have apple care and it is covered within the warranty. i will see how the new battery perform.
It is definitely a software issue as with Leopard I had no problem with battery at all and as soon as i switched to SL, battery just keeps playing up. However, if hardware is an issue as well, I guess its not too bad for those who has warranty just pay a visit to apple service center and get yourself a new battery. Much better than wait until the update and running out of the warranty!!

Same problem here. Early 2008 MBP with Full Capacity charge of 4217 showing Service Battery. Had calibrated battery twice already to no improvements. Not tried the SMC reset, will do do and see if things improves.

Update - having reverted back to 10.5 after bad behaviour in SL my battery is still at half the capacity, fluctuating erratically and has just shut down without any warning at 1hr 37min. SL has definitely damaged my battery. It is an ASMB012 Sony BTW.

Yesterday was doing more test with those files, repairing permissions using Disk Utility but without any further success... in fact, after applying Leopard PowerManagement.bundle to SL (repairing permission and restarting), Battery monitor stops working so you don't get the message (hooray) but you don't get any indication on battery charge eiter... which I think is definetly worse.

Hi,

More battery woes on a late 2006 black MacBook. Don't have the full specs handy, but reported battery health dropped sharply with Snow Leopard installed, from around 78% and 2-3 hours in Leopard to erratic values in the 40%-60% range, and severely reduced usage times.

I was going to go out and buy a new battery, but after reading people's reports here, I'm beginning to wonder if Apple screwed up on the software/firmware front.

A load of crap:
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/09/24/10-6-falsely-reports-service-battery-i-think-not/

Thanks for posting the link Bullet618- noticed it on my RSS after you posted. After waiting this long, I am so disappointed TUAW are treating us like we are all idiots. I have written a comment on that post, and I may just stop subscribing to their RSS now.