Q: MacBook Pro Battery 'Service Battery' after Snow Upgrade

Yes Speedcheese, some people will do weird stuff just to get popular(?)

Anyway, there might be a developer out there with a "seed" of the latest 1.6.3 and a "pro-unibody" Macbook Pro. Would be nice to read they managed to fix the SMC bug.

Apple, we need some love, you need our money...

Alex Martin Ensemble wrote:
Yes Speedcheese, some people will do weird stuff just to get popular(?)

You learn to roll your eyes at those jack-of-all-trades folks who think they have all the answers (you know the folks who love to hear themselves type). Let's see how quickly these folks hide when the issue is finally resolved.

Don

Any news? We need someone to save the day here! Apple is not going to come and rescue us...

I'm having the same problems as everyone else is. Hopefully 10.6.3 is just around the corner, though I sort of doubt it. Here's my info though, just in case it helps anyone:

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): 3282
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 3282
Health Information:
Cycle count: 252
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12464

Come on Apple, I love my MBP EXCEPT for this RIDICULOUS ISSUE. Fix it already!

I've been following this thread for a couple months, but my battery life has taken a turn for the worst (20% health 116 cycles). I had great battery life before I installed Snow Leopard in Feb. Since then it has become very erratic.

AppleCare says they can do nothing since my battery is 1.5 years olds (they only cover batteries for 1 year). They also claim it is not a software issue.

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): 173
Fully charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full charge capacity (mAh): 1140
Health Information:
Cycle count: 116
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 950
Voltage (mV): 12167

CoconutBattery 2.6.5 Saved Data:

Date Max. Capacity
2010-02-15 59% (3316 mAh)
2010-02-16 81% (4569 mAh)
2010-02-16 45% (2258 mAh)
2010-02-17 84% (4746 mAh)
2010-02-17 62% (3479 mAh)
2010-02-17 79% (4455 mAh)
2010-02-18 85% (4793 mAh)
2010-02-20 53% (3008 mAh)
2010-02-20 45% (2522 mAh)
2010-02-21 48% (2728 mAh)
2010-02-22 86% (4836 mAh)
2010-02-22 52% (2938 mAh)
2010-02-23 87% (4889 mAh)
2010-02-23 40% (2249 mAh)
2010-02-23 56% (3155 mAh)
2010-02-24 80% (4533 mAh)
2010-02-24 85% (4806 mAh)
2010-02-26 85% (4814 mAh)
2010-02-27 84% (4724 mAh)
2010-02-28 86% (4831 mAh)
2010-03-25 86% (4831 mAh)
2010-03-26 36% (2050 mAh)
2010-03-26 40% (2242 mAh)
2010-03-27 20% (1140 mAh)

Your battery is down to 58% health, BroncoTrooper.

It has completed 252 cycles.

THe performance of these batteries regardless of what OS you are using, often becomes problematic after 18 months, even in batteries that have only completed 150 cycles. There are exceptions, but sometimes once the battery is below 80% of original capacity (the "industry standard" for Lithium batteries to maintain effective operation) , and almost invariably by the time it is down to less than 60% of original capacity, it is likely to begin behaving unpredictably

Your problem won't be fixed by 10.6.3. No OS change is going to resurrect a dying battery. You simply need a new one.

Cheers

Rod

While you are correct that my current battery health is not good, when the computer doesn't show the "Service Battery," the full charge capacity usually states around 4600 mAh. Before SL, my laptop would run all day. Now, it won't do that and shuts down at random, like many other posters have said. Do I need a new battery? At 250+ cycles, probably. Is it strictly the battery's fault? Seeing how many others are having identical problems to the ones that I am having, I can't believe that it is just a battery fix. Thanks for your information though Rod.

Seeing how many others are having identical problems to the ones that I am having, I can't believe that it is just a battery fix.

Millions of these computers were sold, BroncoTropper. Unfortunately the fact that the batteries fail at this sort of age means that literally tens of thousands of them are reaching the point where they need replacing every week. They all have a finite life , and they just about all have already passed the point where they begin to behave badly, or are rapidly approaching it, or have already been replaced. Many of the early ones are getting to the point where they actually are due for their second new battery.

Millions of people have also installed snow leopard on their MBPs over the last few months. Put the two together and you have a situation where the two events are obviously going to happen around the same time to many, many users.

It isn't surprising that there are quite a few reports in which people jump to the conclusion that the two events are directly related. It is surprising statistically that there aren't more.

Erratic battery behaviour is a common sign of incipient battery failure.

Cheers

Rod

...(ignoring the fact that an Apple Engineer, currently working at Apple, has personally confirmed to me that it is a known issue with the SMC reporting module in Snow Leopard, of course)...

I'd like to add my two cents to the discussion. I experienced the same as many others here: Never had battery problems in Leopard, right after the upgrade to Snow Leopard I noticed a dramatic decrease in capacity (1 hr runtime with fully charged battery, compared to 3-4 hrs under 10.5). It got worse and worse. My full capacity is now about 400 mAh, which is not even 10% of the original. The battery has only 49 cycles! I had the battery tested at an Apple store, the Genius confirmed that it is dead and that I needed a new one. No free replacement, as it is older than 12 months.

I now could join those who blame Snow Leopard for killing batteries. But I know someone whose MBP and battery is about as old as mine (20 months), and who had no problems at all after the 10.6 upgrade. Her cycle count is, similarly to mine, quite low (between 50 and 60).

For these reasons, I believe this is a multi-causal issue. Sure enough, some batteries are just at the critical age to die (18 months and above) when users coincidentally upgrade to Snow Leopard. It can't be proved whether the batteries would have also died without the upgrade or not. This is what Rod and others say. It's not Snow Leopard's fault in these cases.

BUT: This can't explain everything that some others here have experienced. Many users reported that they got a brand-new battery, and within few weeks, the "Service Battery" re-appeared! Were they just unlucky and their new battery was defective? Some even reported that they reverted back to Leopard, and the "dead" battery recovered (see Michael Daeche's post). Some even got confirmed from Apple's side that they are aware of a SMC bug in Snow Leopard, and I don't see why they should not tell the truth. All this is evidence for me that there IS indeed an issue with Snow Leopard and batteries.

It is not clear who of us is affected by the SL issue, and whose battery would have died anyway. I personally might be among those with an actual bad battery, as it is 20 months old and, on top of that, with < 50 cycles had been rarely used (although the Genius said that it shouldn't matter). However, I think that not all of those blaming SL are imagining things. The reports of new batteries dying within short, successful battery recoveries after Leopard downgrades and rumors of an issue from Apple guys is too much of a coincidence for me.

Andy

Also, here's the information I just pulled off of my computer, as it currently is operating normally and is not showing the "Check Battery" warning right now. I also supposedly have almost three hours of battery life remaining, as opposed to much less than an hour under software error type issues.

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): 4806
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 5280
Health Information:
Cycle count: 253
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1715
Voltage (mV): 11759


Now, here's the information in a situation where it DOES show the "Check Battery" warning.

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): 3282
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 3282
Health Information:
Cycle count: 252
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12464

Strange, don't you all think?

Try running something intensive (video rendering or the like - anything that pushes CPU usage up around 100% should do) while on battery , BroncoTrooper, and see what it does.

This provides something of a test of the battery's ability to sustain a load.

Cheers

Rod

Thanks Rod, that's a good idea. "Service Battery" is back, but I will wait until it goes away, try something system intensive, and post the results.

According to my Software Updates 10.6.3 is now available:

The 10.6.3 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes that:
improve the reliability and compatibility of QuickTime X
address compatibility issues with OpenGL-based applications
address an issue that causes background message colors to display incorrectly in Mail
resolve an issue that prevented files with the # or & characters in their names from opening in Rosetta applications
resolve an issue that prevented files from copying to Windows file servers
improve performance of Logic Pro 9 and Main Stage 2 when running in 64-bit mode
improve sleep and wake reliability when using Bonjour wake on demand
address a color issue in iMovie with HD content
improve printing reliability
resolve issues with recurring events in iCal when connected to an Exchange server
improve the reliability of 3rd party USB input devices
fix glowing, stuck, or dark pixels when viewing video from the iMac (Late 2009) built-in iSight camera
For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4014.
For information on the security content of this update, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

I've updated to 10.6.3 and still got the "service battery" message.
Sean