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

Michael,

Read through the thread at http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1227431&tstart=0 that I linked to in my last post . You will see that it contains all the same stuff (minus only the "Service battery" warning which didn't exist at that time). Erratic performance, maximum capacity figures jumping up and down, unexpected shutdowns, claims that it was all because of problems with the relationship between the new OS and the SMC, people upset because it all happened just after they updated , expectations that it would all be "fixed" by a new update, people with low cycle or comparatively new batteries giving very poor performance, etc. etc.

The only difference is that it all happened when Leopard was new, rather than Snow Leopard.

Bad batteries behave like this always.

Cheers

Rod

My external drive is a 2.5" laptop hard drive that uses the laptop battery for power - so therefore it is taxing the battery in just the same manner as the internal drive running snow leopard. I'm not sure as to whether or not Leopard actually doesn't have the "service battery" message, but I do know that I get about another 2 hours of charge by using it (booting from my 2.5" external drive). I think that it is hard to say that Snow Leopard has not disrupted something here.

Also, previously with my first battery, prior to being replaced, it would shutdown without notice, minutes into use without the AC adapter. I am not experiencing the same problems this time around. Instead the battery just depletes very very fast. I still get the "reserve power" warning, I just get like 20 minutes into using it on battery power (which is ridiculous for a relatively new battery with only 59 cycles counts). If I was experiencing the same problems and behaviour as before the first thing I would have done would have been to got and try to get a new battery under the same replacement program. But it's not.

Hi Rod, below is my battery info, I replaced it last year about 4-5 months ago. I have ran it on battery power under SL for 2.5-3 hours with out any problems, so I will support you on the fact it is not SL that is causing the problem's but bad junky batteries.




Battery Information:

Model Information:
Serial Number:
Manufacturer: GSA-A1175
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 012d
PCB Lot Code: 050d
Firmware Version: 646e
Hardware Revision: 2800
Cell Revision: 0000
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 5445
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 5487
Health Information:
Cycle count: 22
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12518

Hi,

Let me disagree on this... I haven't read all the messages on the thread, but for what I have read, most of the people we are having problems have the Sony batteries.

My tests are quite clear.

macbook with Leopard > 2-3 hours usage
macbook with SnowL > 30minutes usage
macbook boot from Leopard Install DVD 3-4hours
macbook boot from SnowL Intall DVD 3-4 hours
macbook boot from external HD with Leopard 2-3 hours (due to extra HD powering)

Now In the middle of a project and not going to change the system, but after this I'm going to revert to Leopard.

With SnowLeopard I have realized more issues:

Macbook heats up faster and much more.
Fans work more often and more time.
USB disks (seagate freeagent go and WD passport) that I have been using for years.. now with SL are not mounting because lack of power.


So my conclusion is that SL is simply draining more power, so this is why batteries last shorter.

Every computer has it's momentum, and a range of OS to be used.. so SL is not for our version of Macbooks, period. Like you cannot install Tiger on a original iMac.

That's my conclusion.

So, solutions

A. revert to Leopard
B. buy a new macbook pro.. (anyone want mine for 700EUR?)

Jordi

The primary battery replacement program was ended in May 2009, Nick. There is no current special replacement plan for these batteries. See http://www.apple.com/support/macbook_macbookpro/batteryupdate/

As I've explained elsewhere in this thread, if you are simply seeing reduced charge life under SL (rather than erratic behaviour) take a look at Activity Monitor to see if there are any "runaway processes" - see http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1473 .

One common cause of such things after updating to SL, for example, is a "fontworker" process, which can work overtime in the background if you have corrupted, duplicated, or badly out of date fonts installed. Rectifying the font issue and clearing the font caches overcomes the problem, substantially reducing CPU activity, decreasing heat and increasing battery run-time.

there are plenty of other possibilities in this regard.

Another very common cause of reduced run time under SL , as I've also spelt out earlier, is the behaviour of the 64 bit version of the third party Adobe Flash plug-in . THis is used by many people when accessing "Flash" based websites such as You-Tube, and in many other places. It is a major CPU hog and will, again, substantially reduce run time and , in fact., cause sudden shut down issues on computers with batteries that are past their prime. You can reduce the effects of Flash by using a useful little plug-in called "ClickToFlash", which lets you decide whether or not to allow a particular Flash implementation to load - see http://rentzsch.github.com/clicktoflash/

The "Flash" problem is of sufficient magnitude to get YouTube to develop a beta program allowing users to view their movies in H.264 format rather than Flash - This can save one heck of a lot of battery! - sign up at http://www.youtube.com/html5 . Perhaps Adobe will get their act into gear and produce a less aggressive version of their 64 bit plug-in eventually, but I wouldn't hold your breath! You can also reduce its impact by choosing to run Safari in 32 bit mode (Highlight Safari in the finder, head to "Get Info", select the 32bit mode but don't select the option to run in Rosetta)

Your battery stats indicate that you are unlikely to really get long charge life when using it for any serious purpose, though.

Cheers

Rod

Having the same issue as many. Batteries were fine in Leopard, but since upgrading to SL, they both get the service battery issue.

Their cycles are low by my standards. but that doesn't matter. if they worked fine in Leopard, they should work fine in SL. Damned the extra checks, this is a error on Apples part.

I would consider buying a new battery but I am unsure if that will solve the issue.

I've got two batteries for my MacBook Pro and both of them have experienced the drifting capacity and random shutdowns (at approximately 30-40% charge)... It's driving me nuts.

10.6.3 didn't do anything to fix the issue, much to my dismay. I've been considering downgrading to Leopard, but I've got everything set up perfectly at the moment, all backed up with Time Machine. Going back to Leopard would require setting everything up again, which would take forever given the number of apps I have on this thing.

I can't believe that Apple hasn't noticed this problem when it's affecting so many Macs.

Message was edited by: Leaping Ahead

Well, I've updated to 10.6.3 and nothing. I even tried doing a complete reformat and for a couple of weeks I didn't get the message. But just sometime during the past couple days, it showed up again and has not gone away since. I don't get it. I baby the crap out of my battery. Unless I got a bad egg, this must be a software problem. Come on Apple! Please help us!

I have the same experience.

Upgraded to 10.6.3 from 10.5.8 and now my battery says "Service Battery"

Hi all.
I have the same problem also.

I had MacOS 10.6.2 and my battery suddenly said ¨Service Battery¨.
Upgraded to 10.6.3 and the problem remained.

Now, i have the MacOS 10.5.8 with battery update 1.4 and the battery is not charging...

I posted in this thread WAYYYY back in the 10s and 20s or something (I'm not looking it up.) I finally broke down and bought a new battery. Before installing it, I reset the SMC.

The good: the Service Battery message is gone
The bad: brand new battery, right out of the box, read at 90% health fully charged in iStat.

I am going to drain the power completely out, let it rest overnight, and then juice it back up in the morning. I hope it reads higher than 90% health at that point. I'll keep an eye on the Service Battery message and report back. I'm hopeful the Rod guy is right. I fear he is not. We'll see.

Hi remraf,

It is not uncommon for batteries to need a few cycles to work up to maximum capacity, especially if they have been sitting on the shelf for a while. I usually actually wait for a few days before calibrating the battery to let it settle down a bit (though you won't do any harm by calibrating right away - its just that if the battery isn't up to full charge yet you should do it again in a week or so).

90% is a bit lower than usual even for a battery that has been on the shelf for a while, though, and you should certainly keep an eye on it. I'd be expecting it to get back up towards "full" health after a week of gentle use (running from it for an hour or so each day, rather than running it flat, and then recharging) if it is still OK.

I get the feeling there is some old stock out there in some places and lying around doing nothing isn't good for Lithium batteries.

Good luck with it and let us know how it goes.

Cheers

"the Rod guy"

My battery is around 6 months old and I am experiencing a sudden shutdowns even though at 80% full battery. I only noticed this problem when I upgraded to 10.6.3.

Another thing I noticed (using iStat software) that my battery "Health" went down from 92% to 59% !!

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): 2867
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 3300
Health Information:
Cycle count: 32
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1153
Voltage (mV): 12224

I was told by Apple when I called them after seeing the service battery alert (before I was aware of this thread or the issue at all) that it "was a software issue" and I should run updates! I was already up to date.

Mostly I have the service battery alert but sometimes I don't. System profiler gives readings all over the place. Here are three readings from over two days:

Full charge capacity 3149 (service battery)
Full charge capacity 4513 (normal)
Full change capacity 4049 (service battery)

This is very silly... I hope Apple do something about it. I fear they just won't because it mostly affects "old" MBPs (ie about two years old).

Sean