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

Well THIS is an interesting thread! Spans 1+ year and has 100 pages... Hmmm....
My .02:

I just replaced the battery for a MBP 1,1, thinking that would resolve what was clearly a failing battery issue (the old one only lasted 20 minutes). Things got real screwy, real fast. I went through a careful battery conditioning (full charge, full discharge, full charge), and noticed that the indicator would erratically go from 100% to 0%, and at that 0% mark, displayed the Service Battery warning.
I then researched it, did the calibration (Sleep, Restart, Shutdown). Same thing. I also noticed that when I closed the lid, the next day the wake process could ONLY happen by pressing the power button briefly - new to me.
I then did a SMU reset per Apple bulletin. Same thing.
Oddities abound:
I can sit and use it on battery just fine... and watch as it goes from 100% (or 98%) to 0% and still run.
At one point, I unplugged it, removed the battery, put it all back together, and instead of a power on, I got what looked like a wake from hibernation. Eh? No battery + no power should, I thought, have meant, machine is off!

Stats on battery:

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro1,1

Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 4731
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 0
Health Information:
Cycle count: 3
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1890
Voltage (mV): 11904

(1 minute later, this)
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 4695
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 5289
Health Information:
Cycle count: 3
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 0

Eh??? 0 Volts, 0 Amps = no power, machine is off. But here I am using it....

Having perused a lot of this thread, it appears that there is mix of users who really DO have a bad battery (that displays nearly identical symptoms) and users who have good batteries and some other mystery problem. SL seems possible, but I'm at 10.6.4...

Weird. Disappointing, too.

I did the upgrade to SL and i got the message... but i have 280 cicles so i think is't ok that the message appears... but the mac with leopard last 3hrs and now in SL only 1:15... i did the downgrade... so install Leopard again, reset SMC, start with  + alt + p + r, and the battery now last 1:30 to 1:45 max... so something happens with the battery in the process...

So.. if i buy a new battery, and upgrade to SL.. this will happen again?, i notice a firmware upgrade recently (1.4), for new batery chargers.. but maybe is a upgrade for this problem too?? (obviusly the official release of this doens't mention that)

if anyone know about that, please tell.. so with the firmware we can now upgrade an bought a new battery without worries..

cya

this is just ridiculous...
is there any official answer to that from apple? this is very disappointing..

can anyone tell me if buying a new battery changes something or is somebody having the same problems with a new battery?

The new MacBook Pro computers (i5 and i7) offer a new option that seems to substantially improve battery life:

http://donmontalvo.com/apple/i5i7_energy_saveroption.jpg

Of course this is of no use to pre-i5/i7 Macs, but just an observation. Perhaps the improvements in Snow Leopard came with overhead that pre-i5/i7 computers simply can't deal with.

Don

I see people are still replying to this thread and encountering this issue. Off and on at the beginning of this thread I was screaming about how Snow Leopard had ruined my battery. Still in my gut, I do believe it did, but I have no proof. Since I don't have proof, I do accept the possibility that the battery was already going bad, and that Snow Leopard simply does a better job of relaying that the battery is bad.

That said, what I DO know is that installing a new battery absolutely fixed the problem. On April 30th, I posted the battery information below 25 days after I installed a NewerTech battery on my 2006 (old school, I know) MacBook Pro. Now that it's about 6 months later, I thought I'd provide an update.


Battery Information:

Model Information:
Serial Number:

Manufacturer: NewerTech
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 8641
PCB Lot Code: 1a20
Firmware Version: ff14
Hardware Revision: 0011
Cell Revision: 00c8
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 2662
Fully charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full charge capacity (mAh): 5455
Health Information:
Cycle count: 51
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 1611
Voltage (mV): 11561

As you can see, my battery seems to be doing great! And I do not have any Check Battery or Service Battery messages at all.

I do not believe that Apple is going to come out and offer new batteries to anyone, or issue any sort of 'fix' through software update. If you really want to fix the problem, bite the bullet and get a new battery. I know it *****, but based on my findings, you won't have the issue any more.

Sorry, I was under the impression that relying to my April 30th post would show my old battery information in my new post. It didn't. So below is my battery info as it looked on April 30th 2010:

Battery Information:

Model Information:
Serial Number:

Manufacturer: NewerTech
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 8641
PCB Lot Code: 1a20
Firmware Version: ff14
Hardware Revision: 0011
Cell Revision: 00c8
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 5819
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 5826
Health Information:
Cycle count: 11
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12525

I don't see the model # of your Mac - can you share that?

My new battery got REALLY bizarre. It's not a NewerTech - I kinda regret that but still... Symptoms are that I cannot power the machine on with just the battery. Last week, I powered it on (adaptor connected, new battery in and charged) and it would start to boot and then wham - shut off.

While I used it, I did not get the Service Battery ALL the time, but it would come on and then off at random.

I decided to give up on that battery. What the heck do you do with that??? I doubt the dealer would take it back.

Arg.

My model information, from System Profiler:

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro2,2
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.16 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 3 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz

Info from Mactracker:

Introduced: October 2006
Discontinued: June 2007
Model Identifier: MacBookPro2,2
Model number: A1211
Order number: MA609LL

I hate to hear what's happening with your battery. It's not a Sony battery is it? I think the Sony made "official" batteries that were sold at Apple stores and third party retailers seem to be the ones that have had the problems. How long have you had it? If you have the receipt and have bought it recently, I don't see a reason why you can't take it back. Really, the smartest thing to do is try to get to an Apple Store and buy one there. Then if things go bad, there is no doubt they'll take it back if it's within 90 days.

I bought a NewerTech battery specifically to avoid the Sony made official batteries. After I bought it and posted about it in this thread, someone replied that the official ones offered stores or available through the online Apple store are no longer made by Sony. If I had known that, I would have probably gone official over a third party - just to be a bit safer in terms of return options. That said, I have no regrets with the NewerTech battery at all. It looks like the real deal when installed, and as I posted, is working beautifully.

Ok, so yours is a generation later. Dunno if that's the issue for me.

The battery I purchased does not say Sony, just 'Made in China'. I've little knowledge of where these companies get them. I got 2 - one for me, one for my daughter's MacBook (black, not pro). Her's seems to be ok, tho she does not get any reliable indication of charge or time left. She's also running 10.5.x.

I may contact the company. I would not expect they'd take it back - after all, hard to tell if it is that battery or my machinery/software.

Next time, though, I think a Newertech is the ticket. I've had good luck with them. It was 2x the cost of the one I got. Meh.

I have a 2 years old macbook pro and my original battery asks for service it has 31% health and 186 cycles, does apple replaces this battery?

TUAW just posted a piece about an experience with a battery and getting it replaced:

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/10/27/applecare-adventures-how-to-get-a-faulty-macbook- battery-replac/

Maybe some pointers in how to deal with Apple and get your battery replaced.

I'm on battery number 2 (both purchased from the Apple Store so they were official replacements) since Snow Leopard upgrade. First battery lasted 48 cycles then died completely - wouldn't even acknowledge there was a battery in there. I use my computer intermittently so I thought, hey, my fault. Bought a new battery which I installed a week ago. I'm getting the "Replace Battery Now" message, and weird stuff like having 62% power left according to both the OS and Coco but the computer shuts down and won't start up until I plug in the power cord. The battery has a grand total of 3 load cycles on it (2 from calibrating it). Yes, I've reset the PRAM.

Snow Leopard messed up something with the early 2008 MBPros. That's all there is to it. I hate to say it but I'm thinking about a netbook next time. I'd love an iPad - but what if a software update in the future messes up that battery? At least with a netbook I know what I'm getting into.

Message was edited by: AuKestrel

This topic has been running on for so long without any Apple contributions that perhaps we all should look elsewhere for our next 'puter. I say this with reluctance. I've been driving a Mac for 25 years this month.

But since I 'upgraded' from OSX5.8 to 6.3 ten days ago, I've been having the same 'service battery' warning as reported above.

Apple has made some really disappointing decision over the years--Making OSX more Windows-like than Mac-like (why can't I change the Finder's font), and killing support for Classic (I still find old files I want to use, but cannot use the app--MSWord 5.1--that could).

But not responding to a potentially serious and not cheap problem like this, ...

I don't know...

I also had the same problem about 10 days after upgrading my early 2009 macbook to snow leopard. Suddenly my battery life went from 3-4 hours one day to 1 hour the next, accompanied by all the symptoms mentioned - suddenly shutting down instead of sleeping, "service battery" message etc. I don't believe for a second that such a sudden deterioration is caused by natural ageing of the battery. Snow Leopard is a battery killer. My friendly mac store technician told me he has personally done testing with a bunch of different macbooks and batteries and consistantly reproduces battery death on upgrading to snow leopard. I got a free replacement battery under apple care and made sure I reinstalled OSX 10.5 before fitting it.

Absolutely disgusted that we can have 92 pages of this thread over more than a year, and 4 (5?) updates of Snow Leopard and this very serious fault is still not fixed. Shame on you Apple.

I'm so ****** off right now. 6 months ago I stalk the Apple in the Netherlands, they are telling me they won't service my battery since it's out of warranty. Battery drops from 84% to 60% etc. I order a new battery. 100 euro's.

The new battery didn't even fix the problem. Now im stuck again. 1.5-2 hours max.

What can actually be done? Now i'm stuck at calling Apple service line again, and of course: costs come on top of the regular phone tariff.

//Disgusted by Apple atm