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

..after this last calibration my new info in power profile:

Model Information:
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0002
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 1428
Fully charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full charge capacity (mAh): 4963
Health Information:
Cycle count: 121
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 2523
Voltage (mV): 12028

...and now after fully charging, next day:

Battery Information:

Model Information:
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0002
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 4880
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 4963
Health Information:
Cycle count: 121
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12404

...so yeah, this must be a software thing rather than a problem with the battery.

...and to follow up, used it on battery for a few hours...plugged it in and it AGAIN says "service battery"...d'oh!

I did this - drain battery to 0%, then reset smc, reset pram, connect charger leave it charge to 18%, disconnect charger for 5sec and SERVICE BATTERY is LOST.

yea, but as noted above, it will probably come back.

Don't know if anyone else has tried this, but I upgraded to 10.6.6, calibrated the battery, and have been problem-free for three days. Before that the "Service Battery" warning was coming on every hour or two.

Message was edited by: tjniels

...already done both...Service Battery is still there while on AC ...and gone only while on battery.

...and now when I quickly take it off AC power, the Service Battery message is gone again...we'll see how long that lasts....

Hi,
i've been having the Service Battery problem for the best part of about 4 - 5 months. I have a refurbished model macbook pro late 2008 - the first unibody model, that i got around september 2009. I have just checked and i have apple care on this model up until 2012.
Is it worth taking it in?

I've had no "service battery" message or other battery problem during the past 2 weeks since getting a new battery. This is a significant change from my experience with my first two batteries (the first was the battery that was in my MacBook Pro when I purchased it new and the second one was a replacement battery that I received from Apple under my AppleCare agreement).

After the Mac Genius had diagnosed a defective battery, I was faced with the choice of either paying $99 for a refurbished battery (which required that I leave the defective battery at the Apple Store) or $129 for a new one (which allowed me to keep the defective battery). Given my suspicion that the battery I had received a year ago under AppleCare was also a refurbished one, I decided to get a new battery.

If my suspicion is true that batteries received from AppleCare are refurbished rather than new, therein lies a possible explanation regarding the problems that some people with MacBooks running Snow Leopard have been experiencing. Consider the possibility that Snow Leopard, as people on Apple's support pages have suggested, is more sensitive to battery problems compared to earlier OS and thus would be more likely to identify a battery as defective. Then, consider the possibility that refurbishing a battery would restore the cells to capacity but not correct other problems the battery may have. Consequently, bad batteries would be "refurbished" and returned to the supply chain only to re-create the original problem for a different user.

Here is information about my current battery over a 2-week period:


Battery Information: 1/31/10

Model Information:
Manufacturer: SMP
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0002
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0110
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0200
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 5422
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 5431
Health Information:
Cycle count: 1
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12566

Battery Information: 1/2/11

Model Information:
Manufacturer: SMP
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0002
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0110
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0200
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 5442
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 5459
Health Information:
Cycle count: 2
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12560

Battery Information: 1/3/11

Model Information:
Manufacturer: SMP
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0002
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0110
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0200
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 5448
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 5448
Health Information:
Cycle count: 3
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12570

Battery Information: 1/11/11

Model Information:
Manufacturer: SMP
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0002
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0110
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0200
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 5437
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 5437
Health Information:
Cycle count: 5
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12576

Battery Information: 1/12/11

Model Information:
Manufacturer: SMP
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0002
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0110
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0200
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 5447
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 5447
Health Information:
Cycle count: 5
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12580

After not seeing the Service Battery message for a couple of days, the computer has shut off on battery power twice without warning (before it had "officially" run out)....now the Service Battery message is back.

..My MacBook Pro is out of warranty so I guess that means I have to spring for a new one...this battery is about a year old...NOT GOOD APPLE!!!

...BTW people keep saying they have to pay $129 for a new one....here in Toronto it is $159.00 (plus %13 tax)..and the Canadian dollar is currently worth MORE than the US dollar! This just gets worse and worse!

I don't want to bring bad luck to you but I bought a NEW battery 8 months ago and last week, after 32 cycles, it began to show the "Service battery" issue....
The problem IS still there and Apple doesn't care....

My replacement lasted the same number of cycles as the original battery (about 150) before crapping out.

Of course my logic board died in December so I have bigger problems now.

****, after calibration, the battery dropped to 3191mah from 4122mAh, the service battery still here. my macbook pro 15" is 31 months old