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

As you can see there is no solution so far, this forum is to discuss the problems and see if between us (as Apple has not made a move yet) we can find out what the problem is, if you want a solution go buy a new battery, that will probably do it for you. Otherwise please try and be more well-mannered when writing here.

I took mine in to an Apple Genius today. I made it clear that i knew how to calibrate a battery and my cycle count was low (around 80). His battery diagnostics showed that the battery needed service. I was out of warranty, but because the situation seemed quite odd he replaced the battery free of charge. It looks like some people are having luck with this method and some aren't. I would recommend giving a genius a try if you have an Apple Store anywhere near by. The diagnostic stuff is all free, so its certainly worth the risk.

I have the same issue...Here is my info:

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz

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): 3400
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 3893
Health Information:
Cycle count: 224
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1074
Voltage (mV): 11915

Hi, me again,

I wrote before about my problem with battery lasting less with snow leopard. I would like to add that when the computer is sleeping, it’s consuming a lot of battery since leopard. Sometimes I have to plug it back to power source to wake it up because the battery is depleted.

As my battery is 2 years old and has 220 cycles, its normal that its not in a good shape. Still don't get why it works well with leopard and not with snow leopard.

Just to add my 2p worth and hope this thread gets Apple's attention....

My Service Battery flag has appeared since upgrading to Snow. No indication of any problem before then, and I haven't noticed any otherise unusual behaviour.

Battery life appears unchanged.

Diag info in case Apple want to make comparisons:-

Model Information:
Manufacturer: SMP
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0002
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0102
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0200
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 3265
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 3265
Health Information:
Cycle count: 264
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 149
Voltage (mV): 12616


Cheers.

I have it as well, I have an early 2008 Macbook Pro with a battery that was working great before snow leopard. I have applecare so I decided to call in, they acted like they had not knowledge of the problem but was willing to replace my battery (with putting a hold on my credit card) under warranty. I only have 103 Cycles on the battery. Here is hoping that it fixes it. I can't believe that it's a battery problem but I'll go with it for now.

Same problem here.

Stats.

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): 2809
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 3155
Health Information:
Cycle count: 129
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -3982
Voltage (mV): 11369

Will try and find a mac store on miami beach tomorrow. Ugh.
Think i am just out of warranty... by like a week.

G~

First upon unplugging, it said i had 40 minutes to work.
Now it says 13 minutes left and... 61% charge remaining.

Software.
Ooy.

I have contacted apple care and gave them the link to this thread. The tech was not aware and was willing to send me a new battery. We decided that a new battery may not solve the problem and he asked me to send "capture data" so my info can be analyzed by someone with better knowledge.

My battery was good and now says it needs to be replaced after SL upgrade. Apple will hopefully be calling me tomorrow with an explanation. The thread really made an impact with applecare. Hopefully they will hear us and come up with a solution.

I also now have "Service Battery". It is less than a year old. Been running it down as I should. I am on MacBookPro2,2. Here is my battery stats:

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): 1214
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 4317
Health Information:
Cycle count: 42
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -2607
Voltage (mV): 10157

Same issue here:

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro3,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP31.0070.B07
SMC Version (system): 1.18f5
Serial Number (system): W8725002YZ1
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-001EC20B4DB1
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

Battery Information:

Model Information:
Manufacturer: SMP
Device name: ASMB014
Pack Lot Code: 0002
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0102
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 4460
Fully charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full charge capacity (mAh): 4662
Health Information:
Cycle count: 246
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 579
Voltage (mV): 12583

I'm also having this problem. My battery was fine before SL. I took it to the Genius Bar earlier today and they were no help. Told me I have a bad battery and I had to replace it and since its out of warranty I have to pay for a brand new one.

Has anyone replaced there battery and got the same result?

"Has anyone replaced there battery and got the same result?"

Well since I am past my warranty period and am unable to find time to reach an Apple store in the next few weeks, I decided to risk buying a battery from eBay at the fraction of the cost.
I do think SL had altered something with my original battery, as like a lot of other people here, I only noticed freak premature shut-offs after SL's installation. I had the "service battery" warning btw too.
However, I installed the new battery and calibrated it as per Apple's own instructions, getting a good 4 hours use out of the battery on first use (and that was with the keyboard lit and doing various tasks). I eventually got the low battery warning and let it go to sleep over-night, then fully charging the next day. Since then I am using the battery on and off, and have made sure to set a reminder in iCal to calibrate once a month. The "service battery" warning disappeared with the new battery, and am now getting consistently good life out of it, same as before SL. So, there was indeed an issue with the previous battery. As to wether SL actually did anything to make the battery faulty I can't say.
All I know is the problem definitely gets fixed with a new one. The whole thing has made me more dubious about upgrading OS' from now on though.

One other thing. For a few months my trackpad has been suffering from being unresponsive sometimes when trying to single-tap. I had to double-tap (right-click) for the single tap to work again, so I assumed it was a software bug. However, since the new battery this hasn't happened once! So perhaps my old battery was pushing up against the trackpad as others have reported. With this in mind, perhaps my old battery WAS faulty before SL, and SL shut down prematurely as a safety measure maybe?

I'm not glad that this hasn't been solved yet but I AM glad that so many of you are having the same problem as me. My Service Battery warning just came on yesterday,though I don't seem to have the early shutoff problem...yet.

The same thing is happening to my MacBook ever since I installed snow leopard. It randomly switches between the service battery indicator and then will jump up to regular.

They need to fix this soon! I almost bought a new battery the other day.