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

Hi ErvDoggie,

I've been to the local Apple Store and I will hopefully get a new battery next week. I will report back then ...

So, whatever happens about the problem, I will have a new battery

Regards
RIP

Just for info here is my profiler data - this is my second battery (replaced under warranty Nov 2008). Previous battery became unstable after just under 1 years use.

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): 2022
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 4940
Health Information:
Cycle count: 74
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1588
Voltage (mV): 11076

Full charge capacity has been fluctuating between 2000 mAh and >5000 mAh!

Message was edited by: tgarcez

Hello again,

only a few hours since my last post. Still on the old damaged battery.

But now:

Batterie-Informationen:

Informationen zum Batteriemodell:
Hersteller: SMP
Gerätename: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0002
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware-Version: 0102
Hardware-Version: 0500
Zellen-Version: 0200
Informationen zum Ladezustand:
Verbleibende Ladung (in mAh): 2963
Vollständig geladen: Nein
Batterie wird geladen: Nein
Volle Ladekapazität (in mAh): 4608
Informationen zum Batteriezustand:
Anzahl der Zyklen: 67
Zustand: Gut
Batterie ist installiert: Ja
Stromverbrauch (in mA): -1621
Spannung (in mV): 11546

Now battery is again displayed as good, no warning. 84% health, which seems realistic.

Does this usually happen if the battery is getting to old? This jumping between 84 and 60 or less health?
I am sure tomorrow it will be again bad and Service Battery will be there.

Really strange.

RIP

ErvDoggie -

Here is what the System Profiler says:

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): 5306
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 5581
Health Information:
Cycle count: 0
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1555
Voltage (mV): 12083

All is well now. And a brand new battery with a 0 cycle count! Sweet.

Junipero XVII:

Thanks soo much for posting the info from the System Profiler. Its good to see they are taking care of this.

Being a "stats" person, I like to see what the differences are and what conditions are leading to battery replacement even out of warranty--as it should be.

As long as people are posting their system profiler info, we can get an informal poll of those getting batteries replaced, and if we share similar or exact battery stats.

I'm getting a hunch this might be more of what we've seen before under the Battery Exchange program when the batteries were first released from 2006/2007 when I got my early 2006 Black MacBook Core Duo, which I've already had a battery replaced once under the exchange program.

It looks like a battery issue could very well be the case, as I'm sure there are only a few million of them out there in the world Only time will tell, after those who got replacements continue to monitor their battery performance and report back.

Just looking at your new stats, I see your new battery pretty much has the same stats as those batteries still having problems.

For the most part your:

Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0000
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0110
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0303

...all fit inside/match the stats of those batteries having problems as of today. The exception being you have 0 cycle count and of course new capacity.

Replacing a battery with the same stats as those still having problems doesn't seem a likely solution, as I've seen posts where people have gotten new batteries only to have the problem persist. Not to jinx you or anything!

I liken this battery replacement to the "Firestone Tire Recall" back in 2000 we had here in the States on the Ford Explorers--for defective Firestone tires blowing out causing deaths and injuries.

Just because the tire is "brand new" doesn't matter if it still has the manufacturing defects as those made at the same time.

Not that your MacBook will lead to a nasty car crash or anything like that

I'd perform an SMC Reset with the new battery so the controller can learn about its capacity, and continue monitoring it with "coconut battery meter".

The cool thing about the Coconut app, is that you can take "snapshots" of your battery condition over a period of time.

If you choose to do that, you can monitor it over the next few weeks/months in addition to your actual "battery run time" to see if you are getting most of your runtime back.

Look forward to seeing if replacing the battery with a model of the same batch having issues truly does solve the problems.

If nothing else, at least you'd hopefully get improved runtime vs. before, and hopefully no random shutdowns due to increased capacity in the new battery.

Good luck!

-Erv

This is nice. I have done nothing and my battery has fixed itself!

Coconut Battery:

Nov 11/09 - 50% (2068 mAh)
Nov 13/09 - 79% (3249 mAh)


Battery Information:
Model Information:
Serial Number: 9G848049Y3NYB
Manufacturer: DP
Device name: bq20z951
Pack Lot Code: 0000
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 002a
Hardware Revision: 0005
Cell Revision: 0100
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 3189
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 3249
Health Information:
Cycle count: 127
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1138
Voltage (mV): 12226

hey there,
2 days ago my batt was all down to 58%, now I´m up on 81% again! had this changing going on twice now. before that, I had the "service battery"- advice for months!

during that time I´ve tried everything too: resetting pram, (calibration not possible because of sudden shutdowns), deleting the power management prefs and installing 10.5.8 on my external hard drive. From what I´ve experienced especially running 10.5.8 again does not help, I guess SL has done something to the battery or whatever...

...last time my battery showed up in "good condition", I tried using the MBP on the battery in order to calibrate the batt, but had - surprise surprise - a sudden shutdown at about 75%.

So far I can reproduce the following (= happens every single time)

- sudden shutdown at 61-62% battery charge while running on battery and "service battery" sign present, battery at a claimed 58% health.

- sudden shutdown at 75% battery charge while running on battery and NO "service battery" saying present, battery at a claimed 81% health.

here are my updated system profiler info as my battery is in "good condition" right now (only until next restart i guess)

see ya,
phil

Informationen zum Batteriemodell:
Hersteller: Sony
Gerätename: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0000
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware-Version: 0110
Hardware-Version: 0500
Zellen-Version: 0303
Informationen zum Ladezustand:
Verbleibende Ladung (in mAh): 4388
Vollständig geladen: Ja
Batterie wird geladen: Nein
Volle Ladekapazität (in mAh): 4574
Informationen zum Batteriezustand:
Anzahl der Zyklen: 91
Zustand: Gut
Batterie ist installiert: Ja
Stromverbrauch (in mA): 0
Spannung (in mV): 12306

Okay. I was having 2 problems. The first was the battery issue, then I got nailed with the Nvidia chip problem (black screen of nothingness). I made a Genius Bar appointment and they confirmed the Nvidia issue.

My laptop was gone for about 5 days and Apple replaced the logic board, RAM, keyboard and part of the case. Sweet.

They downgraded my OS (from 10.6.1 to 10.5.8) which was weird but I have the disc so I can fix that without much cause. Used the laptop for 1 day and POOF! the battery craps out today at 89%.

They ran diagnostics both at Apple at in store to make sure the computer was good to go home. They checked the battery without showing a problem. Again, they replaced the logic board. This is not a SL issue as I'm not running SL right now and the thing just died on me 10 minutes ago.

I've made anothing Genius Bar appointment for Monday so we'll see if they address the problem.

For the record I have 2 batteries, one that came with the laptop and a new one I purchased as a backup. The problem exists with both batteries. The problem persists regardless of usage (when just sitting idle, in sleep mode, or under heavy use). I believe this to be a software issue due to these conditions though it is clearly not a Snow Leopard problem.

Exact same issues - Battery started at 5900 mah (of 6300 originally) about 10 Days ago, and now looses 500 mAh a day currently. Apple Germany refused to replace it, and just put me on the "we do not know yet whats going on " escalation list. At this rate, the Laptop will become unusable soon and I have to get a new battery and hope it will got get ruined again.

Laptop goes into a hard shutdown at random times now, after about 1h use, with no warning. 2-3 Weeks ago I was using it for 3h at a time roughly still.

Model Information:
Manufacturer: SMP
Device name: ASMB014
Pack Lot Code: 0002
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0110
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0102
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 840
Fully charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full charge capacity (mAh): 3346
Health Information:
Cycle count: 293
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 3290
Voltage (mV): 11519

Hey there Phil:

Thanks for posting your battery stats from System Profiler. I don't exactly read German, but the data is still the same for the most part in the relevant fields.

With only 91 Cycles, your battery should in theory still be in decent shape. All batteries lose performance overtime--the question is has it been calibrated every two months or so according to Apple during its life.

I use my trusty early 2006 Core Duo MacBook on A/C most of the time, so calibration every 60 days is key for me.

I think that is the only reason I might be escaping the "Service Battery" message for now--however, my system doesn't hibernate like it used to under Leopard when the battery gets low, and I don't get the low battery warning anymore.

Battery gets zapped all the way down to "0" without soo much as a warning despite watching the logs and the early warning at 20% which gets recorded in the PSLog. The OS is not taking the appropriate action according to what the logs are showing me.

I'm running another test right now with a bit more logging and usage. We'll see if it hibernates or goes completely dark (again) despite a 3rd calibration attempt. I'll report the results once its done.

Your battery stats show 4388 mAh charge of a max capacity of mAh of 4574 mAh. That says the battery is capable of charging to 95% of its current capacity which should be an excellent thing.

You can give this a shot:

1) Give the battery a full charge on A/C and if you can leave it plugged in on A/C for 24 hours--usage is okay, it just needs to be plugged in for a good charge.

2) Before unplugging it download "Coconut Battery" and record a snapshot of what it says your battery stats are. The neat thing about this app is that you can keep a history of the last 12 or so stats over time. You may also choose to snapshot your system profiler stats for it at the time as well and save those.

3) Power down your system and start it up on battery. After about 5 minutes, make a note of the time remaining or battery/percentage (I started a timer on my stop watch & I monitored the PSLog to get play by play charging details just to see how long it would go before it either hibernated or went dark).

4) Use a chronograph timer/watch while on battery to see if you're getting anywhere near the amount of time it says its "estimating" you will until it goes out/hibernate.

5) When if it goes out/hibernate, unplug the battery and let it sit for 3 hours (overnight if you can).

6) Not sure what model laptop you have, but this is the time I did a recalibration-- on my early 2006 MacBook Core Duo, I held the power button for 10 seconds the next morning with the battery out.

7) I then plugged the battery back in, then reconnected to A/C power and used it plugged in for 3 days (I work from home so that part isn't too hard). 24 Hours should be sufficient, but I did 3 days just because of how chaotic my results were prior.

The next time you use it on battery, use Coconut Battery/System Profiler and snapshot your stats, see if your runtime has improved, and if you can, use it for as long as you can in one session until it goes out, hibernates (make a note), or if your random shut downs persist.

I did that and I got quite a bit more stability. My current test will tell whether or not the "accuracy" of my battery management has improved and if that process had any real long term affects in my case.

I'll report more on my current test running right now just to share with people on what I've noticed in my particular case.

Either way, the system should not just power off. It should "hibernate" just like it used to regardless of a bad battery.

If I only get 30 minutes out of a charge, so be it. I want 30 minutes and then hibernate. Not this random lose my data garbage because of power loss.

What type of MB do you have Phil, and when was it purchased?

JoeZilch:

Wow, your situation sounds a bit extreme. I haven't seen any posts where people have replaced logic boards in addition to the battery issue--an exception for sure based on what people have posted.

Unfortunately there are no system profiler of coconut battery meter stats posted on either of the two batteries.

Also unsure of what model MacBook these batteries are used in or when the system was purchased so we can see where the two batteries/MacBook purchased fall in the make/model/cycle charge etc. as those who have posted.

There are a lot of possibilities--one of them could be the batteries have "always" been this way.

The new software might be interpreting the battery data differently, and has no idea of how to read them properly and make Operating System adjustments as needed or respond accordingly.

Working with this issue and a community at large reminds me of my tech days at IBM. Unfortunately I'm not an Apple Employee sitting in a bench lab with MacBooks at my disposal This could be a lot of fun.

It'd be good to see if having the logic board replaced has anything to do with it at all, although highly unlikely given that none of us has needed one prior to the SL update.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Phil:

I thought I'd share with you and everyone else the results of my recalibration and battery run time test this evening. (grab a beer or some other beverage while you read!)

System details - I have an early 2006 MacBook Core Duo w/2Gigs of RAM and a 7200 RPM Seagate 200 Gig Drive. I've also had my original battery replaced during the Battery Exchange Program when the batteries were diagnosed as faulty in 2006/2007 (battery stats below).

I've also diligently calibrated my battery every 60 days since the exchange to ensure I cared for the battery properly. I even went a step further and bought an "Antec laptop cooler'" since the early MacBooks had the heating problem. This kept the bottom of my MacBook cool as I use it in clamshell mode (lid down) most of the time for business in my office.

The battery challenge my system had with the upgrade to SL seems to have been two-fold.

1, My MacBook stopped Hibernating in a low battery state; and
2, I no longer received low battery warnings.

On my "third" calibration attempt, I did a few things differently, and a bit more scientifically for my own purposes.

Once I suspected something wasn't right with the battery usage I was receiving after SL, and completely losing power (and my unsaved data), I charged it for 72 hours non-stop on A/C.

Just to make sure I wasn't crazy (and before I found this forum) I then used my system on battery to confirm my suspicions, and it completely quit again without hibernating or giving me a low battery warning. The power outage caught me by surprise more than anything since I'm not used to my MacBook going "dark" all of a sudden as if it blew something.

At that time I removed the dead battery and left everything disconnected/unplugged overnight to do a well thought out battery calibration the next day.

I let the dead battery sit by itself disconnected overnight with everything else unplugged (12 hours at least) until the next day before putting it back in the MacBook and recharging and leaving the A/C in for 3 days solid.

I re-calibrated before replacing the battery--pressed the Power Button down for 15 seconds (model specific on the calibration/SMC reset)

I then replaced the battery, plugged it in to charge, and used my system as normal, with the exception of the A/C being plugged in for no less than "72 hours" again without removing it not one time.

I then ran my own tests to see if I could restore some amount of battery runtime that I had prior to the SL update by doing the following:


1 - After keeping the MacBook plugged in on A/C continuously for 3 days, I got some software tools. I had CoconutBattery available (didn't learn about this utility until this forum) and I used iStat Pro (another system utility monitoring widget I use regularly).

I shutdown my MacBook, disconnected it from A/C and set myself up for wireless use in my house at the dining room table. I wanted to work wirelessly for as long as I could until it quit again.

2 - I got two time tracking devices, a) My chronograph watch & b) An egg timer. I also use a wireless Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse.

3 - I started up my trusty Black MacBook Core Duo, logged in, noted the system time and waited "5 minutes" before starting the chronograph to track the total time usage. I waited 5 minutes to give the system a chance to stabilize once I've opened up the tools I was going to use.

I adjusted the volume on my speakers to max (although nothing was playing) and I set my brightness to 75% of maximum. With brightness at "0" its 16 clicks to full bright on my MacBook Core Duo. I set it 4 clicks from the maximum to get 75% of brightness.

I then looked at my battery meter in the toolbar up top for remaining battery runtime, and after 5 minutes I set the egg timer to match the runtime remaining and hit start. This would give me some idea of how accurate the power management monitoring is judging my remaining battery runtime.

I also hit start on the chronograph after 5 minutes so they would both be running at the same time. The chronograph would give me total running time to the end when I hit stop on it, regardless of what the battery meter "thought" I had left.

4 - For the duration of the test, I only used Firefox, Safari, Mail and Address Book, with Coconut Battery, Activity Monitor, iStat Pro and a few other widgets that run on Dashboard (I'm a techie can't ya tell?!)

Mail is configured to check every 15 minutes. I launched Coconut Battery Meter in the background, and launched my terminal window so I could monitor battery drain real time with the following command (no quotes) "pmset -g pslog". If there were any weird power spikes or percentage drops I wanted to know when they were happening.

With activity monitor, I opened the CPU Usage and CPU History windows to see what my processors were doing real time. I changed the update frequency to every 1 second and stretched the history window all the way across the bottom of my screen.

If something was going on that was hitting my CPUs hard for a period of time, I wanted to see it and for how long. The CPU Usage window was just to keep an eye on real time processing power requirements.

5 - Okay, from there, I just went about business as usual. For the entire run time, I surfed, responded to posts on some sites that I'm on and responded to a few folks here on this site. Did some email, researched some other things and otherwise surfed wirelessly. Nothing CPU Intensive at all.

The results (first the good news)

Activity Monitor

Nothing unusual there at all in the CPU History. Just spikes here and there to 40%--otherwise completely normal. CPU Activity also hovered between 10 - 30%. Again, nothing out of the ordinary indicating SL is kicking the CPUs in the pants and requiring soo much power the battery can't track how quickly its draining.

Egg Timer

After 5 minutes, my system reported 2:57 run time, nearly 3 hours. Considering I hadn't done much at that point it made sense. By the time the test was over, it was only off 11 minutes and 33 seconds. Considering the computer cannot predict what I would be doing from moment to moment, that is pretty good by my standards. It is an estimate after all.

Chronograph

The Chronograph on the other hand (and to my surprise) reported 2 hours and 45 minutes total runtime. Not bad for a battery that Coconut meter says holds only 84% of its original capacity. Mind you, I'm "meticulous" about my batteries. I also have an Antec Laptop Cooler my MacBook sits parked on 24/7, and I recalibrate it every 2 months.

Terminal Window/PS Log

The terminal window showed a nice and steady consistent drain percentage-wise. The time "remaining" however was all over the map at some times, but I have a theory.

For example, at 77% remaining charge, the log reported 1:46 remaining, 2:08 remaining, 1:59 remaining. While I'm not scientist or have any clue why the time is reported all over the place like that, my guess is that real time power draw is the cause.

For example, if email (I have 8 accounts) was downloading, a web page was rendering (or any of the other 32 windows I had open between Safari and Firefox) had to process something, a 'snapshot' of that workload indicated the appropriate amount of runtime remaining based on what the computer was doing at that moment.

That means, the minute that workload finished processing, the next snap shot would indicate more runtime remaining compared to just a moment ago. My theory anyhow

Low Battery Warning

Also to my surprise was the return of the "Low Battery" pop up warning I used to get. Who knows how long this will last. The PS Log shows the early warning logged when the battery hit 22% remaining.

It wasn't until the warning hit "6%" that I got the Pop Up Window which was nice. I was tempted to end the test there, but of course, I have two issues--the second issue was "no hibernation".

I kept working in hopes of the system "hibernating" as it should, but no dice. It went completely "black" again.


So what does all this mean?

For me personally, there is more testing I'll have to run to see if I get similar results to this test. I did get more than 2.5 hours out of it with Snow Leopard running, and plenty of notice when the low power pop up window showed itself.

The not soo good news, is that if I don't "double-time" it to the power supply or shut the lid and force hibernation, I risk losing any unsaved data.

I love using my system to the very last drop, and I want the system to "hibernate" as it should to protect loss of data when the battery reaches that low state. Pre-SL, there was a terminal command that you could use to control when the system hibernates (Hibernate Free Ratio). Essentially, when the battery reaches percent "x" then hibernate.

This setting was a blessing, because I set it at 10%. No matter what, when the battery hit 10% remaining it automatically hibernated. Only time will tell how Apple decides to handle all this.

If my system would only hibernate the way it used to, I'd have "0" problems with the battery situation. I'll run more tests in the not too distant future and report back then.

I say run a good "thorough" battery calibration the way I did, then re-run the test and see if your random power outages cease and/or your battery runtime increases significantly the way mine did.

We'll see if test number 2 returns similar results. For now, its reboot from my external drive, re-index my main drive, and restart so my Search Indexes don't stay broken.

Here are my battery stats as a result of this last test. I waited until it was fully charged to take this snapshot. In the last 4 snapshots I took with CoconutBattery over the past week, my max capacity went from 87%, to 81%, to 84%, to 89% as of this test. Maybe it was always like this, but due to my watching it more closely, its being noticed.

Battery Information:

Model Information:
Manufacturer: DP
Device name: ASMB016
Pack Lot Code: 0002
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0102
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 4469
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 4469
Health Information:
Cycle count: 184
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 120
Voltage (mV): 12618

Same problem.
Since I updated to Snow Leopard, my battery, from 5100 mAh drops to 2600 mAh. Some days back to normal state (not 5100 but max 4800 mAh) other days was impossible work with battery (1000 mAh!!!).
I don't know if is a snow leopard problem, but as it is possible, our batteries drop the performarce all togheter?
Now, I have reinstalled Leopard (10.5.8) and after 2 calibrations, the situation is improved but always strange. When my macbook start, the battery is about 3500 mAh, after few minutes it comes back to 4600 mAh, and I can use my macbook pro for 3 hours.

I post my system profiler info (sorry, they are in Italian, but I think that is possible understand all the important values).

Good luck to every guys...
Sorry for my English..

MacBook Pro (late 2007), battery life 13 mouth (the original was replaced in care)

Informazioni batteria:

Informazioni sul modello:
Numero di serie: Sony-ASMB012-3916-145
Produttore: Sony
Nome dispositivo: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0001
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Versione firmware: 0110
Revisione hardware: 0500
Revisione cella: 0303
Informazioni sulla carica:
Carica restante (mAh): 2972
Carica completa: No
In carica: No
Capacità a carica completa (mAh): 4558
Informazioni sulle condizioni della batteria:
Conteggio cicli: 103
Condizione: Buona
Batteria installata: Sì
Amperaggio (mA): -1127
Voltaggio (mV): 11524

Impostazioni d’alimentazione del sistema:

Corrente alternata (AC):
Timer per la messa in Stop del sistema (minuti): 10
Timer per la messa in Stop del disco (minuti): 10
Timer per la messa in Stop del monitor (minuti): 10
Riavvio automatico in caso di perdita di energia: No
Riattiva se cambia la corrente alternata: No
Riattiva aprendo lo schermo: Sì
Riattiva se connesso a LAN: Sì
Lo stop del monitor usa l'attenuazione di luminosità: Sì
Batteria:
Timer per la messa in Stop del sistema (minuti): 10
Timer per la messa in Stop del disco (minuti): 10
Timer per la messa in Stop del monitor (minuti): 3
Riattiva se cambia la corrente alternata: No
Riattiva aprendo lo schermo: Sì
Lo stop del monitor usa l'attenuazione di luminosità: Sì
Riduci la luminosità: Sì

Configurazione hardware:

UPS installata: No

Informazioni sul dispositivo di ricarica CA:

Collegato: No
In carica: No

Hey ervDoggie,
i habe a MBP 2,4 Ghz,it is 21 months old. I never had ANY Problems whatssoever(besides a broken Power Adapter being replaced under warrenty in April09). I use the MBP mostly plugged in,but i let The battery drain every once in a while. so really,calibration should not be the Problem. I "real" calibration process isn't possible anyways is it,since i always get sudden shutdowns?....hhm. But hey,thanx a lot for your calibration Tips and stats!
phil

Hi Dolly79:

I don't read Italian unfortunately, so its a bit tough to decipher exactly what the stats say. From what I was able to tell from your post, it would appear you have decent battery runtime??

There is no question the "stats" on the batteries are being reported all over the map, however I'd suggest using the "CoconutBattery" application to take snapshots of your battery after its fully charged over the next few weeks/months.

According to the post, it appears you can use your battery for a decent amount of time?? With only 103 Cycles, the battery should be in decent shape. Laptop batteries should be calibrated ever two months or so, especially if they are plugged in most of the time.

How much battery runtime are you experiencing now after two calibrations? My situation improved drastically after "3" calibrations--we'll see how long that lasts.