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

I have three batteries for my Macbook Pro 1,1. The original has 677 cycles and Full charge capacity of 2670 mAh. The other two have been in use for a few weeks, have 23 and 42 cycles and show a full charge capacity in Snow Leopard of anywhere from 2000 to 5800 mAh, depending on when you look. All three batteries have erratic performance and quit unexpectedly anywhere from 10 seconds to two hours after disconnecting the charger. Here is an example from my newest battery:

Battery Information:
menu shows "Service Battery"

Model Information:
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0003
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0400
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
*Charge remaining (mAh): 1866*
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
*Full charge capacity (mAh): 2004*
Health Information:
Cycle count: 23
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12315

+*2 minutes later:*+

Battery Information:

Model Information:
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0003
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0400
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
*Charge remaining (mAh): 3286*
Fully charged: No
Charging: Yes
*Full charge capacity (mAh): 3520*
Health Information:
Cycle count: 23
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 1122
Voltage (mV): 12549

None of the suggestions here have solved the problem for me. I have gone back to 10.5.8, and all three batteries are working normally, just as before upgradeing to SL. The battery above shows a full charge capacity of 5820 running Leopard. The batteries don't seem to actually have any damage from all this. The local "Geniuses" (Southcenter Seattle) have not heard of this problem and have no idea how to fix it.

I've also a problem on the issue of the "Service battery checup", since downloading Snow Leopard. Battery time is dropping down fast! Resting time is 50% under time left in Leopard 10.5. Under Leopard it last almost 4 hours, now not even 2 hours!
I'me sure that battery is ok! Notation that battery needs checkup, then sometimes, al of a sudden like snow on a summers day it's gone, and resting time is good again! Time indication on my screen jumps up and down like a horse in a rodeoshow! This is not a normal bad battery reaction, I can say!
Now I emptied my battery, at least what de indication "said", until my computer (or Snow Leopard!?) shut-down it self. And then left it all night to "sleep", so it would be realy empty. This morning, I could still start it on the ("bad"??) battery!, and he indicated there'se still 2 hours working time left in it!??

It's frustrating, and it seems, there's still no solution for this problem! I've red a lot on different fora conserning this subject, it seems to be, there a lot of people whit problems on this issue!

I did'nt by this computer for playing Bingo with my battery load!
I'me even thinking to downloading back to 10.5!

Add mine to the list... battery lasts less than five minutes even though the battery has all the lights still on.

I only have 47 cycles and battery less than a year old. Irritating!

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Pro 15"
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
Boot ROM Version: MBP22.00A5.B07
SMC Version (system): 1.12f5
Serial Number (system): YD6450K3X6A
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-0017F2C83209
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled


Battery Information:

Model Information:
Serial Number: Sony-ASMB012-398c-14dc
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): 1811
Fully charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full charge capacity (mAh): 2100
Health Information:
Cycle count: 47
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 905
Voltage (mV): 12409

System Power Settings:

AC Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 0
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 20
Automatic Restart On Power Loss: No
Wake On AC Change: No
Wake On Clamshell Open: Yes
Wake On LAN: Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim: No
Battery Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 15
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 15
Wake On AC Change: No
Wake On Clamshell Open: Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim: No
Reduce Brightness: No

Hardware Configuration:

UPS Installed: No

AC Charger Information:

Connected: Yes
Charging: Yes

Hi there,

I just wanted to report, that I got a new battery. It was 30 month old and had just 67 cycles. I still had Apple Care, so I now have a new one with just 1 cycle.

I will report back, if there are any problems again. But I think it is solved for me.
My old battery was also fine 4 or 5 days before the replacement. No problems at all and 84% health. So I could have used my old battery but I took the new one for another 30 month hopefully

Regards
RIP

I had my battery replaced by Apple finally I wish it had been easier. But they finally accepted to replace it.

Diego's "fix" didn't work for me, and in fact after I restarted using the battery, it lasted only about 5 minutes before it shut down without warning. This is much worse than before, when I've got an hour or so out of it.

Others have attributed this problem to Snow Leopard, but I think that it stretches back to the last updates for Leopard. I can remember the sudden and unexpected shutdown first occurring at a meeting with a client in late May this year.

Roger

I think at this point it probably makes sense to ask,

"If you've gotten a new battery from Apple, has the problem been corrected for you?"

I've heard it both ways, that for some it fixes it immediately, then a few days later it's back to the same "Service" message.

Please let everyone on this thread know your final outcome (only if you received/bought a new battery).

Thanks!
-Marc

Same issue here....
Yesterday my MBP battery was fine, and today I found the "Service Battery" message.
My battery was 163 cycles old, still retaining 86% of charge until yesterday.
Today, Coconut battery tells me 67% current battery capacity (it seems that I lost 20% of the battery tonight.....) and "Service Battery" message.
I'm quite sure my battery was fine, I was using it in the right way (10-20 % daily use, caibrating once a month more or less).
I'm on 10.6.2....
Just called Apple, they told me that's my battery

Hi everyone, this is my first post on Apple Discussions.

I recently bought my early 2008 MacBook Pro from a friend. When I got it, it had a clean install of Snow Leopard on it, the battery had 88% health and around 150 cycles. There was no Service Battery notification.

Later I read about calibrating batteries and not knowing if this had recently been done, if at all, I decided to calibrate my battery as per the official Apple instructions.

Once the battery had been calibrated (literally the first boot afterward) the 'Service Battery' notification appeared and health was fluctuating around the mid 50%'s to early 60%'s for a few days. I then found this discussion and was almost positive that the physical battery could not have lost around 30% capacity due to a calibration.

Today I ran the MacBook from the mains with no battery installed for around an hour. I had actually tried this before as well as resetting SMC/PRAM/VRAM for good measure but this did not help.

However after the hour (roughly) today, the 'Service Battery' notification has disappeared as of this evening (now that I have replaced the battery) and It seems I will get a lot more out of a full charge, capacity is back up to 88%.

I know that this (if you can call it) 'fix' has been mentioned before but just thought I'd report my own experience. What I found odd was the fact that it was almost definitely the calibration that triggered the 'Service Battery' notification and poor capacity.

Hopefully this could help someone in the same situation!

I have had my new battery for one week now. No problems so far!
Battery Information:

Model Information:
Serial Number: W0933032G6GOA
Manufacturer: SMP
Device name: bq20z951
Pack Lot Code: 0000
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 002a
Hardware Revision: 000a
Cell Revision: 0100
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 4519
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 4619
Health Information:
Cycle count: 4
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -989
Voltage (mV): 12295

SL screwed up my battery too. Have a 17" 2.4G Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro which is 25 months old now. 368 cycles and still holds more than 2.5 hours under normal usage before upgrading to SL. I used to unplug the battery, let it drain then fully recharge it every 2 days.

After upgraded to 10.6.2 I've experienced exactly the same problems as everybody: shut down without warning, "Replace soon" notice (not "Service Battery"), health dropping from 74% to 46% in a day.

Now recalibration is impossible since it always shuts down without warning. I've crawled through this forum and did everything I could do, 10 minutes ago I reset SMC for the 3rd time in 12 hours, nothing improved, only the menu notice changed from "Replace Soon" to "Replace Now", very frustrating!

After I reset SMC for the 2nd time yesterday the "battery low" popup window came back briefly, but after the battery is fully charged for 12 hrs, I unplugged my MBP, used it for less than 1.5 hrs, it shuts down abruptly again.

I've took snapshots using coconut battery, the capacity (health) dropped from 74% to 68% to 48%, then went up to 68% then finally dropped to 46%.

Since I do not have Applecare, I don't think I could have my battery replaced for free. Just want to know if there's anything I could do, other than buying a new one. Your suggestion will be appreciated.

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): 0
Fully charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full charge capacity (mAh): 2904
Health Information:
Cycle count: 368
Condition: Replace Now
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 3217
Voltage (mV): 11078

Message was edited by: Ma SF

Hi all,

Just a reminder that I'm the interloper here - I was having these battery problems on Leopard rather than Snow Leopard.

Anyway, Apple replaced my battery at no charge, despite my three-year AppleCare having expired 3 weeks previously, and it was delivered within 24 hours of my call to them - very impressive!

I've 'trained' the battery according to ErvDoggie's advice, and the problems seem completely resolved. The machine now gives me the 10 minutes low battery warning, which I hadn't seen for ages, and now goes to sleep in a calm, civilised manner. (Unlike some children of my acquaintance!) It also suspends a Windows session that might be running in VMWare, so on waking the machine all previous applications, Mac or Windows, are restored properly.

The battery training process has resulted in the capacity increasing over the last 5 days or so, until it is now higher than the original capacity (5616 over 5600 according to coconut battery).

Because the machine is so much better behaved, and as it now lasts a reasonable time without mains power, I am using it on battery after a full charge until it needs charging again, rather than running on mains most of the time. I will see whether this helps to maintain capacity.

One thing this discussion has helped with is whether to upgrade to Snow Leopard. Not yet, I think!

As requested, new battery information is included here.
Battery Information:

Model Information:
Serial Number: Sony-ASMB012-3904-8aba
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): 4387
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 5616
Health Information:
Cycle count: 5
Condition: Good
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -2151
Voltage (mV): 11741

Good luck everyone.
Stephen

STCav

You're not the only interloper; my issues with the battery and shutdowns started when I was on Leopard, back in May this year.

Roger

Roger,

That's interesting. I believe mine started after an upgrade of Leopard to 10.5.7 or 10.5.8, but as I said before, that could just be coincidence as batteries do tend to fail suddenly. However, if more people associate battery failure with a software change it could rebut coincidence.

This wouldn't be the first time an OS X update has caused problems - 10.4.10 created wireless network problems for me that were completely resolved by rolling back.

Stephen

Hey Stephen:

Thanks soo much for posting your feedback. I'm glad the battery replacement wasn't painful for you, having had your Apple Care expire just a few weeks before. It will be interesting to watch how successful people are with having their batteries replaced even without Apple Care as a result of Snow Leopard installation in the majority of the posts I've read.

I'm glad my feedback added some benefit to you. I've run about 6 more tests (charge/recharge) and so far, I get the low battery warning, but no hibernation--time to see if I can get the battery replaced--stay tuned. Unlike your situation, my battery was perfectly fine under all prior versions of Leopard. The specific change to Snow Leopard is when things got out of control.

Good luck, and keep us posted if things change.

-Erv