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

Am suffering the same issues. Battery was all dandy under SL and then this week the batt power is drops the minute I unplug the power cord and then at about 61% my MBP shuts down.

My battery was replaced under warranty when I upgraded to 10.5.6 less that a year ago and is showing 45 cycles.

Will try all suggested solutions, but this has to be a SL problem and Apple should sort a fix quickly.

I am not going to downgrade to Leopard though as SL has fixed wireless connectivity issues I was having in Leopard. Mobility is less of an issue than being able to connect to the web. Still it woudl be nice to have it sorted though.

Suggest we all keep posting on this till Apple takes note...!

Last update, i've left my mbp in sleep mode for the whole night, and i just turned it on after something like 10 hours, or even more, and i still have 2:40 hrs available, and 65% of charge. last nit i used the laptop for something like an hour, unplugged of course.
Even if the battery service warning shows up, the battery is working good, without random shutdowns, and with the same performances it had before upgrading to SL.
So far, making a clean installation fixed my battery issues.

Informazioni batteria:

Informazioni sul modello:
Produttore: Sony
Nome dispositivo: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0000
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Versione firmware: 0110
Revisione hardware: 0500
Revisione cella: 0303
Informazioni sulla carica:
Carica restante (mAh): 2810
Carica completa: No
In carica: No
Capacità a carica completa (mAh): 4351
Informazioni sulle condizioni della batteria:
Conteggio cicli: 202
Condizione: Controlla batteria
Batteria installata: Sì
Amperaggio (mA): -1087
Voltaggio (mV): 11484

hope this helps!

Hi ajophoto:

I'm not sure how "close" you are to an Apple Store, or if you have AppleCare.

If you do have AppleCare, call them and they'll most likely take care of it with a new battery without questions.

If you haven't, download "CoconutBattery". Its an application that can show your battery status, and allow you to take "snapshots" of its settings over time.

Otherwise, be sure to go into your System Profiler and take a snapshot of your battery settings there when your system shows the error message.

Taking that with you to an Apple Store seems to be what gets batteries replaced.

I have a 2006 first Gen Core Duo MacBook Black, and I had my battery replaced last month.

If you go to your local Apple Store, it pays to be a "good customer"--they're usually very willing to help customers out.

Good luck!

hi, can anyone tell me what i must do to repair this problem?)

Awesome! So I downgraded to Leopard and the error went away, but since my Time Capsule backup wasn't Leopard compatible I was forced to do a clean install of Snow Leopard. The error returned and when I attempted to use it without being plugged in, the machine shut off at 89%.

Battery Information (Leopard):

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): 4068
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 4178
Health Information:
Cycle count: 77
Battery health: Fair
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12306


Battery Information (Snow Leopard):

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): 3830
Fully charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full charge capacity (mAh): 4141
Health Information:
Cycle count: 77
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 1021
Voltage (mV): 12516

Unfortunately in my experiment I didn't check to see if the machine justs "shuts down" during use instead of hybernating.

Update:

It's been exactly one month since my battery was screwed up, this morning I got a brand new battery via DHL, free from Apple, what a nice Christmas gift!

3 days after I got the "shut down without warning" and "dropping voltage" syndrome, my battery got bloated and cracked, like this:

http://images.plurk.com/3115723_20572ece4aad3398a050c1df00d6a3f6.jpg

So I called Apple, they asked me to remove the battery immediately and take my MBP with the cracked battery to an authorized service center to have it checked and gave me a case number to follow. The guy at the service center checked it with an USB dongle and said it's not qualified as "flawed". There's nothing they could do about it since I did not have Applecare but they could send a report with a picture of the broken battery to Apple to see if they could give me a replacement. The service guy said he will try his best but it's very unlikely Apple will give me a new battery since mine is well over 300 cycles and they usually will consider it as "normal wear out".

So I left my broken battery there and took my MBP home, waited for a week for the official reply from Apple, not surprisingly, they said(Apple told the service center) that my battery is not covered by Applecare so they're not able to give me a new one.

I called Apple again, told them I could accept "normal wear out" as long as the battery functioning well if only the voltage getting reasonably lower as time passed. But I could not accept a bloated, cracked up battery which became totally unusable after 18 months of purchase.

They had me talk to another lady at the Customer Relations Dept and I explained everything again. She said she will report it to her supervisor, told me to wait for their reply and gave me another case number.

The next day I got her call and she told me they will make an exception for me and gave me a new battery for replacement.

Now the new battery is at work, 1 cycle, 100% health, I'll cross my finger and wish everything goes well this time.

Hope my experience could be helpful. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone; especially to Steve Jobs.

And a rather splendid christmas for those (such as myself) who received the almighty Mac OS X Snow Leopard installation disc for christmas and got a little surprise! I can tell you now this is depressing... I wanted to be able to benefit from this upgrade. So far this has turned my life upside down. I use my computer for everything. I need it for school which is not far away from commencing... I am not permitted to taking a power adaptor for any electronic device to school because of their stupid rules and because of that my performance in class is going to drop as I cannot write but can only type. I am unable to do much at home as for personal reasons so I am quite restricted by this issue and on whose behalf? Apples? Or mine? The computer? This is a serious issue and all in all I think it would be fantastic if an Apple Representative or someone of high superiority on Apples behalf would post some kind of text or video response to all people with this issue with a definite answer. I am not prepared to spend money I do not have (As I have not got a job, no AppleCare, and no one to borrow money from) on a battery when there is a slight chance that there may be a software fix for this? There is no way no that even though this is a new upgrade its chopping away so much more battery life out of the computer and haunting me with a message that I have seen numerous times before... This actually has caused me anxiety because I know that I am in for **** if my parents find out because they are the ones that had to spend 1400 dollars on my computer on top of the 1300 dollars they had spent on the PowerBook G4 before this one which had an inverter board failure and inverter cables that could not be installed unless one was to pay 1000 dollars to Apple so they could get an entirely new LCD with the inverter board and cables attached... I am not happy with this. My parents are not happy with this.. Everyone and possibly including you. Yea, thats right. I am talking to you. You are probably unhappy about this issue, unless you are a Windows fanboy reading this and laughing at how many people are losing a lot of money which is being spent on new batteries. Seriously. I have read every single post and have tried your stupid SMC resets and battery calibrations. Nothing. Nor that I found out a day ago that Microsoft's Messenger for Macintosh uses at least about 194% of the processor which was when the error started occuring. It must be some large current pull with the battery. I actually thought at one stage that the battery had forgotten that a cell was installed and was only using the rest of the cells which would mean there would be a current overload and that would be slowly killing the battery. I do not know what it could be. You all have no idea what it could be. And enough with the comments in regards to it being just a battery fault. Its not normal. Not when its all happening at once. Is this the Appleocalypse? I hope not. I am intrigued to see how many of these Macintosh users are running the MacBook Pro, and how all of the MacBook Pros are not Unibody. Please make this stop Apple. Please. I'd personally like to thank everyone who has posted everything on this forum. I have not read other posts but this looks like the most active so far. One would assume an Apple employee has surely acknowledged this, but have they? And hence forth what I had said earlier being that an Apple Rep needs to step forward and give a straight out answer or just say that this is an issue they are working on. If thats the case, it would be most pleasant for them to have some sort of tweeting device that sends a chirp to all subscribed tweeters who want to hear of the current status of the fixing of this quite serious issue.

All the best guys

hey, i agree...but..there are no perfect electronic devices.
Mechanical neither.
Period.

you can buy a Leica and spend 22 grands on it, or a Bmw for 70 grands.
you won't ever be sure they will always work perfectly like the first day.


U just have to deal with it, and if u are no longer happy with Apple computers...just switch.
my experience is different.,..and i can deal with a faulty battery, replacing it. And..i'm sorry but..if u bought a laptop for 1,300 u should be able to afford a battery too
A lot of things are much worse than a faulty laptop's battery.
Or a faulty laptop itself. Take it easy, and give the right importance to what happens around you, and trust me, a faulty battery is like a lil pebble inside your shoes, not the end of the world.

Eh I guess. Thing is that yes you are right I can afford a battery, but only just. Money is hard to get here. Much difficult to get employment and I know for sure that my parents are not willing to spend anymore money on my computer as my sister needs a new computer for University. And you are right about the pebble in the shoe. Though it is a fair issue its still not one that I find tolerable knowing that there is an explanation to it. There is an answer somewhere. I cannot make the switch back to a PC because this computer still does what I need it to do, but one of the main purposes that this computer has for me is for writing down notes and editing Final Cut projects at school. I just hope there will be some kind of fix by then or if not that I will be able to afford a battery..

Hmm......

We all agree, this is a pain in the *, but it's not the end of the world.
Reading ur previous post...it looked like u were going to commit suicide..desperation in ur words!
Maybe it will be fixed..maybe not...we'll see!

Well the question remains, if this is a result of Snow Leopard, and the battery isn't the problem, what happens when you purchase a new battery and the same results happens? How many new batteries will need to be purchased before the software update is released? Fortunately for me the computer in question is my back up machine and so I can get by with using it while plugged in. But if I were to buy a new battery on the off chance that it fixes the problem and it doesn't? What then?

I think it's pretty obvious this is a Snow Leopard issue. Batteries don't drop 30+ percent overnight. My battery is roughly one year old with under 70 cycles on it. From what I've read they should make it to 300 cycles no problem. I've seen my battery jump back and forth from 80+ percent health to under 50% health. I've had it last a full 3.5 hours, and then I've charged it and had it only last 1 hour. Before I installed Snow Leopard this was not a problem.
I wish I could get someone at Apple to talk to me, but making the pilgrimage to an Apple store hasn't been possible yet. I need almost a full day to waste on that and it sounds like a major hassle where they'll want me to buy a new battery and then wait for Snow Leopard to eat it. I used to love having a laptop that would run for 3.5 hours. Then I upgraded. Now it's anybody's guess how long it'll run. And sometimes the magic Snow Leopard battery indicator says my battery is fine. Sometimes it says I need to check it. Which is it?
There's clearly an issue and Apple is clearly doing nothing about it, at least not openly. My hope is they're quietly fixing the problem behind closed doors and issuing new batteries in hopes they'll last until they can quietly release an update, this way they'll never have to admit they messed up.

That's my biggest issue with Apple, they never publicly acknowledge when there are issues, instead they just work on a solution. I guess legally its not smart to admit you created a bug that ruined the battery life of thousands of batteries. Hopefully they'll fix this issue asap, I'm tired of losing work because the plug got accidentally disconnected and I didn't notice.

You all don't suppose this is just a simple firmware issue? Maybe some chip inside the unit of the old machines needs updating so that it emulates the newer Macintosh computers? I do not know how computers work but I just had a thought so you all can have your thoughts and I have mine. Aaaaanywho...