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

dustrho wrote:
In Alex's defense, I would have to agree with him. This is an open board to all to express their opinions, knowledge and help one another.

The one thing I have to say about those thinking it's only a battery issue and has nothing to do with Snow Leopard, is that Apple sent me a brand new replacement battery that was supposed to fix my problem. Instead, I was sent another DEFECTIVE battery. Why in the world would Apple try fixing my problem with a DEFECTIVE battery?

Eager to hear a response to that one.

dustrho,

I've taken a step back from this thread because some of the posts are starting to go over the edge (condescending, frustration, emotion, snide remarks, etc.).

In any case, I have two batteries that were giving me 2-3 hours of use each. When I upgraded to Snow Leopard, BOTH batteries spiraled down to 20-30 minutes use.

Please ignore the snide remarks made by some of the forum regulars. Let Apple know how you feel. Apple monitors ALL feedback that comes through their feedback page:

*http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html*

With enough DETAILED feedback (provide Apple System Profiler report, purchase data information, coconutBattery info, etc.), don't be surprised if we see a repeat of...

*http://www.macnn.com/articles/09/09/21/firmware.draining.batteries/*

Don

Yes, he was removed (Shigglyboo), I didnt read nothing that bad to erase that post, well he was a little bit "burned up", but I can understand that.

He was just saying that he agreed all the affected users here and showing the fact that he was tired of reading posts from those "two" well known users of this board, those who insult other's users intelligence with their claims that everything is anyone else fault, but Apple.

He was also claiming for a solution and explained why it was clear for him that Snow Leopard is really killing batteries, comparing his experiences with other Macs he had around.

I wonder why he was removed, and others can go around showing absoluty no respect for the others.

Don Montalvo, that was an useful post, thank you!

I will fill the form at the feedback page.

No company is 100% perfect and neither is any human. I am sure if you call since you just got the replacement battery they will quickly send you another

rkovelman wrote:
No company is 100% perfect and neither is any human. I am sure if you call since you just got the replacement battery they will quickly send you another

If that's directed toward me, I already called and they said they will not provide me with another replacement battery. They claim that since my computer is out of warranty and that they've already sent me one replacement battery, that they will not provide me with another.

Which is total crap.

Burned up is ok, but when you act irrational that is a different story. He also admitted he does not use his laptop daily, which apple has a KB article of how to store a battery when not in use. He also went into talking about how old the battery was and cycles but yet did not provide any data as the others did, specifically the mAH of the battery. He also talked about his friends macbook, we are discussing macbook pro's. I have a few macbooks on 10.6 and not a single issue. I have 1 actually that I had to buy a new battery because it went bad and that is running 10.5 or 10.4.

The problem is rod and myself have offered solutions and shown what specs to look at but you ignore us, still insisting its the OS. PROVIDE FACTS that it is the OS. Not a single person has provided any. I back on page 15 probably said to provide battery specs and only till that point was there factual data. The people complaining complain, but never provide substantial data that proves its the OS. All they say is after installing 10.6 the issue arose. I then asked was it an upgrade or a format install. Those that did the upgrade that had an issue re-did the install with a wipe and install and the problem went away. I HAVE provided help. There are a few here who just insist on not listening to what we are saying.

He also stated how his battery life jumped around. Well that obvious that you have a bad battery. He probably got banned or removed for his attitude on here. It does not go anywhere.

rkovelman wrote:
The problem is rod and myself have offered solutions and shown what specs to look at but you ignore us, still insisting its the OS. PROVIDE FACTS that it is the OS. Not a single person has provided any. I back on page 15 probably said to provide battery specs and only till that point was there factual data. The people complaining complain, but never provide substantial data that proves its the OS. All they say is after installing 10.6 the issue arose. I then asked was it an upgrade or a format install. Those that did the upgrade that had an issue re-did the install with a wipe and install and the problem went away. I HAVE provided help. There are a few here who just insist on not listening to what we are saying.

Not in my case. I did a clean install, and the issue didn't go away. So unless there's something in my Time Machine Back up that is causing the problem, which is distinctly possible, I'm still experiencing issues.

The Fact is the behavior of my battery is unlike any behavior I've ever experienced from a Laptop Battery. My experience before Snow Leopard, in a bad battery, was 100%-20% in 20 minutes. This is my expected behavior. My current battery goes from 100%-78%-Shut Down in 15 minutes. When I press the button on the battery it shows 3.5 dots. When I start the computer up it shows 78%.

If the battery hit 20% or even if it hit 0%, I would agree that this is solely a battery issue, instead I believe it is a battery issue combined with an OS issue.

And regardless of wether or not the sudden shut down issue has been going on since Leopard, sudden shut downs is still a problem, an OS problem I would believe, and still needs to be fixed.

The whole point of the hibernation function is to prevent you from losing work when your battery dies. So Apple still needs to address this issue outside of the battery performance issues.

Until this gets sorted out, I've dissuaded anyone on Leopard from upgrading, I would also discourage anyone from purchasing a replacement battery, as I see that as a waste of money.

What really bothers me is that Apple has not commented on this issue, which leads me to believe that a solution isn't coming to us anytime soon.

No I did not get banned. I do find it ironic that my call to have you two removed from this thread got removed...

I've provided my battery specs on here numerous times. They change every time I boot my Mac. They used to stay the same before installing Snow Leopard, so again, I say it's the update, not the battery. Under Leopard my battery lasted 3.5+ hours. Within 2 weeks of the new update things went awry.

I'll post the specs again if that will make you happy. But right now I'm on my new Linux machine.

why didn't your message calling Lapwolf a troll get removed? Lapwolf has been a consistent voice of reason here.

My removed message was a response to naysayers being incredibly rude to the majority of us who believe this to be an issue related to installing Snow Leopard. You guys get to scold us with impunity, and my reasonable condemnation of that behavior is deemed inappropriate? I think it's opposite day inside this thread.

battery specs coming up.

Apple's policy is to not comment on issues until a solution is found. This makes sense from a legal/business pov, if this is indeed a Snow Leopard related issue, it would probably affect their stock price. Just look at the graphics card debacle from last year(?).

More then likely Apple will just silently fix the problem and make some vague reference to it in the update.

Johnny,

It seems to me that you should do an SMC reset if that does not work, the SMC on the MLB is bad.

You last comment is un-called for and a waste of time.

Post your mAH specs. I be you need a new battery or the SMC module is not working correctly. If you numbers jump around its either a defective battery or SMC module

Battery Information:

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): 3279
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 4417
Health Information:
Cycle count: 69
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1606
Voltage (mV): 11643



Coconut says I have 78% health and a capacity of 4417mAh, down from 5600mAh

My battery info says I have 2.25 hours left with 72% remaining. That sounds like I'm back up to my 3.5 hours battery life. But it's too good to be true, I fully expect the warning to return and battery life to suffer once more. Again... since many of us have to keep repeating ourselves here, this type of thing NEVER happened under Leopard, battery life was consistently 3.5+ hours before installing Snow Leopard. But wait, I'm about to be told I'm wrong, there's no way it's an OS issue, it's Sony, they've been selling bad batteries for years and we all need to go buy more of them... and then more new users will report that they've just upgraded to Snow Leopard and now their batteries are dying... How is it that all these batteries are dying after installing Snow Leopard? I have studied statistics and I believe there is an argument for causation here. Sure, millions of users, etc., most people I know don't waste their time in forums, they wait for a fix, or they don't unplug their computer, or they just buy a new battery and hope for the best.

*to the mods* how about being a bit more fair? the other team is getting away with belittling those of us who are here to report our problems...

I actually had both of my batteries replaced by Apple. Both were under warranty. Both worked fine before I upgraded to Snow Leopard (2-3 hours use per). Both died after I upgraded to Snow Leopard. With all due respect, no amount of analytical reasoning eliminates the FACT that the batteries worked fine one day...then died rapidly after the upgrade to Snow Leopard.

As I've already mentioned, we have several hundred MacBook Pro users. The older MacBook Pro (1.83 and 2.0) laptops ran for 2-3 hours on each battery. Those that were upgraded to Snow Leopard are CONSISTENTLY having this problem...battery life reduced to 20-30 minutes. Those who we have NOT upgraded are humming along at 2-3 hours battery life.

When we saw this issue propagate, we put the brakes on and stopped upgrading MacBook Pro users to Snow Leopard. Then, we took TWO MacBook Pro users (a 1.83 and a 2.0) and upgraded them to Snow Leopard.

BAM!

Same problem.

The usefulness of this thread has dwindled, much like the batteries we're discussing.

Don