Service Battery!

Question

Level 1

15 points

Service Battery!

Since installing Snow Leopard my black macbook (2ghz) now shows "service battery" in the menu bar. It works and runs fine off the battery and the battery itself shows only 207 cycles.

I was aware there was a battery recall / service advisory extension program but until installing SL i had none of the issues required to take part in it. Now of course that program is over NOW my macbook is playing up. Anyone with any leads on this welcome
cheers
jas

Macpro 8X 6GB/2TB 2x23" MacBookPro 17", iPhone, Black 2ghz Macbook, Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Sep 12, 2009 5:20 PM

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Answer 1

Wingrove Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 12, 2009 5:29 PM in response to Wingrove

Further to my post, having digested some of the other posts..the battery currently has a full capacity of 3640mAh, which is 66% of the original (5500mAh?) with only 207 charge cycles. Given the '300 cycles / 80% of capcity" rule of thumb ive read about would this battery be considered defective?

The Macbook's no longer under applecare but sounds like theres some leeway with batteries exhibiting these kind of results?

thx
jason

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Answer 2

Lyssa

Level 8

41,327 points

Sep 12, 2009 5:35 PM in response to Wingrove

How old is your computer?

You can certainly bring the computer & battery in and ask, but only the folks at the Apple store can determine if your battery has a defect or if this is just normal wear & tear.

~Lyssa

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Answer 3

Wingrove Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 12, 2009 5:44 PM in response to Lyssa

hey Lyssa Its May 2006 build. Would love to try the 'Battery Updater 1.4' which is available however when i run it i get this error "This update requires Mac OS X Leopard version 10.5.6 or newer" well clearly im running something newer. The battery firmware at present is 0102 which i believe is lower than is available..but how to update it??
jas

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Answer 4

Lyssa

Level 8

41,327 points

Sep 12, 2009 5:49 PM in response to Wingrove

Not sure about the update, but since your computer is 3 years old, the folks at the store will probably tell you that the behavior you're seeing is normal. Only way to know for sure is to bring the machine in to get checked out.

~Lyssa

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Answer 5

Wingrove Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 12, 2009 5:51 PM in response to Lyssa

hmm thanks, sad if 200 cycles on the batt is all you get!
will take it in anyway. nice to see if the firmware would do anything tho

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Answer 6

Dec 1, 2009 3:16 AM in response to Wingrove

Did you have any luck with this? My battery is now saying "Service battery". It has done less than 200 cycles and the health is at 69%, but I haven't really noticed any degradation in battery life.

The help menu gives the following information:

Help wrote:
The battery condition tells you whether your battery is functioning normally and approximately ?how much charge it can hold.
Here are the possible conditions:
Normal: The battery is functioning normally.
Replace Soon: The battery is functioning normally but holds less charge than it did when it was new.
Replace Now: The battery is functioning normally but holds significantly less charge than it did when it was new. You can continue to use the battery until you replace it without harming your computer.
Service Battery: The battery isn’t functioning normally, and you may or may not notice a change in its behavior or the amount of charge it holds. Have your computer checked by an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP). You can continue to use your battery before it’s checked without harming your computer.

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Answer 7

Pankil

Level 1

0 points

Dec 10, 2009 7:11 AM in response to Wingrove

I had the same problem and went to the apple store in Dedham,MA. They ran a program from usb drive and told me that I need to buy new battery as my current one is used up. I did not buy it at that time. Then when I bought Belkin N wireless router and tried to connect my macbook to it I found that it was not able to. This seemed to be case with Belkin routers post Snow Leopard!! So I was forced to downgrade to 'regular' leopard and it worked. Both of my issues were resolved.

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Answer 8

Dec 10, 2009 7:22 AM in response to Pankil

A quick update from me -

After a few days (2 or 3 battery cycles) the status has gone back to normal, so I'm glad I didn't fork out for a new battery.

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