Q: Lion - Horrible MacBook Pro Battery Life

Well I have some news for everyone...  I contacted Apple yesterday and I was told how to solve the problem for some but not to all...  We have all tried to SMC reset which does help some but not all...  So I explained to him some of the problems I was having and he sent me a link to try recalibrating the battery.  One of the problems I use to have was even though my MBP was pulled in the indicator would go down.  The battery would only last a couple of hours like some have mentioned.  One thing he pointed out to me that there was a very improtant update that should have been installed before installing LION...  This update was to recalibrate your computer for the upcoming OS.  If you didn't get this update, this is part of the problem.  Sad thing is once you updated to Lion the only way to get it is to downgrade to SL.

Here is the link he sent me

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490?viewlocale=en_US

If this is a repost sorry for the waste of time to those who have seen this but it did solve my problem and I did have the update needed to correct the problem.  Sad thing is he didn't provide me with the link to the update but it was 4 updates during the installation.  Good luck everyone and I will continue to seek information for all of us.

Thanks for an update, when I read your email on my iphone, I thought there some (quick) hope. Sad but not true for this, given that I'm the one who regularly update my computer. I recall correctly that there is no more update before I upgrade to lion, and yes, I'm severely have the battery life affect from lion upgrade.

The link is for battery calibrate, in which, I have try, and the result is not significantly help me.

At first I think it is my batt is too old and about time to dead (254 cycle) but I don't buy it because it is huge different right after upgrade from SL to lion. I almost buy $125 batt from apple store but I hold it a bit, I want to see weather lion will have a useful patch or update in a next 2 weeks, otherwise I'll roll back my MBP to SL.

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Noted:

MBP 2.2 (late 2007)

Ram 4GB

NEVER format since Leopard, just keep update and upgrade and also NEVER have significant SOFTWARE problem since new. Use/unused bootcamp (no longer use any Windows app. since SL upgrade).

Although, logic board accidentally dead (AKA: NVIDIA issue), just a week after upgrade to Lion, >>> Apple change it for free last week and it work well so far (accept the battery is only 1.5 hrs).

I downgraded to SL two days ago. I was shocked to see that Lion affected the battery. The battery used to go for about 7 hours before Lion. I upgraded to Lion and used for about 20 days and when I rolled back to SL, I only get 4:20. Did anyone roll back to SL? Did you have the same problem?

This calibration does not work for MBP. The page says that it is not required for MBPs because it is already pre-calibrated. When I upgraded to Lion, I updated all the software and the programs that I have. Apple didn't release any update on SL that is beneficial for Lion. All we have to do is sit down and wait till Mr. Steve does something.

That's what I stated to the guy from Apple...  But after following the steps it did correct my problem.  I am full aware that this links doesn't apply to MBP's but it did help my issue so I shared it...  There were several updates that were completed during the installation.  There were 4 files that I remember clearly were installed but MAC doesn't provide a list like windows does.  Yes after the installation was complete you are correct there have not been any new updates.

Also, what if OS X Lion uncalibrated our batteries and this is why we have the problem...?  We are looking for solutions so I am offering what I find....

Well I have some news for everyone...  I contacted Apple yesterday and I was told how to solve the problem for some but not to all...  We have all tried to SMC reset which does help some but not all...  So I explained to him some of the problems I was having and he sent me a link to try recalibrating the battery.  One of the problems I use to have was even though my MBP was pulled in the indicator would go down.  The battery would only last a couple of hours like some have mentioned.  One thing he pointed out to me that there was a very important update that should have been installed before installing LION...  This update was to recalibrate your computer for the upcoming OS.  If you didn't get this update, this is part of the problem.  Sad thing is once you updated to Lion the only way to get it is to downgrade to SL.

 

Here is the link he sent me

 

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490?viewlocale=en_US

 

If this is a repost sorry for the waste of time to those who have seen this but it did solve my problem and I did have the update needed to correct the problem.  Sad thing is he didn't provide me with the link to the update but it was 4 updates during the installation.  Good luck everyone and I will continue to seek information for all of us.

SS, the link isn't to an update, it's to an explanation of how to calibrate your internal battery for a MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, etc., by running down the battery and then recharging it.  That's SOP and has been since internal batteries became standard.  What's the update the Apple guy spoke of?  I barely remember one that came via Software Update that had something to deal with Lion, but it was about iTunes and similar interface structures as I recall.  What did I miss, if anything?  Thanks for your effort.

Bob, yes there was an update related to itunes but there was also an update that was installed during or just before the installation took place.  If I have too, I will contact Apple Care again and see if I can find the information needed to clear this problem up.  The young man Jason from Apple Care was very useful and skilled when it came to this issue.

Far as the calibration of the battery was one of his suggestions that helped me out.  My MBP was loosing charge after being fully charged.  I just bought my MBP on July 4, which is just a little over a month.  I would charge my MBP to 100% and when using it while pulled in it would drop down to 99, 98, 97% while still pulled in.  He stated that maybe when the installation of OS X Lion was installed it may have uncalibrated my battery and to try those instruction of re-calibrating it again..  Once I followed those steps it solved the problem..  So I shared the information that I received to try and help others..

Here is the page with all of the possible updates posted by Apple prior to the release of OS X Lion... and after

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1222

I hope this helps!!!

i noted the same behavior about the battery after Downgrade to Snow Leopard shiriajin, i can see now that my beloved battery that used to work for 8 - 9 hours, now is working for 5 hours... its really bad...

is anyone else??

sorry about my English!!

Battery damage by Lion? I have scheduled my shift back to snow leopard on August 19.  I just have too much to do now to reformat my drive.  But it is alarming to hear that the battery would not be the same again.

Right now, am about to re calibrate my battery under lion in hopes that I can increase life beyond 3 hrs.

My macbook pro is just a month old and it seems that it's only value is a doorstop after 3 hours.

My old laptop, Sony Vaio 13 inch had better battery life. I bought a mac because of the 7hr life... now I only get over 2hrs.

This is bad.

FYI, I closed all the apps open in the title bar up there and instantly got an hour or two back. I had LogMeIn, FlashFreeze, Cinch, Ejector, gfxCardStaus and Dropbox. I'm almost up to 7 hours now, maybe the software developers are the culpret?

I just went from 4:25 to 6:47 by doing that, but as I use the machine I bounce down to like 5:23. I don't really get it.

Possible to figure out if it's one of those apps more than the others that is causing it?  The only apps we have in common are gfxCardStatus and Dropbox.  Not on my MBP until later to test myself.

chokung,

your 4 year old MBP has 254 load cycles on the battery: Apple Battery spec was 300 load cycles to reach the 80% capacity level. Plus the battery is already 4 years old. Did you recalibrate every few months? you may have to replace the battery now or soon. What does System Profiler (System Information) say about the battery condition?

Lex

Omolina10 wrote:

 

i noted the same behavior about the battery after Downgrade to Snow Leopard shiriajin, i can see now that my beloved battery that used to work for 8 - 9 hours, now is working for 5 hours... its really bad...

 

is anyone else??

sorry about my English!!

Have you tried to reset SMC?

SS,

just before Lion came available there was indeed an update, with name 10.6.8 the same as before , but it was 10.6.8 v1.1. You could either do the little update or the same date new Combo Update. It was expressly said by Apple (if I remember correctly) that amongst other changes it was to prepare for the upgrade to Lion. When Lion was announced available again Apple said to update SL to the newest version.

So you were right about that.

There is not (yet) a "general solution for the battery problem that some people have. Hopefully the next update will solve that.

Lex