My macbook pro battery is not holding a charge...what do I do?

Question

Level 1

6 points

My macbook pro battery is not holding a charge...what do I do?

So, suddenly, literally the last two days, my Macbook will not hold a charge. Within about an hour or two of use, the battery drops 30%. Previously, I could use it for several days before the charge dropped; it would take a week to go from 100% to critical and it was on all the time. The computer is about a year and a half old (so to speak). The closest Apple Store is almost 300 miles away.

Is there something I can do? Install/uninstall items?

Thanks for any and all help.

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2010), Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jul 1, 2012 4:08 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Courcoul

Level 6

18,558 points

Jul 1, 2012 4:15 PM in response to kamgardner

When the battery dies, it is dead and gone. No software trick is going to bring it back to life. You can check the system profile by doing an About This Mac / More Info... / System Report / Power check and see what the battery health is, together with the number of cycles. If capacity is below 80% @ 1000 cycles for a Unibody Mac, you MAY be eligible for a free replacement, but you will have to check with Apple or an Authorized Service Provider for a definitive response. Whatever happens, it entails replacing the old battery, or learning to live with its diminished and diminishing capacity.

Reply

Answer 2

kamgardner Author

Level 1

6 points

Jul 1, 2012 4:25 PM in response to Courcoul

Okay, checked where you stated. Results: Health Info - Cycle count 98; condition normal. Charge Info - Capacity 5304; remaining 3790.

I suspect this is showing everything is 'a-okay.' Is there a software trick?

Reply

Answer 3

Jul 1, 2012 4:26 PM in response to kamgardner

Check the Apple article below.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1473

Reply

Answer 4

kamgardner Author

Level 1

6 points

Jul 1, 2012 4:47 PM in response to stedman1

Okay. Checked the article; nothing is above 70% and the highest thing is the 'kernal_task' (less than 10 though, seems to peak at 5 something) and occasionally Safari (3 something.)

And since, I started the discussion, my battery has dropped about 8%.

Thank you so much for the help so far; at least it's ruling stuff out.

Reply

Answer 5

Courcoul

Level 6

18,558 points

Jul 1, 2012 4:55 PM in response to kamgardner

Install the free Battery Health utility available on the App Store. It will tell you how much battery capacity you have left, compared to the official charge capacity when new, plus will let you monitor in-use battery drain, that will let you learn and use power management techniques to maximize runtime.

For instance, mine shows up after 32 cycles and 7.5 months of life as having 102% of max official capacity (6990 of 6900 mAh), which translates for me to around 6 hours of usage on the average, but which I can stretch out to 7 or 7.5 in a pinch. Guess I got lucky with it, cause when brand new it arrived with a 7160 mAh capacity Yours being a 13" model will show up with a smaller battery capacity.

Reply

Answer 6

kamgardner Author

Level 1

6 points

Jul 1, 2012 5:03 PM in response to Courcoul

So my current battery is 332 mAh less than when new; my battery is 1.8 yrs old; and there is about 5 hrs of battery time remaining for Internet usage.

I'm gonna have to get used to decreasing battery life aren't I?

Thank you so much Courcoul and Stedman1.

Reply

Answer 7

Courcoul

Level 6

18,558 points

Jul 1, 2012 5:11 PM in response to kamgardner

Yep, just like us humans, things don't work quite as well after awhile. And won't be able to perform as vigorously as in the past, when called to the task, much to the chargrin of the ladies. Oh, sorry, we're talking about batteries... got distracted... 😝

Reply