Q: Battery life dropped considerably on Mountain Lion.

That's a shame that it seems not to work for you, gfxCardStatus is indeed supposed to be compatible with all Macs that have dual GPU's, and is stated as such on the website, have you version 2.2.1?

In relation to battery health, mine has been fluctuating considerably since installing mountain lion. Before making the upgrade to 10.8 it was 95%, i noticed the first drop a day or so after upgrading to 10.8 which was to 85%, after another day or to it jumped to 89%. Recently its been hovering between 91-92% and is currently at 91.3% (My mac is a mid-2010 MBP{Macbook Pro 6,2})

I never seen these sorts of jumps in battery health on lion or snow leopard. Although i understand your description of how battery health can be an entirely different matter in relation to the age and capacity of a battery and its ability to withstand the use that is required of it by the user it seems that the power management systems in mountain lion are sketchy at best and are not making the best use of resources, as i do not get my 6-7 hrs web surfing from my battery when I don't run gfxCardStatus and force it to run the integrated Intel graphics.

Even if running the integrated graphics without gfxCardStatus on it will always show at most 4:30 hrs and i only get close to this before having to attach the magsafe. Running in integrated-only with gfxCardStatus changes the remaining time to 6:45 hrs and i get very close to this. Considering the age of my battery (two years) I am chuffed that I can still get this much use from the battery.

This difference is my basis for it being a software issue totally associated with the power management systems in Mountain Lion and gfxCardStatus is somehow managing to bring back pre-ML levels of battery for me. Even though discrete GPU is supposed to be turned off i don't think it is being properly disabled.

I remember seeing an article (maybe on ars technica, i'll post a link if i can find it) and it was mentioned that ML had changes made to how/when the discrete graphics would kick in. Maybe a flaw in this area of the OS is responsible for all the varied issues reported in this thread related to strange process activity, high-spinning fans/heat and super fast draining battery amongst others.

Edited: to add link, relevent info is second last paragraph.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/08/graphics-improvements-give-mountain-lion-th at-speedy-feeling/

Just wanted to follow back up with my original reply. After the gfxCardStatus discussion started, I decided to install it and switch it to "Integrated Only" mode when on battery. That seems to have helped immensely. My 15" MacBook Pro (2011) is running cooler and my current remaining battery time is 5:17 on 98% charge with several apps open including iPhoto, Rdio player (currently playing music), Chrome, Coda, and Sparrow. Will see if performace holds up for the long run.

If you're having issues but haven't tried installing gfxCardStatus yet, do it. Might help.

Beisarius,

I assumed it was a software problem (and it may still be) and that replacing the unit wouldn't stop the issue. It's also been more intermittent that for most here - out of the box and then only once after. I am still within my 14 days of outright return or exchange...I'm still deciding what to do.

2010 Macbook Pro 17" Core-i7 8 gbs

When I first upgrade to Lion my battery life dropped 50%. I went back to Snow Leopard. I recently upgrade to Lion after waiting almost a year and was getting a decent 6 hours battery life. Just upgraded to ML 10.8.1 and now I am watching the battery pecentage fall at about 1% per minute. I thought Apple would have gotten this right by now. Guess I should have waited a year on ML, too.

I think I am going to have to suck it up and pay for the battery...

Apple agreed to replace it, but they wanted it for about 3 days.  I didn't want to send it, they offerred to have it done at a service center, but that isn't working either. 

I have called and gone to Fry's, they claim no knowledge of what to do.  I called Apple again, the person who took care of me has had a full mailbox all week.  I called regular support, the guy recommended that I call a Mac Media location.

I called  the Mac Media location, they want to keep the Mac there from the time they inspect it, until it is complete a few days later (they won't order the parts until they inspect it).

So I am right back at the beginning, the Apple store can replace it while I wait, or I can be out of a Mac for a few days.  I paid a lot for a Mac for this?

Oh, and in the last 8 days my battery has not cycled once, but is down 20% to 58%... (I didn't start with the app until Saturday)

Well home from work, and it's down from 63% to 57%, while asleep. Apple really needs to step up and fix this. Thankfully mine hasn't reached the "service battery" level ... yet. It's not getting hot, and the fans aren't out of control. It's just sucking battery power all the time.. moreso when it's being used (approx 1% per minute).

GMC, what Apple asked for- your machine for 3 days- is exactly what we hoped they would do: direct multimeter testing and identify the flaw on the mobo design, or gpu so on. By not having acess to the machine, they cant really troubleshoot at the pace we wish for. If private data, do a zero pass wipe x2 or 3, reinstall ML and send it to them. My opinion is that they will identify the problem and likely give you a new mcbook- as they will see the new baterry will have the same problem. But none of this will work unless you give them an affected sample.

A quick demurral to speculation that new MBPs are impervious tonibbling by the nasty ML battery-eater goblins.

I don't think that, as speculated, Apple did its Mountain Lion testing on 2011 and 2012 MBP's. If they had, the wonderful battery life predictions that you see displayed in the shiny new mid-2012 MBP or MBP-with-Retina units on the Apple Store shelves would be showing up in the real world for purchasers of same. I wish.

I'm running a much-loved (and much-paid-for) 2012 MBP 15" 2.6 GHz quad-core i7 with NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1-MB GRAM, 16 GB of RAM, and everything else I could tweak on it; stock with the exception of the upgraded RAM. I love this new machine, and it's awesome when I turn it loose on tough, CPU-bending tasks. However...

I'm having exactly the same reduced-charge-life and faster-drain problems that everyone else is having.

The drop in battery session life was as dramatic for me when I upgraded from Lion to ML as it was for other folks. Now, perhaps my mileage has varied, and maybe everyone else who has a 2012 MBP has a happy battery, but I don't!  Here's photographic proof:       ;-(

I'm not giving it much of a workout yet! -- heavy video production and other fun stuff is coming soon, and I had certainly intended to be doing it by NOW -- and the main reason I'm waiting is that I don't want to reduce my new (owner-irreplaceable) battery's eventual lifetime by over-taxing it right now. In effect, I can't use the horsepower that I paid for, that's alive and well inside this 2012 powertoy, except when I have it plugged into the wall.

I did gain a slight improvement in battery performance when I bumped up from 10.8 to 10.8.1. I'm trying all of the tricks that everyone here is suggesting, but coconutBattery still tells me a familiar story, just a little less depressing than before.

Just like lots of other people, I didn't post here, before now, because everyone else was saying exactly what I would say. Just wanted to kill any rumors that 2012 'books aren't in the same game with the rest of you. Apple, we know you're working hard, but we need that fix sooner, not later, before our (new!) wired-in batteries take a permanent and expensive hit!

b4ore,

No, would not pick up a fight. And if you are the opposite gender, why do so, you win by default. J/k.

Background, in h-school and college was pure and applied sciences, math, physics, electronics. Became a PC tech, then a tech consultant- side hobby, and in the end, most here would never guess that my cool profession has nothing to do with tech or engineering. Or those that would see me training would just assume me a triathlete, yet that is also a hobby.

So here is a link, from anandtech: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6063/macbook-air-13inch-mid-2012-review/4. Hopefully is introduces you to the jungle of the SSD world. My understanding is that  your SSD was added to your mac mini. So here are a few possibilities:

- nand cells stopped working, unrelated to the firware update. It just coicided during the boot test.

- SSD controller stopped working

- Firmware update prevented your logicboard from detecting the SSD or its controller- so they could still be working but no longer seen

- Have seen often flash or ssd drives fail and its a total black and you loose access. Controllers, or how they write to the drive, I think are 90% of the time at fault.

The odds that the firmware fried any component are nil. you would have smelled some bit of burning, or the part itself could be seen blackened. It can happen if you find a way to exceed you imacmini's voltages- but your power bus on the logicboard would have fried first. So what could go wrong with a firmware:

- processor voltages, ie speed and it will crash first;

-chipset

-gpu

-ram access, again crash.

- Now we must add SSD controllers.

So all am saying is that, unless you knew the Apple udate to include an update to your specific SSD, then we do not know what knocked it out. A defective SSD, that revealed itself to not be working or compatible, during the post  firmware BIOS test, is the most likely culprit. If the firmware could, theoretically, kill your SSD, it would have done it to everysingle macmini with a similar SSD drive out there.

For example, while it could, Bell used to send a firmware update that would mess up any satellite receiver using a fake bell chip.   And it would affect anyone that would have the receiver on at that specific time..

So just sounds you had bad luck with that addon SSD, it coincided with the update, and Apple's update merely exposed the faulty part. The update could not kill the nand cells, no way. Such a voltage would have given you the burn mobo smell, and many imac user with SSD drives would have been up in arms.

For me it goes the same for the current problem. Some logicboard component, under ML, puts a high amperade demand and bleeds batteries dry. And it appears, more and more, that GPU has something to do with this. Now given the previous NVIDIA fiasco, that would not surprise me. Turning on the secondary main GPU when not neede should reduce the battery life dramatically. this may also suggest that, with the exception of chipset and processor, the overall Macbook logicboard  design has not evolved that much, and retains a flaw that creates the road problem this forum is documenting. Some common flaw affecting so many MBPs, and some Airs as well.

Hopefully Apple gets to physically tests GMC'S  unit and entitle him to itunes gifts.

Hey Steve,

WOW, although I have a higher income, I must admit, would never dish so much for a machine. Could feed a poor African village for a month with the price difference... No way, Next years entry model will likely outpace your current at a 35-45% of the price you paid.

we all agree that lots of 2012 units are affected. Again, a common MBP denominator, is either NVIDIA or the dual discrete/dedicated card. If you call and let Apple collect data or even test your unit, might spped this process. Either case, I have a feeling you will get, under warranty, a new one. Cuppertino needs problem samples.

Thank You,

To whomever thanked me here and called me an MVP, am merely trying to pay it forward. Apple staff has solved all sorts of issues or peeves when I never even expected it. A few years ago, mac fans or users have helped me enter the Macworld in a very smooth way- youtube, instructions, so on. So if I can reciprocate and dedicate some time for thoughts, to calm down people that may be extremely worried when facing such issue a first time, it is an easy choice. As well, prevent people from loosing time with reinstalling or not, stay with ML with the problem or go back with Lion, it is also an easy pick. I obviously wish Apple had a set of instructions for affected users- but I do not think this will be coming anytime soon.

It is also about management, leadership and psychology, not everyone is able to call and deal with a rep- for some people it can be stressful. This forum may be as far as some users can go at confronting the issue- or someone. So those that take the lead and post here with the summary of experiences and lessons learned on this particular issue, we are doing it to help users mitigate the problem, and, hopefully, help Apple identify the problem, solve it or at least stop it from sneaking in the next OS, or iOS, so on. I had a three weeks vacation which, on top of travelling, I found it fun fiddling with installs, and learning more. Love challenges and problem solving, team management and major crisis management challenges. But this is not the reason the average Mac user bought an Apple machine. Nor mine- I tell my friends I bought macs to free my time to fix their PCs, and not mine on top of it. Vista was the ultimate drop that made me stop the PC experience and only bought macs since. One bad product too many, cumbersome, unimaginative, so on, that was it...  So mac users buy macs, precisely, to have a trouble free, maintenance limited, headache free computing experience. Something no other brand is believed to offer. Question is, will this belief remain founded?

Chris

I tried upgrading to 10.8.1. Battery life *****. I runs out before my eyes. Can I downgrade to 10.7.4 by restoring it over 10.8 or will I have to do a clean install? It is extremely painful to rekey all my apps and I would rather not have to . Plus I will lose all my email since I upgraded. I have a time machine backup of 10.7.4 before I upgraded to ML. Thanks.

neilford

That is wishful thinking, but unfortunately that isn't it.  They want to ship my machine to their service center because it is the most cost effective way for them to replace the battery.  Sure, it is an inconvenience to me, but they can save some $.

If I were to have it done at an Apple Store, they would lose the revenue that they could be receiving at that moment from a paying customer.

I like your idea, but unfortunately they could not be further from the truth.

GMC,

Interesting... Let's say here, in Canada, Montreal. My trackpad issue on the Macbook Air. Apple booked the appointment for me with the store and it was dealt in the store, even though I spoke with Apple technical support.  Also happened with many other repair issues, in which Apple tech created an order, booked the appointment for me in the store, and the store completes the job. Must be a different policy where you live?

Neil,

Clean install all the way, or the Lion image may not want to install next to a ML recovery partition. For the rest, people posted very useful step by step instructions.

I also learned, from this series of events (from a tech), that a clean install equally updates firmware during the install. SO Lion firmware should erase ML firmware.

Most important, is to import your documents manually, from time machine. Do not use time machine transfer for settings/user.