Battery Problems Swept Under the Rug?

Question

Battery Problems Swept Under the Rug?

It has been a few months since ML came out. Upon installing it I immediately had siginificantly lower battery life and this has continued even with the upgrades put out by Apple. There seemed to be a fairly large number of users who experienced the same issue. But yet there has been no tangible response or solution on this from Apple. I am lucky to get two hours out of a fully charged battery while I was experiencing 5 - 6 hours just prior to the installation of ML. And I have run the gamut of suggestions put out by members of the community in an attempt to fix it. I hope that Apple is not taking a position that if they ignore it, it will simply go away. Does anyone have any news or updates or any clue if Apple intends to address this problem?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7), 15 inch Macbook Pro (early 2011)

Posted on Nov 10, 2012 7:37 AM

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Answer 1

CT

Level 7

23,987 points

Nov 10, 2012 7:45 AM in response to Community User

Can't confirm.

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Answer 2

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

Nov 10, 2012 7:47 AM in response to Community User

At this point, there is no indication that there is any kind of battery life bug in ML, and the "large numbers" of reports you may have seen are a very tiny fraction of the total number of Mac users. Your issues may be caused by an aging battery, an SMC problem, third-party software that is not fully compatible with Mountain Lion, something that got corrupt in the process of upgrading or something else entirely.

Try the following:

1) Check your battery status. Choose About This Mac from the Apple menu, click More Info, then click System Report, then select Power. What does it say under Battery Information?

2) Reset the SMC.

3) Start up in safe mode and work that way as long as you can. Does the battery last longer? If so, you need to review what software you have installed and whether it's fully compatible with ML.

4) Try reinstalling the system.

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Answer 3

Nov 11, 2012 11:12 AM in response to thomas_r.

Here is the current info on my battery. It shows not fully charged since it is connected to power at the moment. Please advise if the other info appears normal or not. Thanks for your help.

Pack Lot Code: 0

PCB Lot Code: 0

Firmware Version: 406

Hardware Revision: 2

Cell Revision: 158

Charge Information:

Charge Remaining (mAh): 5212

Fully Charged: No

Charging: No

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 6323

Health Information:

Cycle Count: 360

Condition: Normal

Battery Installed: Yes

Amperage (mA): -1224

Voltage (mV): 11907

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Answer 4

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

Nov 11, 2012 11:59 AM in response to Community User

Doesn't look like anything wrong with the battery. You shouldn't get much reduction in battery life at 360 cycles, unless the battery is also getting very old (as in, around 5 years or more).

BTW, note that I'm using a mid-2010 MacBook Pro with Mountain Lion and have been using it for about an hour and a half on battery right now. Here's what my battery indicator shows:

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Answer 5

Nov 11, 2012 12:26 PM in response to thomas_r.

I am on an early 2011 MBP so, yes, the battery should be good but you never know. And thanks for looking at the battery stats. They looked good to me but wanted confirmation. Just went through the SMC process and letting the laptop charge up. Will disconnect power when I get back to 100% and see what happens next. Thanks again.

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Answer 6

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

Nov 11, 2012 12:30 PM in response to Community User

Crossing my fingers for you that the SMC reset works. 🙂

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Answer 7

Nov 12, 2012 6:15 PM in response to thomas_r.

Thanks for your help. The SMC seems to have done the trick. It is certainly not retaining a charge like it did right out of the box since it is almost 2 years old but it is much better than what it has been recently. Thanks again.

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Answer 8

jtrev94

Level 1

5 points

Nov 13, 2012 12:59 PM in response to Community User

I got a macbook pro mid 2012 release, I got it about 2 weeks ago... I had about 4 hours of battery life on average when I was using it, doing my regular things I usually do on my macbook... I found out I can install the 10.8 OS for free if I claim it on apple.com, so I did and installed it.

I got it and a few days later i noticed that my battery only lasts 2 hours on average when I'm doing the normal things I usually do on my Macbook pro... Its running 10.8.2 but there has DEFINITELY been a significant reduce in battery life, to around half of what it was...

I have also been installing other apps and things, but only stuff from the app store, so idk if its that, I'm pretty sure its the OS.

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