battery swollen, metal back is buckled out

If the battery is actually swollen, it's time to get AppleCare involved.

I would immediately discontinue use of your battery. It sounds like during a charge cycle it got over-heated, or unable to "breathe" and puffed out. Eitherway, its probably not safe to use. If you need to use your machine, its probably best to do so with your battery disconnected, running off of AC Power.

Call Apple Care immediately and tell them of the problem -- there isn't any wide-spread issue known with the MBP batteries yet, so I'm not sure if you just got unlucky.

Golan.

That is very bad. Stop using the battery immediately. Take it out of the computer and call Apple immediately to find out what do with it. Defective lithium-ion batteries can be very dangerous.

Agreed. There’s a lot of energy in there, when charged. If you think of how hot the MacBook gets over the course of a couple of hours of heavy use and then imagine all that energy released in the course of a minute, you get some sort of idea how hot the battery could get if it develops an internal short circuit. Given the mechanical damage that’s implied by a distended case, that seems to be a definite possibility.

RRS

oh dear mine is swollen too..... must take it out? The battery cuts at 25-30%. Apple care is sending me a new one Wednesday. Is it dangerous to use?

I can’t say for sure, but any visible swelling is a de facto indicator of problems and the battery should be replaced.

Personally, I would not use one in this condition. In fact, I would not keep it in my home. Batteries can start fires. I would put it on concrete or maybe in an open metal container on soil or elsewhere not near any combustible materials and not in a living space.

Seriously.


RRS

Thanks for the heads up Randy. Its sitting in my balcony now enjoying some south bay sunshine.

Seriously, I am appalled by this poor quality. I thought it only happened when you bought those cheap OEM China cellphone batteries. I remember stories of cellular sets exploding.

The charge in the MBP batteries are much larger..... scary.

Enjoy it now. In a few hours it’s going to be over 90°F! Wait a minute… “ It’s” enjoying the sun? If by South Bay you mean here in the SF Bay Area, then that might not be the best idea either, unless the balcony is shaded in the afternoon, given how hot it’s getting these days.


By the way, there was just a story on NPR this morning about poor quality cellphone batteries exploding while installed and in use!


RRS

iMac 20" Core Duo, 2 GB; MacBook Pro 15" 2.0 GHz, 2 GB Mac OS X (10.4.6)

I had the exact same problem. I bought my MBP just over two months ago, the serial number shows I have a week 10 machine (W8610...). I took it to the Apple Store last night and they promptly replaced my battery. About one third of the battery was swollen next to the main input and delaminating.

This is being talked about on a couple of threads, and they all seem to have been purchased about 2 months ago. hmmmm....

Hey Sensei,

Had my battery changed as well. My serial is W8610 as well.... is this a week 10 battery problem?

New battery works great!

I just hope this does not happen again in 2 months

Having the exact same issue. The machine lost battery calibration a few days ago and would completely shut down when it thought it had 40% left. When it shut off today, i turned it over to have a look at the battery life indicator on the battery, and found the cover to be puffed out in the center, and coming lose from the battery half way around the perimter.

Becoming very disapointed in the quality of this machine. This started happening only days after the trackpad button stopped working properly. I hadn't even made arrangements to get that fixed, and now my battery has apparently exploded. If there was a lemon law for computers, I would send this one back in a heart beat. With this many issues cropping up, cost of operation on this thing will be outrageous when the warranty expires.

Interesting note on these batteries. They are lithium polymer rather than a typical lythium battery. I think I have read that the energy density is higher and it makes it possible to build smaller batteries. But when these are completely discharged, the results are a lot more dire than with a normal battery. Its supposedly not able to allow itself to be fully discharged though, so go figure.

Oh, and I don't know when this particular machine was made. I pre-ordered it and it shipped straight form China when it was vailable. But now I can't remember when it was. Time flies.

Here is an interesting update. When I was writing my previous comment it occured to me that the battery is directly under the trackpad button. So now with the battery out, I pressed the button, and instead of feeling tight and unresponsive, it felt completely normal.

I had a look at the battery and, yes, the internal side had buckled outward, far enough to put pressure on the panel above. So my trackpad button problem is a side effect of the failing battery.

Last week, the trackpad started registering a few false clicks, and it got progressively worse until it behaved as though the button was constantly held down. Now it seems that the problem was getting worse as the battery "poofed out" further and further against the panel above. And I never noticed what was going on until my battery life was cut in half and the surface of the battery started to fall off. How observant!

macbook pro Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Garrison!

My jaw dropped when I read your post.

The EXACT same thing happened to me. I was seconds away from flipping out and screaming at Apple about how my battery was swelling and my trackpad button was failing (miserably) and I got my hands on this thread.

The second I read the reply about discontinuing use immediately, I shut off the computer and took it out/restarted. I instantly realized that my trackpad button was not acting as if it were constantly being pressed down and was wondering if anyone else had that problem.

At least we know what was causing that. About the battery, I contacted Apple about it 5 or 6 days ago and they said they would FedEx me a new one right away, but it has yet to arrive.

I'm having the same issue. My battery is swelling outwards rather than inwards. I'm also having the accompanying random shutdowns.

This experience, combined with the whine, heat, and airport issues, have me concluding that the MacBook Pro is one of the crappiest pieces of hardware I've ever purchased and by far the crappiest Mac I've ever purchased.

Same with me. First two months no problems at all. Last week sudden total shutdowns when on battery power. I called Apple NL and they helped me to reset the battery but the problem remained. So two days I called again and although they assured me it wasn't the battery itself that caused the problem they were so friendly to send a replacement anyway.
This morning I noticed that the machine was kind of wobbly. When I checked underneath I noticed that part of the battery cover was bulging outwards at the connector side. Based on this thread I immediately disconnected it. I am curious whether the new battery will solve the problem.
Serial number: W6809, so production week 9.

MBP Mac OS X (10.4.6)

MBP Mac OS X (10.4.6)