Mavericks - power use / service battery

My macbook pro 2010, when bought new, used to do the following: when you plug the adapter, and the battery was between 95% and 100% already, it would not start charging to avoid wasting cycles.

Now ever since mavericks that never happen again. Not only that, but when doing a full charge, the last ~5% allways take severely longer compared to the rest. And it hasn't anything to do with Mavericks, I believe, because I'm running the original OS installed from factory DVD.

Apple wont do nothing, this thread is useless, feedback is worthless, this site is even more dumbed down, and we are all left here with problems and no solutions, because only apple can provide a solution to this technical problem.

So my point is, Apple rotted. Maybe shouldn't have been bitten off again…

This could be very interesting! Please report about how it is going now as sometimes cleaning the OS (fresh install) helps only for a while.

As I reported before, I have an impression that it is even possible to transfer this "bug" to older versions of OSX while using time machine after fresh installing e.g. mountain lion.

Hope there is some kind of a fix in Yosemite!

Using Mountain Lion again after Mavericks helped me to get battery fixed somehow (it is still old), but I don't have any kernel process running around 78 tasks all the time which forced my MBP to get hot-hot-hot and "die" very quickly! 😟

I just bought a Macbook 2010 which was made 3 years and change ago. Fresh copy of OS 10.6.1. Worked perfectly. Upgraded to Mavericks and I have the dreaded "service battery" issue and seeing the laptop lose power unplugged very quickly. The battery has 350 cycles on it and is rated at 1,000.

I was convinced to go this route since Apple means "it just works." Reading this discussion thread that has lasted over a year and I didn't see until now, I am hoping that someone has just found a fix. It seems that as of last week, this still is not the case. I feel bad for everyone whose batteries seem to have died to be brought into the Apple Store only to be told to buy a new battery. Hopefully someone will find a fix soon? Without it, I don't think I can properly use it to develop apps without killing the battery since it requires a later version of xCode. Thanks to everyone for help.

Just had the "Service Battery" appear after update OS X 10.9.4 to OS X 10.9.5 on a Early 2008 2.5Ghz Core 2 Duo 15" Macbook Pro (with a battery about 10 mounths old.) Was fine befor the update and change as soon as the update installed.

Model Information:

Serial Number:

Manufacturer: ML

Device Name: ASMB012

Pack Lot Code: 1

PCB Lot Code: 12

Firmware Version: 11

Hardware Revision: 002f

Cell Revision: bb18

Charge Information:

Charge Remaining (mAh): 700

Fully Charged: No

Charging: Yes

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 4024

Health Information:

Cycle Count: 67

Condition: Service Battery

Battery Installed: Yes

Amperage (mA): 1691

Voltage (mV): 11352

Just for information

Had the service battery for a couple of months now. It keeps disappearing and re-appearing. Pretty sure thats its a software bug.

Battery backup drops to around 2-3 hours when the service battery message is there, and then goes back up to around 4-6 hours when it's gone.

Can't wait for Apple to fix this with the Yosemite update.

Model Information:

Serial Number: D8622630DD2DKRNAV

Manufacturer: SMP

Device Name: bq20z451

Pack Lot Code: 0

PCB Lot Code: 0

Firmware Version: 406

Hardware Revision: 000a

Cell Revision: 162

Charge Information:

Charge Remaining (mAh): 4941

Fully Charged: No

Charging: No

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 5090

Health Information:

Cycle Count: 350

Condition: Service Battery

Battery Installed: Yes

Amperage (mA): -1080

Im having the same problem. It was fine BEFORE Mavericks.

Voltage (mV): 8190

Hi, how do I get rid of the "service battery warning"? I have also noticed that no "low battery alert" appears anymore when my battery is 5% or below. My laptop just shuts down.

I have a 2013 MBP 13" retina display and am runnings Mavericks 10.9.

Please help.

I posted in this thread a while ago and I've had the battery problem for several months. Like with everyone else's macbook, the service battery warning started popping up since the Mavericks upgrade. Battery life dropped from 3-4 hours to less than 1 hour. My Air also shuts down when the battery is below 5%. It drains itself when I put it on standby below 20%.

I tried everything I could: recalibrating, downgrading to Lion, nothing worked. An Apple technician contacted me, and he suspected that there might be some software on my mac that was draining the battery. I didn't think so because I was using the exact same apps before and after Mavericks.

The battery condition continued to deteriorate: it moved from "service battery" to "replace soon" and finally to "replace now." My Air had been a desktop computer because I couldn't take it anywhere without the charger. I even worried about the new airport rules that require your laptop to be turned on.

I finally couldn't take it anymore and took the Air to the Genius Bar. They ran a system diagnostics and decided that my battery needed to be replaced. I asked about the possible correlation between the Mavericks update and the common battery problem, and they said that Mavericks is indeed less energy-efficient and that the new Yosemite has addressed that problem. They didn't explain how a less energy-efficient OS could actually damage the battery and downgrading to a previous OS didn't help the issue. I had to decide between sucking it up and get a new battery ($138.68 after tax) and sucking it up and use my Macbook Air as a desktop. I got the new battery.

It's been two weeks since my battery replacement and I'm currently happy about the result. I was worried that if Mavericks was the problem, replacing the battery wouldn't have helped (I had upgraded to Mavericks again because some applications require it). But so far the battery's performance has been satisfactory. It's now at 97% health, 6519 mAh (this fluctuates a little), and lasts about 3-4 hours on a full charge.

My Air is the mid-2011 model, bought early 2012. Hope this helps all who share the same headache.

I'm happy for you that a battery replacement is working for the moment. But $140 for a battery for a 2-3 year old laptop that runs on an Intel Core 2 duo (if that is what it is) is a little shocking, especially since these batteries are supposed to last for 1,000 cycles and batteries for standard PC laptops never cost more than $45-85, even OEM. But I suspect the software is killing these batteries. My Macbook worked perfectly for the 2 weeks I had it until I decided to upgrade it to Mavericks. Directly after the upgrade I noticed the service battery warning and the fast battery drain. I suspect that it's a no lose situation for the vendor to recommend taking a chance on replacement for $138. 😉 I wish Apple would directly address this issue as it is hard to believe that this thread is now 27 pages long and growing after many months.

I totally agree that Apple needs to address the direct link between Mavericks and battery drain. I think they had been working on it, since that's why I was contacted by an Apple technician. But apparently they didn't find a solution and decided to work on a new OS instead. They could have warned users that battery life could be impacted by Mavericks, but they didn't seem to want to admit there was a problem.

I had to take the chance on a new battery because I need the laptop for work. Since Apple seems to have given up on finding a solution, it was either a new battery or a new computer for me. I wouldn't recommend this for anyone else who doesn't have an urgent need to use the laptop on the go. There is a chance that the new Yosemite--like they said--improves power efficiency. So for those who are still stuck with the service battery warning, it may be worth holding out for a while and see how Yosemite fares.

But at the same time, the battery damage by Mavericks may have been irreversible (the service warning didn't disappear after I downgraded to Lion, and battery life also remained the same), so upgrading to Yosemite may not help at all. One way to go may be to wait until the Yosemite upgrade, and if the battery problem persists, get a new battery then (instead of getting one now and let Mavericks wreck havoc on it).

Good luck to all! And yes, dear Apple, we still need a solution here.

also own 2009 MBP which I upgraded to Mavericks and then noticed the "service battery" message. Figured the battery had had 5 years of hard use so I'd follow the message and bought a new battery. Initially, all seemed ok, battery performance was better than previous, however within a couple of weeks the battery would drain to 0% overnight and discharge really quickly, then the "service battery" message reappeared.

Brand new battery, no issues before Mavericks. Me thinks that Mavericks is the issue.

Will follow some of the posted fixes to see if it shows improvement.

Branched to a new discussion. What the......?

"! Access to this place or content is restricted. If you think this is a mistake, please contact your administrator or the person who directed you here."

Priceless.

mariotheplumber wrote:

Branched to a new discussion. What the......?

"! Access to this place or content is restricted. If you think this is a mistake, please contact your administrator or the person who directed you here."

Priceless.

What's the question?

after installing os x yosemite beta 4, "service battery" warning disappears on my mac, so I guess Mavericks did kill and destroyed my battery. SMH

Seems like people are reporting that battery warnings go away if Mavericks goes away. Seen reports that going back to SL and warnings disappear. Moving onto Yosemite they also disappear. Annoyed that I shelled out for new battery, which potentially damaged now.