My MacBook Pro (2011) battery is died after only 42 cycles. Is this a Maverick's problem ?

It is difficult that a software bug causes a serious hardware problem, but I have seen some cases. In your case, the battery has died, but it is not related to 10.9.1.

Looking at the information you provided, I can say that you have one of the worst batteries I have seen. Maybe you did not take care of it properly, being this the reason why it has failed with only 42 cycles when Apple says that the battery can handle 1000 cycles.

You can take the Mac to an Apple Store or reseller to get the battery replaced, or you can keep your Mac plugged to the charger all the time

I know. I recommend you to have a look at the Apple website to get more information about the battery > http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

Your appointment at the genius bar for an evaluation is FREE, and you have no obligation to have them do any work for a fee.

It is strongly in your best interest to have them evaluate it. They may be additional things they can do that will prolong its life. Or maybe not, but at least then you will know where you stand.

Looking at the systems preferences in the POWER section, I noticed that the battery had only 42 cycles even because I don't use it in daily basis, but I NEVER let the battery to be completly drained.

Charging cycles and counting same does not amount to very much, in fact its somewhat easy to ruin a battery with low charging cycles.

😊

Did you always have it plugged in?

Was it often in sleep mode plugged in?

what does this mean "I ever let it plugged"

You mean you most always had it plugged in and in sleep, yes bad news

When portable devices are charging and in the on or sleep position, the current that is drawn through the device is called the parasitic load and will alter the dynamics of charge cycle. Battery manufacturers advise against parasitic loading because it induces mini-cycles.

Parasitic discharge trips a mini-charge cycle in a laptop constantly connected to the charger, which damages the battery over time.

When plugged in and not in use for some time, power off your Macbook, and at the very least remove it from charge regularly to cycle down the battery charge to 20~40 %

The reason display model notebooks receive battery service before they are sold is because of parasitic loading due to being either on or in sleep mode constantly.. and also on charge.

When the charger is connected, the battery is periodically topped up, both on and in sleep.

Charging procedure automatically performed when plugged in

1. Charge current
2. Balance (not required once a battery is balanced)
3. Charge voltage

Keeping batteries connected to a charger ensures that periodic "top-ups" do very minor but continuous damage to individual cells, hence Apples recommendation above: “Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time”,... this is because “Li-ion degrades fastest at high state-of-charge”, which is also why when gaming, you should have your Macbook plugged in and not on battery.

This is also the same reason new Apple notebooks are packaged with 50% charges and not 100%.

The notebook system controller charges at different rates depending on battery charge state. When the battery is full, it drops a little charge to the battery to maintain that full state. The controller has no way of knowing what the actual "full" charge state of all cells is, so it does a calculated estimate. As cell capacity diminishes over time, this estimation is adjusted, but it's often the case that one cell or another will be ever so slightly overcharged from time to time. The effect of doing this to lithium-based cells is decreased service life due to perpetual charge-state.

flaaus wrote:

I believe Apple could include a kind of a "guide to care with batteries" in their packages.

A guide on best practices on levels to charge and dischage, how to do when asleep and etc... should save a life of many batteries.

There is scant documentation included in the box this is true, most of it is online.

😊

Keep it plugged in when near a socket so you keep the charging cycles down on your LiPo (lithium polymer) cells / battery, but not plugged in all the time. When not being used for several hours, turn it off.

And best "tip" is if its near a socket,...plug it in as long as you can (especially at home) since cycle count on the battery are the "miles that wear out the tires (battery)", however again, not plugged in all or most of the time.

http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

"Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time."

General rule to remember of Lithium batteries is:

Never drain them LOW & dont always/often store them HIGH

While cycle count is commonly seen to be the “miles” on your Lithium Ion pack cell in your Macbook, which they are, this distinction is not a fine line at all, and it is a big misconception to “count charge cycles”

*A person who has, for example, 300 charge cycles on their battery and is recharging at say 50-60% remaining of a 100% charge has better battery usage and care than another person who has 300 charge cycles at say 15% remaining on a 100% charge.

DoD (depth of discharge) is far more important on the wear and tear on your Macbook battery than any mere charge cycle count. *There is no set “mile” or wear from a charge cycle in general OR in specific. As such, contrary to popular conception, counting cycles is not conclusive whatsoever, rather the amount of deep DoD on an averaged scale of its use and charging conditions.

(as a very rough analogy would be 20,000 hard miles put on a car vs. 80,000 good miles being something similar)

*Contrary to some myths out there, there is protection circuitry in your Macbook and therefore you cannot overcharge it when plugged in and already fully charged

*However if you don’t plan on using it for a few hours, turn it OFF (plugged in or otherwise) ..*You don’t want your Macbook both always plugged in AND in sleep mode (When portable devices are charging and in the on or sleep position, the current that is drawn through the device is called the parasitic load and will alter the dynamics of charge cycle. Battery manufacturers advise against parasitic loading because it induces mini-cycles.)

Keeping batteries connected to a charger ensures that periodic "top-ups" do very minor but continuous damage to individual cells, hence Apples recommendation above: “Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time”, …this is because “Li-ion degrades fastest at high state-of-charge”. This is also the same reason new Apple notebooks are packaged with 50% charges and not 100%.

LiPo (lithium polymer, same as in your Macbook) batteries do not need conditioning. However...

A lot of battery experts call the use of Lithium cells the "80% Rule" ...meaning use 80% of the charge or so, then recharge them for longer overall life.

Never let your Macbook go into shutdown and safe mode from loss of power, you can corrupt files that way, and the batteries do not like it.

The only quantified abuse seen to Lithium cells are instances when often the cells are repeatedly drained very low…. key word being "often"

The good news is that your Macbook has a safety circuit in place to insure the battery doesn’t reach too low before your Macbook will auto power-off. Bad news: if you let your Macbook protection circuitry shut down your notebook at its bottom, and you refrain from charging it for a couple days...the battery will SELF-DRAIN to zero (depending on climate and humidity)…and nothing is worse on a Lithium battery being low-discharged than self-draining down to and sitting at 0

Contrary to what some might say, Lithium batteries have an "ideal" break in period. First ten cycles or so, don't discharge down past 40% of the battery's capacity. Same way you don’t take a new car out and speed and rev the engine hard first 100 or so miles.

Proper treatment is still important. Just because LiPo batteries don’t need conditioning in general, does NOT mean they dont have an ideal use / recharge environment. Anything can be abused even if it doesn’t need conditioning.

From Apple on batteries:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1446

Storing your MacBook

If you are going to store your MacBook away for an extended period of time, keep it in a cool location (room temperature roughly 22° C or about 72° F). Make certain you have at least a 50% charge on the internal battery of your Macbook if you plan on storing it away for a few months; recharge your battery to 50% or so every six months roughly if being stored away. If you live in a humid environment, keep your Macbook stored in its zippered case to prevent infiltration of humidity on the internals of your Macbook which could lead to corrosion.

that referred to a small bug in the communications with the AC system chips in the battery, not how it treated the battery in buffering deep discharges or how it progressively charged the battery to full (in stepped level)

All notebooks and laptops are protective to a great degree, but like a seatbelt and airbag in a car...these systems are there to protect the battery from harsh abuse in discharges and in charging, they cannot (none do) protect from long term abuse in use / charge/ discharge habits.

Yours may have been /is , of course, defective.

If you feel you need an evaluation, you should set up an appt. with your local Apple shop for free diagnostics evaluation 😊