vitalix

Q: Early 2009 Macbook A1181 battery recognized but 0% charge all the time

Hi
I replaced my battery a few months ago buying new but the cheap one though (maybe that's the problem). It worked fine holding the charge for a few hours then a few weeks ago my Macbook started shutting down unexpectedly. I didn't know if the battery was the problem as it looked ok so I tried to take the battery off and use my computer without it to see how it will behave.
Those several days without the battery my laptop didn't turn off once but working on the battery or even connected to the MagSafe and with the battery inside it still could turn off giving me the "previous shutting down cause: 0" in the console.
Anyway, I put the battery back in but after a day or so it stopped charging. Macbook recognizes the battery showing all the information about it, I see charging sign in the top right corner right on the battery but the charge is always 0% (showing "battery is not charging"). The light indicator is yellow not green.
I have already reset SMC, PRAM several times - nothing helped. I also checked battery connectors - all looks fine. Here is the battery info from the system (I've translated some stuff coz it's not in english):

 

Інформація про модель:

  Серійний номер:   

  Виробник:    SMP

  Назва пристрою:    ASMB016

  Pack Lot Code:    0

  PCB Lot Code:    0

  Версія прошивки:    006e

  Версія пристрою:    00aa

  Версія акумулятора:    2

  Інформація про заряд:

  Charge left (мА•год):    0

  Full charge:    no

  Charging:    no

  Capacity (мА•год):    3776

  Діагноз:

  Cycles count:    58

  Condition:  Normal

  Battery installed:    yes

  Amperage (мА):    22

  Voltage (мВ):    0

 

Системні параметри живлення:

 

  Живлення від мережі:

  Таймер засинання комп’ютера (хв.):    10

  Таймер автоматичного засинання диска (хв.):    10

  Таймер автоматичного засинання дисплея (хв.):    10

  Прокидатись у разі змінення джерела живлення:    no

  Прокидатись у разі відкривання кришки:    yes

  Прокидатися для доступу по мережі:    no

  Поточне джерело живлення:    yes

  Дисплей засинає із затемненням:    yes

  Hibernate Mode:    0

  PrioritizeNetworkReachabilityOverSleep:    0

  Живлення від акумулятора:

  Таймер засинання комп’ютера (хв.):    10

  Таймер автоматичного засинання диска (хв.):    10

  Таймер автоматичного засинання дисплея (хв.):    2

  Прокидатись у разі змінення джерела живлення:    ні

  Прокидатись у разі відкривання кришки:    так

  Дисплей засинає із затемненням:    так

  Hibernate Mode:    0

  Зниження яскравості:    так

 

Конфігурація обладнання:

 

  ДБЖ встановлено:    ні

 

Інформація про зарядний пристрій:

 

  Під’єднаний:    так

  ID:    0x0100

  Wattage (Вт):    60

  Версія:    0x0000

  Родина:    0x00ba

  Серійний номер:    0x008095f3

  Charging:    No

MacBook, OS X El Capitan (10.11.2)

Posted on Dec 12, 2015 9:22 AM

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Q: Early 2009 Macbook A1181 battery recognized but 0% charge all the time

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  • Helpful answers

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Dec 12, 2015 10:36 AM in response to vitalix
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Dec 12, 2015 10:36 AM in response to vitalix

    Do you still have the battery you took out. The old one. The yellow on the magsafe tells you that it is at least trying to charge the battery. If the old battery has anything in it at all, at least it will tell you if it's the battery or something else. Or you would have to find a known good battery for your model Macbook to try. Worst case could be the internal battery cable.

  • by vitalix,

    vitalix vitalix Dec 12, 2015 10:58 AM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 12, 2015 10:58 AM in response to my ginger

    I do have the old one but it doesn't have anything in it at all. I mean, like completely dead (it was like this before I changed it). But I still tried it out. The result was as I expected: it couldn't take any charge at all while this one at least showing charging.
    There is one more weird thing. Just before logging in into my profile the battery shows 1% and right after there is 0.
    Unfortunately, I can't find any spare battery unless I buy one which wouldn't be smart if this one is still good. I can't get it, is it really possible for a new battery to become useless after several months?

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Dec 12, 2015 11:41 AM in response to vitalix
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Dec 12, 2015 11:41 AM in response to vitalix

    How long have you had the new battery? A few months,as in three? Is there any warranty on it from where you bought it? Your charge capacity is lower than mine and I have 664 cycles on it. You have 22.  My capacity is 4869. You are getting a charge rate of 22ma. So it is trying to charge. Did you ever use the Macbook on battery only and run it till it shut off? If you have it off and with the battery connected and power supply connected over night do you see any change? If not I would say you have a defective battery.

  • by vitalix,

    vitalix vitalix Dec 12, 2015 12:02 PM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 12, 2015 12:02 PM in response to my ginger

    Yes, three months is about right. I think there is warranty but I need to check that. The thing is this 3776 (or close to that, for sure never more than 4000) capacity was like this all the time I've been using this battery. I did used my laptop only on battery (dozen of times till the complete shut down) many times, it worked somewhere near 2 hours.
    I'll try to leave it overnight for charging and see what happens.

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Dec 12, 2015 12:28 PM in response to vitalix
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Dec 12, 2015 12:28 PM in response to vitalix

    I must tell you that running with no battery slows down the Macbook. The CPU does not run at full capacity. Also the 2 hour of battery life is low unless you are running programs that use a lot of memory and CPU. Full charge capacity on a new battery should be around  4900 to 5000 MAh

  • by vitalix,

    vitalix vitalix Dec 13, 2015 1:24 AM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 13, 2015 1:24 AM in response to my ginger

    So, here it is. I left my Macbook overnight and checked it in the morning. It's the same, the battery didn't take any charge - still 0%. It seems that the battery is bad but it's still hard to believe because it is kinda new. What about the internal battery cable? Can it cause such thing?

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Dec 13, 2015 10:22 AM in response to vitalix
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Dec 13, 2015 10:22 AM in response to vitalix

    As far as it being an internal battery cable,you would need to take it in to an apple store and have them check it. I had a similar problem with my wife's old Macbook. But with her's the battery stayed at about 60% charge. What it was, I could not unplug the magsafe power cord and keep the Macbook running. In this case it was the internal battery cable. Since the yellow light is on with the magsafe with battery installed, my thought is in trying to charge battery, it doesn't give enough power to system to stay running. If the magsafe is showing yellow with no battery installed, that is another problem.  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203207

  • by vitalix,

    vitalix vitalix Dec 13, 2015 10:45 AM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 13, 2015 10:45 AM in response to my ginger

    I've just checked - the light is green with no battery. So, you think the battery doesn't (or can't) give enough power for the system and Magsafe has to constantly provide it? What about the battery itself? Do you think it can be defective or it's most likely for the internal cable to be a problem?

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Dec 13, 2015 11:20 AM in response to vitalix
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Dec 13, 2015 11:20 AM in response to vitalix

    The bad cable is only an educated guess. They are sold on Ebay and not that expensive. But it require a partial disassembly of the Macbook. Replacing it may or may not solve the problem. Using the battery warranty to replace your new one would be the way to go to start with. An apple store would have the tools to check the charge system that you have no access to.

  • by vitalix,

    vitalix vitalix Dec 14, 2015 6:07 AM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 14, 2015 6:07 AM in response to my ginger

    It's very weird. I happened to have a spare internal battery cable and this morning I replaced the old one with the spare one. When I turned the Macbook on (leaving the keyboard and some screws unscrewed though) the battery started charging but very slow - from 0 to 1,4% in about 30 minutes. I figured maybe it was because the battery was completely discharged. When I tried to disconnect MagSafe the laptop still worked for a few seconds so I new the battery took some charge. Anyway, after that I reassembled my Macbook back and the weird thing happened: it started showing me 0% of charge again and that the battery isn't charging at all (althoug the light was yellow and charging sign was on the battery in the top menu).
    It's really weird, now i know that the  battery can at least take some charge but why the power was provided when the notebook wasn't completely assembled and once it was it seemed that something changed.

  • by my ginger,Solvedanswer

    my ginger my ginger Dec 14, 2015 8:51 AM in response to vitalix
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Dec 14, 2015 8:51 AM in response to vitalix

    It is posible that one of the screws on the side that the battery is on is making contact with the battery board on the back side away from the battery. It would be the second screw in, not the one closest to the outside edge of the case. As you can notice from the cable you took out one end has the pug that connects  to the logic board and the other end is a board that is attached by screws to the inside of the case. There would be one out side screw that helps secure the top keyboard cover to the case. It goes through the case and screws into the metal flange on the keyboard. If ether the screw or the flange it screws into touch the board, it creates a ground.

  • by vitalix,

    vitalix vitalix Dec 16, 2015 9:46 AM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 16, 2015 9:46 AM in response to my ginger

    Thanks for the help. I've decided to give my MacBook for the repair because I haven't found the problem.