No Batteries Available . . .

Question

Level 2

170 points

No Batteries Available . . .

Hi,

Another MacBook with a problem battery. I took my MacBook on a trip with me and the battery was low when I left. I never had a chance to use it over the two days I was away so I didn't plug it in at all to charge. Now when I plug in my MacBook I get the "No Batteries Available" message in the energy drop-down in the menu bar.

I bought my MacBook in June so Apple Care didn't want to talk to me, of course. I'll be heading into a nearby Apple Store today to speak to a "genius".

I'm just wondering what I should expect for a response given that the battery is nearly 7 months old. Most posts that I've read where replacement batteries were given to MacBook owners were less than a month old. I don't think I should have to replace a completely dead battery after 7 months.

Opinions?

Dual 2.3 G5/Apple 23" Cinema, MacBook 1.83, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Jan 8, 2007 7:20 AM

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Answer 1

Art.Fry

Level 1

9 points

Jan 8, 2007 9:29 AM in response to Scott Widmer

Hi, Scott.
I have same problem too.

After some updates from official site Apple, i live my Macbook sleep.
At night Macbook has utter some sounds like after reboot notebook (bzzz bzzzz…)
I thought that Macbook has updating full and it'll be ok after that operations.
But at morning i get up my Macbook and don't understanded.

In localy battery status i see "No batteries available…"

In next time my Macbook sometime has going to sleep-mode without my touch.

From battery (if power adapter is not plugged) i cann't start-up my Macbook.
BUT!!! When i plugged AC Adapter and start my Macbook, after this i can unpluge AC Adapter and my Macbook is as stiil working as with AC Adapter.

Battary is not recharging.
AC Adapter is light "GREEN" colour.

Have resseting everything - PMU and PRAM.

I bought my Macbook in Russia - St. Petersburg in 18.12.2006.
Please, promt me what gonna be do?

Sorry for my bad English:(
Best regards, Art Fry.

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Answer 2

serveri

Level 1

0 points

Jan 8, 2007 9:35 AM in response to Art.Fry

Have the same thing occurred twice on my MacBook, which is going to be replaced to another one for other reasons. My two friends with MacBooks also have told me the same thing happened to them too. I wouldn't believe it's anything catastrophical at least. Some software bug maybe?

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Answer 3

Art.Fry

Level 1

9 points

Jan 8, 2007 10:17 AM in response to serveri

I think that is problem in firmware update.
May be it crash the PMU.. I don't know. It's my first Macbook and i really don't happy after pay 2000 dollars. I always think that Apple it's a very very hard, big, faster, and some else unreal. But now i have sure that Apple has downstagger in trust of reliablly to them.

I hope that other owner of Macbook will be supported me in this Discuttion.

Best regard, Art Fry.

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Answer 4

JoeyR

Level 6

8,305 points

Jan 8, 2007 10:55 AM in response to Scott Widmer

Scott,

Did you call AppleCare and they told you that they can't help you because you've had your MacBook for 7 months? They should be providing hardware support for a year. The 90 phone support is really for OS or setup issues. If you're having a hardware problem, they should be helping you out with that. If you have an Apple store close by then no harm in taking at trip there.

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Answer 5

Cass67

Level 1

5 points

Jan 10, 2007 4:01 PM in response to Scott Widmer

I have the same issues with the no batteries problem, the black X on the battery icon.. I have had a replacement battery from Apple which made no difference, problem persists.

Tonight however i seem to have gotten my macbook from the black X state to a recharging an battery detected state without letting the battery drain to 0% and sleeping, my usual fix.

Like another poster in another thread suspects a firmware issue, i suspect that too or a bug in OSX sleep/acpi software, possibly both.

My fix ? install the deep sleep widget and put the macbook to full sleep (hibernate?) the wake it up, the battery will be detected and begin to charge. Mabey the first time it will get stuck on clalulating, just restart the macbook, it seems to come good.

If anyone knows how to switch some kind of debug on for the sleeping of macbook, or indeed where power management logs its actions, that would be appreciated .

Ohh, the link -

http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/status/deepsleep.html

HTH

Cass

Macbook Mac OS X (10.4.8)

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Answer 6

Horns23

Level 1

0 points

Jan 10, 2007 5:01 PM in response to Cass67

This got rid of the black X but the battery still says calculating on it even after a restart and a shut down.

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Answer 7

Cass67

Level 1

5 points

Jan 10, 2007 5:48 PM in response to Horns23

Try plugging the power cable in and out a couple of time, until leave it each time until the icon recognizes the switch from battery to power

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Answer 8

daroca

Level 1

4 points

Jan 11, 2007 9:27 AM in response to Cass67

I've had this problem twice now, I called Apple about it today, it occurred both times after resuming from "deep sleep".

As I have had the battery replaced before, I asked if they could escalate this, and it appears they want to replace the motherboard now.

Is this a problem effecting all Macbook / Macbook Pro's ?

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Answer 9

daroca

Level 1

4 points

Jan 11, 2007 2:20 PM in response to Art.Fry

Art,

A new battery might resolve the problem for a short while, as it did for me, but I think there is a deeper problem occurring here possibly with the PMU.

I recommened you contact Apple support and mentioned that you have followed http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304301 (MacBook and MacBook Pro: Battery not recognized after being fully drained), hepefully they will be able to assist you.

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Answer 10

Scott Widmer Author

Level 2

170 points

Jan 12, 2007 12:07 PM in response to Scott Widmer

I took the MacBook into the Apple Store on Monday January 8 for diagnosis. Kind of a waste of time, kind of not. The genius didn't test a darn thing. I pulled out the MacBook and he took off the battery made some case notes and told me to call Apple Care to request a new battery be shipped to me because he didn't have any replacement parts in stock. It's now Friday January 12 and the darn battery still hasn't been shipped. The MacBook is a PITA to use without a battery because of the Magnetic Power Adapter connection. As careful as I can be the darn thing gets unplugged. Luckily the internal battery is saving the "state", but it's still annoying to be without a battery.

JoeyR, that's correct. The Apple Care person refused to talk to me without purchasing a per incident Apple Care for $50 to troubleshoot the problem and I would be refunded my money only when the problem was determined to be hardware and not software related. It's a good thing I like Apple products because I really can't stand their service policies.

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Answer 11

showdown

Level 1

5 points

Jan 13, 2007 8:07 AM in response to Scott Widmer

Scott,

Same problem here. I bought my MB at the end of june '06, and since my logocboard was replaced a couple of weeks ago, my original battery was not recognised anymore. Even the replacement they gave me doesn't work.

Seems to be 'normal' ... well, at least to them ..

Cheers

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Answer 12

daroca

Level 1

4 points

Jan 14, 2007 10:23 AM in response to showdown

Slowdown,

Please can you put your solution, when you get it in this forum. My Macbook is currently getting a new logic board, so I'm worried that this did not fix this problem for you.

For me it's 2 x battery replacements, and now one logic board.

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Answer 13

Cass67

Level 1

5 points

Jan 14, 2007 7:05 PM in response to daroca

Yeah please post if the logic board replacement fixes the issue, i for one am not so sure its a hardware problem, at least not sure its a logic board issue, this is why im hesitant to go through the pain of removing the ram and hd i added to send this back to Apple only to find a couple of sleeps later the X is back .... For now the deep sleep workarounf works just fine for me, even if its not a permenant fix ...

Cheers
Cass

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Answer 14

Scott Widmer Author

Level 2

170 points

Jan 15, 2007 6:11 AM in response to Cass67

Cass67,

What do you mean "deep sleep" workaround?

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Answer 15

daroca

Level 1

4 points

Jan 15, 2007 7:25 AM in response to Scott Widmer

I've just heard back from my local AASP the logic board in my macbook is faulty, and they have ordered a new one, but there is no ETA on the new part.

I asked if he had an idea and he said it could be a week, it could be a month !

I guess this issue could be draining up the logistics spares Apple have.

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