iBook - charge light always orange.

it has stayed on the orange light for hours...

It normally take up to 4-5 hours to charge - how long are you talking about?

it says it has 1.5 hours of time left on it. Plugging it back in results in the orange charge light...

Could this be because it hasn't yet attained a full charge?

If the orange light disappears eventually when it's plugged in then all should be fine ...if it's constantly charging and A) the battery shows a charge - then the Charging Board may be suspect, or B) the battery does not show a charge - then the battery may be suspect.

Macbook 1.8-) Mac OS X (10.4.8) Week 38 base model w/1G Ram

If that is an Apple battery, it may have been made in early 2001. That's a rather long time for these batteries, even if cared for ideally.

Batteries are known to have a limited lifetime. The fact that your charges to 37.5 percent and won't charge further supports the idea that the battery is wearing out. If it is an Apple-brand battery, it may be the original, and wearing out after this many years would not be surprising.

This is not a clear-cut, black and white case. Every one will be different. But at this point, I would say a preponderance of evidence implicates the battery before the charge board.

To decide with certainty requires another opinion -- a stand-alone charger, another iBook with known-good charger, or a known-good battery.

They are easy to get hold of... but expensive!

I bought a 300mhz clamshell for my fiancée to use at University. It arrived with a dead battery.

So I priced buying one from varius battery stockists here in Australia. The cheapest price I could find was $150 AU. I only paid $200 for the iBook itself off eBay.

I checked on eBay, and sure enough there are people selling iBook batteries, several located in China/Hong Kong only asking for around $70 AU for their batteries. But "everyone" says to avoid them, because they will be inferior quality.

I actually emailed a few of the "happy customers" who had given feedback on eBay for these Chinese sellers, and they all said it was a problem-free transaction, and the batteries have been ok.

In the end, I tried buying another iBook from eBay, as the seller said it had a great battery. Must have had "sucker" on my forehead that day... another $200, and the battery only lasts 1/2 hour.

So now I have 2 iBooks - a 300mhz, and 333mhz/Firewire, with 1 dead battery, 1 nearly dead battery...