deep breaths... AAGGGG WHAT HAPPENED?

SooTyLaD

SooTyLaD

SooTyLaD

Soldato
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
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i decided that last night i would calibrate my battery like the manual recommends...

it was running from main all day, so early evening i disconnected it and let it run down... when it ran out of juice it went to sleep mode, where i left it all night ( manual says 5 hours but it did about 8)

this morning:

(the macbook is closed)

• took it into the study

• plugged in my monitor / power / keyboard / mouse

• pressed summmat on the keyboard and the display came up on the monitor

• went in the shower, when i came back to my study the macbook is off :(

the little led on the plug is showing orange, if i press the power key, it flashes green for a bit (kinda like it really wants to be green but just cant do it) - then ends up just orange again :(

any help much appreciated... is my new toy dead? is this my punishment for posting so many noob questions? :(
 
update...

the led on the plug went from flashing between orange and green... to just green, so i figured it might have sorted itself...

so i opened the macbook, pressed power and to my joy i heard the cd drive have a think and the screen went grey and i got my apple logo...

the computer then died and the plug started alternating between orange and green again :( I thought while plugged in macbooks run off AC?? so this just shouldn't be happening i.e. it shouldn't need a nominal amount of charge to start up right?

balls to this, i aint calibrating it again for love nor money :(
 
well, thats answered it then, something is definately wrong :(

when i switched it on the last time, it was showing a solid green light which indicates fully charged right? its obviuosly not fully charged cuz only half an hour ago or summat it was 100% dead in the middle of a calibration cycle :(

EDIT: read through the apple troubleshooting stuff, and i've tried reseating the battery (didn't work), the resetting the SMS (AC plug out, battery out, power button for 5 seconds, plug all back in), and that also was a no go... in fact after trying to switch it on after the reset, the battery indicator thing on the plug didn't know where it wanted to be... flickering between a weak and strong amber light, having a quick play with green, then going back to orange... mad :(

and to think apple recommend you do this???
 
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WotDa said:
What advantage does calibrating the battery have? Is it worth it? :o
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well, i can catagorically say no its not worth it... just been on the phone to apple tech for 45 minutes, and my macbook is dead :(

new one next week, so no no NO its not worth it, proppa dissapointed now, and i've lost faith in how robust these things are... you are supposed to calibrate to maximize the battery life, but now i wont have the balls to do it again :( so the battery will just have to get by without ever being fully discharged cuz i'm not having this again...

damn.
 
dont know as a new battery would sort it now, the macbook seems screwed... tried switching it on with no battery inserterted just running off AC, this didn't work, should it?

i did manage to get then to give me a free incase neoprene sleve though so every cloud and all that...

i have two problems tho, i have company files on there which really needed to stay confidential, and also when i put my osx disk 1 in, that was the last i saw of it cant seem to get it out now...

not a good day!
 
Robotica said:
yeah you are right it should work with just the charger plugged in and no battery.

What you could do is buy a new hard drive and put that in the macbook, take the current one out and keep it. When your replacement macbook comes swap the drives over

not the best solution... but it seems like your dont have many options ATM
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i like the idea of keeping the hdd for security reasons, but i'm sure they'd hammer me for it wouldn't they? charge me or something?
 
Robotica said:
I dont think they would if you just replaced it with one the same size an doubt they would even notice!

if they do just tell them, it is a user replaceable part :) - o yeah best be sure its not a broken hard drive you have:D
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you know what, i'm taking the hdd out and keeping it... i'll put it in another computer at a later date to wipe it... they can have it back after i've done that if they really want...
 
Darryn said:
Surely Apple have had other customers with important business files on broken kit, im sure if you explain the situation over the phone to them they will arrange either a swap out of the HDD into the new machine or some other secure way of you ensuring the data is either discarded or given back to you.
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what i've done is ordered a 2.5" caddy from OcUK, so i can format it via my pc and then put it back in :)

i'll then keep hold of the caddy for if and when i upgrade the macbook hdd (which i can't see happening until maybe the 250 gig 7200rpm drives become more common)

In all honestly i'm not sure they'd kick up too much of a fuss, but now i have a way to clear the drive everyone wins :)
 
EVH said:
I knew it would happen to quicksilver! LOL

You're meant to discharge, leave until it completely drains, wait 3 hours and charge it fully BEFORE using it again.

That's where you went wrong.. Well done, you borked your Mac.
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cheers boss, knew i could count on you for a bit of sympathy!

however, i was following official apple documents and i didn't read about that last 3 hours anywhere... just said "Connect the power adapter and leave it connected until the battery is fully charged again." which i did...

where did you read the 3 hour thing mr. sympathetic?

:D :(
 
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how did i bring it upon myself??? i followed the bleedin' apple documentation!

matey you post a lot of helpful stuff but you're a right grumpy boots :p

I seriously doubt i can bring myself to do it to my next macbook anyway... we'll see...
 
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absolutely, it should be within the batteries limits, but you do hear a lot about full discharges causing problems hence why i will have cold feet come the time to do it with my next one...

with regards to sooner rather than later, i've blagged the 3 year warranty (well, blagged the HE discount with which comes the 3 year warranty) so if things go wrong i'm covered but obviously i'd prefer em not to happen at all...
 
EVH said:
Turning on the MacBook when it was fully discharged is where you went wrong :p

I've done the calibration on many, many Macs and never had the problem.. maybe it's the method, maybe it's the machine, who knows.
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maybe its the man, i reckon its the man :p
 
Dr Jones said:
I just woke my Mac after a Calibration since yesterday (Discharged and Charged full overnight) - all working fine.

As caged said, chances are, there was a fault right from the start and calibration made it worse...
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so you didn't try to switch it on once it was fully discharged and then plugged into AC? you just left if off and plugged in?
 
well... full kudos to apple as i am now typing this message from my new macbook :) informed them of the fault yesterday morning, i now have a new mac - top dog!
 
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