MBP Not Charging Properly

[Westyfield2]

As the title says, it's not charging properly.

For the last hour I've just been doing general surfing and word processing, so about 20% processor usage mainly (40% on pages with flash!). When I plugged it in to the mains an hour ago, the orange light came on and it reckoned an hour to charge it. Now it's still orange and reckons it's gonna take 1 hour 47 minutes to charge it.

I'd understand it if I was doing video encoding and was sucking power out quicker than the charger was putting it in, but this is just normal general usage!


Any ideas?
It's an August 2007 MBP 2.4 Santa Rosa.

TY
Ed.

 

[FreeStream]

What % is it at?

Up to 80% its fast charge, after that its slow and takes a while.

 

[Westyfield2]

What % is it at?

Up to 80% its fast charge, after that its slow and takes a while.

It's at 91% (was about 80% an hour ago I think).

Now it reckons it's gonna take 2 hours 12 minutes to charge it, and I'm using a whopping 5% of processing power!

 

[Westyfield2]

Well that's odd. I just walked away from it for 10 mins, and when I came back and closed the screen-saver it's now saying Charged.

 

[LordSplodge]

Well that's odd. I just walked away from it for 10 mins, and when I came back and closed the screen-saver it's now saying Charged.

Do a battery reset. Charge fully. Run down to flat (as in the MBP switches off) and then charge back up to 100%.

 

[FreeStream]

Do a battery reset. Charge fully. Run down to flat (as in the MBP switches off) and then charge back up to 100%.

This^

But when it goes to sleep by its own accord you have to leave it until it turns off completely, IE the light goes off too.

On a properly calibrated battery it should be 4-8 hours before it does this.

My old buggered battery would keep going for 18/19 hours and I could never drain it, even with a 2.5" USB HD and it charging my iPhone

Ah well

 

[LordSplodge]

calibrated battery it should be 4-8 hours before it does this.

Battery calibration. That's the word I was looking for not battery reset. D'oh!

Anyway it works a treat on my MacBook, as in once done I can really tell the difference.

 

[Westyfield2]

Cheers guys, I'll do that tonight

 

[LordSplodge]

I checked Apple's support website and once the computer has entered safe sleep (I.e the battery has gone) you can switch the laptop off (hold down the power button aka the one fingered salute) or let it sleep for five hours.

I'd switch it off.

 

[Westyfield2]

I checked Apple's support website and once the computer has entered safe sleep (I.e the battery has gone) you can switch the laptop off (hold down the power button aka the one fingered salute) or let it sleep for five hours.

I'd switch it off.

Well this morning it was saying 10mins of battery left, then it went straight into sleep (so the 10mins was wrong!). It's been sleeping since then........

So I should now just turn it off and do the recharge?

 

[Deleted member 651465]

It's at 91% (was about 80% an hour ago I think).

Now it reckons it's gonna take 2 hours 12 minutes to charge it, and I'm using a whopping 5% of processing power!

It's to do with the power adapter.

They dropped the wattage on the newer models, which means it lacks "oomph" to charge it properly when in use. It's also a reason why the machine underclocks itself when a battery is not present; it can't draw enough juice from the AC alone and cuts out.

A step backward IMO

 

[b0rn2sk8]

It's to do with the power adapter.

They dropped the wattage on the newer models, which means it lacks "oomph" to charge it properly when in use. It's also a reason why the machine underclocks itself when a battery is not present; it can't draw enough juice from the AC alone and cuts out.

A step backward IMO

Dont most laptops do that? Im sure it was an intel thing rather than an apple thing.

 

[LordSplodge]

Well this morning it was saying 10mins of battery left, then it went straight into sleep (so the 10mins was wrong!). It's been sleeping since then........

So I should now just turn it off and do the recharge?

Switch it off. Recharge to full and and then leave on mains for at least two hours once fully charged. Google for MacBook Battery Calibration if you want to see Apple's official document on this.

As for minutes left I don't use that I have mine set to percentage and it normally sits on 0% for a few minutes before doing the Safe Sleep thing.

 

[Westyfield2]

Switch it off. Recharge to full and and then leave on mains for at least two hours once fully charged. Google for MacBook Battery Calibration if you want to see Apple's official document on this.

As for minutes left I don't use that I have mine set to percentage and it normally sits on 0% for a few minutes before doing the Safe Sleep thing.

Did exactly that yesterday, but cheers anyways.

iStat Pro is reporting battery health as being 78%, and I can't remember what it was last time I checked.
Does that sound alright for a 18 month old MBP?

 

[LordSplodge]

Did exactly that yesterday, but cheers anyways.

iStat Pro is reporting battery health as being 78%, and I can't remember what it was last time I checked.
Does that sound alright for a 18 month old MBP?

My MacBook is the same age, has done nearly 300 cycles and has a battery health of 100%.

So it looks like your battery isn't on top form. It's not dead though...just not on top form. How many cycles?

 

[FreeStream]

You might have a buggered battery.

Mine after 80 cycles went below <80% and they replaced it.

However the thing HAS to turn off by its own accord, as the battery measures the output etc and remembers where it cut off and that point is 0% etc etc.

Running it down and turning it off does naff all, or at-least it did for me.

 

[LordSplodge]

However the thing HAS to turn off by its own accord, as the battery measures the output etc and remembers where it cut off and that point is 0% etc etc.

Running it down and turning it off does naff all, or at-least it did for me.

Not what Apple says (of course your experience may be different!):

4. Continue to keep your computer on until it goes to sleep. Save all your work and close all applications when the battery gets very low, before the computer goes to sleep.

5. Turn off the computer or allow it to sleep for five hours or more

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490

I've tried both ways. Switch off after it Safe Sleeps (often after it has been on 0% for a while) or let it sleep for five hours (boring!) and both methods seem to result in the same new lease of life.

However it does sound like the OP's battery was a bit of a duff one as it has started to age to early.

 

[Westyfield2]

Hmmmm, well Coconut is reporting it as being 19 months old, 87 battery load-cycles and 82% of original capacity (4624MaH vs 5600mAh).........

 

[LordSplodge]

87 battery load-cycles .

Wow, mine battery has done 266 cycles in almost the same time as yours.

 

[Westyfield2]

Hmmm, it's still not happy.

Today I used it for an hour and a half on battery, and it was saying it had an hour left. But it just died there and then. Not the nice gentle going to sleep, a hard power cut. (Fortunately I had a recent'ish save of my work).

Four hours later I tried it, and it came with 0% left and Coconut saying 0mAh, and it lasted ten minutes.

Coconut is reporting it as being 54% health (3066mAh vs 5600mAh)


So, I take it this battery is dead?

It's 19 months old and done 88 cycles, is it going to be covered on my AppleCare?