G4 iBook .... The battery will not charge
Short story: I have power from the power supply. The battery is seen by the OS, reporting a 4 percent charge, and by Systerm Profiler which tells me that the battery is not being charged. (A third party utility says that the battery is "OK" and can accept a charge.
I've seen the steady green light on the back of the cmputer come on .... but not stay on for more than a minute.
I've resest PRAM and PMU. I've a new power adaptor. I previously had trouble getting any consistent power to the computer through the adaptor so I had that repaired .... no trouble now with AC power.
So, the computer can see the battery. I've even been able to run it for a few seconds off of the four percent charge that is there (with the proper battery icon appearing). But ... the batter does not get charged.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
joHn
• Is this a 12" or a 14" iBook? You didn't specify.
• Is your power adapter a 45W or a 65W version?
Sorry ... details matter!
14" G4 iBook. This is a 1.33
I have a Macally charger. It is reported in System Profiler as AC Charger 50 Watts.
I bought the machine used ... with a different Macally charger ... it was beat up. The end pin was bent so it seemed best to replace it.
Coconutbattery reports .... Curent battery charge 2859 mAh with maximum charge 65495 mAh . Current capacity is 65495 mAh with Original Battery Capcity at 4400 mAh.
Battery load cycles 309.
I'd love to hear that I just need a new battery ... I don't want to buy one and find that it does not charge.
Thanks!
The 14" models shipped with a 65 watt adapter (just like the PowerBook 15" and 17" models).
It takes more juice to light up the 14, 15, and 17 inch screens -- not enough left to charge the battery properly. Can you borrow a 65 watt adapter and see if that helps?
I'll give it a try. I need to make some phone calls ... try to find one.
joHn
Another idea .... in the event that this does not work out. Is there another way to charge the battery? Does it have be charged while in the computer?
I don't think there was ever an external charger made for those batteries like there was for the G3 series ones, so... no, not really. Do charge that battery safely & properly, you need the charging circuitry that is in the 'book. Trying to charge that battery externally, without the charging / protection circuitry, would probably, at the very least, result in TEBRS (Thermal Eye-Brow Removal Syndrome).
Thanks! I'm not going to get myself into the "home made battery charger" business. Oh no!!! Upgrading the hard drive has been more than enough of an adventure. Enjoyable, and successful as far as that goes But it's just screws and unplugging things and being patient, ... tedious but not dangerous.
Google search ... ... I found a commercial product that charges the battery for this G4 iBook (133)... (A1080)
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/BATCAPL14IB/
But it is pricey ...($149) I don't want to buy stuff and then find out that the computer is not going to work anyway!!!
So far, no luck with friends and family finding a 65 watt charger. I'd like to find an A1080 battery as well.... just so that I can get a sense of where the problem is.
The max charge on there sounds WAY off spec. You might try a PMU reset, which should involve a full charge/discharge fop the battery.
Hhhmmm .... I did try a PMU reset ... following instructions that I found for this computer which was nothing more tha restarting the computer while holding down specific keys.
The information about a full charge/discharge is new to me. What's that involve? Right now, getting the battery to charge is the problem. But ... there is a small detail. The green charging light has come on a few times, but it does not stay on for more than a few minutes. I am hoping that this means that the connections are all there but that some electronic signal is shutting down the charger.
Currently the battery is at four percent ... it will not discharge lower than that ... If I remove the AC power the computer runs for moments and then sleeps.
No luck locating either a powerbook or a A1080 battery.
I'm going to roll the dice and purchase a battery.
A new battery did the trick.
In other words, a battery that is fully run down shows no signs of charging.
I had purchased this unit and had been told that the battery was OK. That little bit of incorrect information caused me a lot of headaches.
Thanks to the Applefritters ... this discussion group gave me the info that I needed to make a good, and in this case correct, decision.
joHn
Since you've now got a reliable battery, try freezing the "dead" one and see if that snaps it back. I'd never try this with my *only* battery, but since we're presuming it's dead now, you can't really hurt it now, can you?
Literally? Like put it in the freezer for a few hours?
Freeze overnight, then thaw for 24 hours to make sure it's thawed all the way through.
It'll either kill the battery (which is why I don't recommend freezing your *only* battery), make no change (which is no worse off than you are now), or in some cases it'll hold a charge again (even if not a full charge -- you're a winner!).
I purchased a lot of 6 "dead" Pismo/Lombard batteries a couple years ago on eBay for $10 shipped. Before freezing, none of them was recognized by my Lombard. After freezing, four were still dead, one held a 30 minute charge, and the last one holds almost 3 hours. $10 well spent, if you ask me.
Well I know where my iBook battery will be spending the night.