Hardware: 300MHz iBook (camshell)
Software: Machine had X.2.8 but I erased it off (not reformatting) and did a clean install of 9.2.2. Did this to preserve some file already on the machine for which a reinstall/backup is not possible at this time. Machine runs stable and thins it is a simple Classic machine. Point here is that I have firmware and OF beyond the original installed firmware and OF.
Issue: Battery has been recently replaced with a new one. Initial charging of the battery went well. Held charge for over 4 hours. Recharged, listened to a CD for about 5 hours (screen and HD were sleeping), recharged partway and then went to go download a needed app from a public wifi site. While roaming and wireless, I tried to reformat a USB drive (only 64MB - shut up. it was free) that I had used with this machine before. the drive is not being recognized and this caused Disk First Aid to crash hang while attempting to reformat. Of coure I mashed that little reset button by the hinge and rebooted. The machine went into OF right away. Being well trained, I reset the nv-ram and then did a reset-all. Machine seemed to work fine and I continued to browse the web and use my remaining battery life (appx 1 hour). Later that night, I went to plug in and recharge. Next morning, the battery had not charged, nor has it taken any charge on in the past three days of trying.
I know this is a good battery (these things do not 'just die' like that. I suspect that something has gone wrong when and the OS in not allowing it to charge.
Other Symptoms: When the battery is installed, the Mac sees it and tells me the remaining life it was (which is next to nothing). When it is not plugged into the charger, it tells me I have about 10 - 40 minutes (depends on task at the moment) and no bars. When it is plugged in, it shows the battery icon with a plug overlayed, not the battery icon with the lightening bolt (indicating charging). When the plug is in, the socket is always ever green (machine on or off) and never orange (indicating charging).
Anyone got any ideas?
TIA
The same thing happened with my Rev. A PBg4 12'', after about 2 months (on a new battery) It justt stopped charging it. The people at the apple store ended up replacing it for free. Have you tried another battery?
I kept the reciept, but not the package.
I was hoping that I could thoroughly exhaust the software route first. If I get desperate enough, I will do this, but I need to rule out software/hardware on my end so I do not have to deal with this headache multiple times.
"The Procedures"
Also, try the Battery Reset util, that can sometimes revive an apparently dead battery.
dan k
I had a similar probelm with my iBook's battery this past year. I had the battery for about 3 months, when it overnight decided it would no longer take a charge. It would go to 1% and stop saying it was full. Of course when I unpluged it, it would shut down in about 15 seconds. It stayed like this for about 9 months. I tried every trick there is and could not get it to work. Finally I used a different battery in my iBook to make sure the charge board wasn't fried. It worked fine, I reset my PRAM after using his battery and now it works fine with my battery. Apparently his reset something in my iBook and now my battery is back to normal. Before you replace your battery, try and use a different one.
I d already been doing the reset button thing (in fact it was one of the first things I tried), and I tried the Battery Reset Utility to no avail (although I think this may help my failed rebuilt battery ('nother story for later)
Thinking it might help, and in keeping with your suggestion, I removed the battery and reinstalled it. It was recognized! But after some use, it stopped charging, but remainede recognized. Methinks that some of the pins that charge the thing are loosing contact while other (the ones that feed the iBook) are keeping in touch. Subsequent adjusting of the battery seemed to affirm this thought. It appears that the battery has just enough wiggle room to seem secure, but in fact loose contact on some critical pin causing it to not charge. The only way (right now) to re-establish chargeability is to remove and reseat (simple readjusting does not work). As this gives me some means to charge, my immediate woes are over. I may use a small shim to keep the battery snug and keep this from happening again.
Right now, I have no bars, but a charge indicator on the Control Strip. I will keep my fingers crossed.
Thanks!
well, the thing charges for about 15 mintues (or so) and then stops. By removing ang remounting, I have allowed it to build up enough charge to finally get to 2 bars of nine or ten. Note that I have to do this every 15 minutes (or so).
It does not appear to be caused by battery movement as I suspected as I left it still and with the battery under light pressure to ensure no movement - still quit charging while being recognized by the system.
I may well take this thing back (and I did find the original package). I just wish I knew what was going on here. A battery should not be good on charge and then die the next, but I cannot find anything about my machine to explain this behavior.
Still looking for help. I am in the Atlanta area if anyone reading this with magic hands is also.
Sounds like kinda like one (or more) of the cells inside may have got messed up with the complete discharge. Of course this is a wild guess since the battery's intrenal controller is supposed to prevent that from happening.
What do you see when you see (relating to the battery) when you run the OF commands for the complete device tree printout? The device tree has a bunch of specific info about the hardware, including detailed battery info.
There are tools for OS X that you can use but since you're running 9 you'll have to just use the OF interface directly. (Unless someone knows of a classic Mac OS tool that can spit out the device tree infos??)
basic device tree:
0 > dev / ls
complete device tree dump:
0 > dump-device-tree
Also, I just re-read your initial post and I now see where you hit the Power Manager reset button to restart the machine. For future reference, I don't think you want to do that, it's not a reset switch. The correct way to force-restart an iBook is the old cmd-cntrl-power 3-finger salute.
dan k
As silly as it sounds, I never knew about cmd-cntl-power, just force quit and reset.
I will get the info on the results from OF later tonight, when I get home and have it in front of me.
I am returning the battery since everything I tried has not worked (and I tried the OF stuff at the local MUG meeting last night, to no avail).
I will get a new battery and hope for the best...
well, I picked up a new battery and am sitting at the local Panera letting it charge while I type this and have a bite. We will see how this one goes. If the problem persists, then I have rotten luck or a bad something-or-other on the it-could-be-anything and may have to resort to a full mobo replacement.
I will keep my fingers crossed.
Things have been going well with the new battery and it is just fine. It holds the charge well and give me four to six hours use, depending on usage.
Thanks for the tips!