My daughterÂ’s iBook, a white 500mhz dual USB model, the first of the white iBooks, running OSX 10.2.6, will not operate without the AC charger plugged in. When the computer is restarted with the AC charger plugged in, time setting is retained. If the AC charger is accidentally unplugged, the computer immediately shuts off and when restarted the time setting is back to 1904 or something like that.
Tried zapping PRAM, resetting Power Manager, taking battery out and making sure it has clean terminals, ran Disk Warrior 3 and Norton Utilities 6. Is there anything else I can try, or is it definitely in need of a new battery? Bud There are 2 things here: The fact that the time does not hold suggests that the PRAM internal battery needs replacing. According to my copy of Mactracker it should be a Lithium ion. Two years is not an unusual life time for these. Then there is the external battery that normally powers the iBook when the mains are disconnected. The following may help Bob I have recently had battery problems on my ibook 500 - it seemed the battery was slowly dying - I looked around for a software based solution but discovered it was hardware related (apprently a problem with all li-ion batteries). The only solution was a new one - RRP is $275! Then I discovered the delights of battery repacking - I sent my battery off to Qld, and 5 days later it was back, fully repacked and with 3.5hrs of life (compared with about 2.5 when it was new!). The cost was $165! ..and it has a 12 month warranty - the same as a new battery. A tried a stack of different re-packers - but found only one who would do an apple battery and give 12 months warranty. Their service is excellent and I highly recommend them: Power Repackers http://www.battrepack.com.au/ Cheers Melinda -- Macshack p: PO Box 168, Forest Range, SA 5139 f: 08 8389 8095 e: [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.macshack.com.au On 10/7/03 1:43 PM, "Bob Howells" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > COURTESY OF MACINTOUCH, today > Bob > > > Two readers shared stories about resuscitating Mac laptop batteries in > Mac OS X: > [Rob Wyatt] I'd like to share a recent experience with my iBook (white, > dual USB, 600mHz). I hadn't used it in a few weeks and when I turned it > on, the battery was completely dead. I booted up the machine and was > very surprised to find that the battery wasn't even recognized. There > was a little "X" over the battery icon in the menubar (OS X 10.2). I > attempted to re-seat the battery, zap PRAM (using the key combo upon > startup), and reset the Power Manager. Nothing worked. So I called tech > support and they had me do all of those things over again. Finally they > agreed to send me a new battery. > In the meantime, I decided to try one other thing (after reading > about iBook battery issues somewhere online). I booted into Open > Firmware and typed "reset-nvram", followed by "reset-all". Surprise, > surprise...my battery came back to life and recharged fine. Too bad > Apple tech support didn't tell me to try this! > I figured I'd share this experience in case anyone else out there is > having a similar problem. > > [David M. Barnett] I have a Wallstreet Powerbook G3 266 which has been > upgraded to 384MB RAM and 40GB hard drive. I also have a brand new > battery from APS. > After upgrading to System X 10.2.3 I noticed a problem develop with > my battery which persisted even after upgrading to System 10.2.6: > After a few charge/discharge cycles the battery would apparently stop > charging at less than 100%. The percentage would decline rapidly with > time (reaching as low as 50% before I found what appears to be a cure). > The battery voltage reported when charging stopped was high, but the > battery would go into automatic sleep when it hit 0% capacity (even > though the reported voltage was still quite high. > I suspected that the battery's intelligence and the OS use of the > power manager were somehow clashing. > To test this I rebooted in System 9.2.2 and cycled the battery with > no apparent improvement. > I then reset the power manager and cycled the battery again (still in > System 9) with a full charge/discharge cycle. VOILA! The battery now > charges to 100% in System X. > I am currently cycling it in System 10.2.6 to see if the problem will > recur. Since I have read of problems people have had with batteries even > on newer systems, this may be of general interest to powerbook owners.
