Is there such a thing as a battery-killing powerbook?

Bought a new battery. Worked well for a month or two -- now it shows as even deader.
ian wrote on :

I bought a used Pizmo.

Battery promptly failed--would only run maybe 20 minutes. Seller gave me another, used but tested. It did the same. But strangely, when both batteries were in the laptop, it reliably ran around 7 hours!

Bought a new battery. Worked well for a month or two -- now it shows as even deader. No LEDs light, computer goes into "running on reserve power" the instant it's unplugged from wall. Strange part: instead of going to sleep within a short time, it keeps that msg displayed, awake, for at least two hours.

I've reset the PMU, allowed powerbook to run until it finally did go to sleep, recharged for hours. No change at all. Any idea what's going on?

Laurent Daudelin replied on :

In message eb185239.0410230824.3243c4f5@redacted.invalid, igoddard@redacted.invalid (ian) wrote:

I bought a used Pizmo.

Battery promptly failed--would only run maybe 20 minutes. Seller gave me another, used but tested. It did the same. But strangely, when both batteries were in the laptop, it reliably ran around 7 hours!

Bought a new battery. Worked well for a month or two -- now it shows as even deader. No LEDs light, computer goes into "running on reserve power" the instant it's unplugged from wall. Strange part: instead of going to sleep within a short time, it keeps that msg displayed, awake, for at least two hours.

I've reset the PMU, allowed powerbook to run until it finally did go to sleep, recharged for hours. No change at all. Any idea what's going on?

Since you tried 3 different batteries, it sounds like the PMU is defective...

-Laurent.

ian replied on :

laurent.daudelin@redacted.invalid (Laurent Daudelin) wrote in message news:ogpfd.4587$8R.1398@redacted.invalid...

In message eb185239.0410230824.3243c4f5@redacted.invalid, igoddard@redacted.invalid (ian) wrote:

I bought a used Pizmo.

Battery promptly failed--would only run maybe 20 minutes. Seller gave me another, used but tested. It did the same. But strangely, when both batteries were in the laptop, it reliably ran around 7 hours!

Bought a new battery. Worked well for a month or two -- now it shows as even deader. No LEDs light, computer goes into "running on reserve power" the instant it's unplugged from wall. Strange part: instead of going to sleep within a short time, it keeps that msg displayed, awake, for at least two hours.

I've reset the PMU, allowed powerbook to run until it finally did go to sleep, recharged for hours. No change at all. Any idea what's going on?

Since you tried 3 different batteries, it sounds like the PMU is defective...

-Laurent.

Further experiments, and equally strange results. Took the battery, and twice more let powerbook run overnight, until it was thoroughly asleep, then recharged.

Battery now looks perfectly OK, runs for hours. I suppose I oughta try it with the other batteries and see if everything springs back to life.