My original Macbook Pro (1.87ghz) has started to develop a problem. This is the second time it's happened, so is beginning to cause concern.
I'm sat doing something with the Mac on battery power, it was at 98%. I watch about 15 minutes of DV video in quicktime. I start converting some of it to divx, and after about 5 minutes, all of a sudden the left hand side of the screen goes dark - whilst the right hand side is still at normal brightness. The darkness fringes laterally across to the right where it is brightest, it's not an even fade, hence the term fringing.
Suddenly it goes dark after a couple of seconds of this strange display problem, then it appears to have gone to sleep. Plugging the power in shows 0% battery and restores normal screen behaviour. Prior to the screen going odd, the power level was at 76%
This battery was replaced not too long ago, after Apple had the scare of exploding batteries, so mine went back under the recall.
This sounds like the battery is going screwy - should Apple have an obligation to replace it even though the machine is now a nearly a year out of warranty?
Rexx Magnus trashcan@redacted.invalid wrote:
My original Macbook Pro (1.87ghz) has started to develop a problem. This is the second time it's happened, so is beginning to cause concern.
I'm sat doing something with the Mac on battery power, it was at 98%. I watch about 15 minutes of DV video in quicktime. I start converting some of it to divx, and after about 5 minutes, all of a sudden the left hand side of the screen goes dark - whilst the right hand side is still at normal brightness. The darkness fringes laterally across to the right where it is brightest, it's not an even fade, hence the term fringing.
Suddenly it goes dark after a couple of seconds of this strange display problem, then it appears to have gone to sleep. Plugging the power in shows 0% battery and restores normal screen behaviour. Prior to the screen going odd, the power level was at 76%
This battery was replaced not too long ago, after Apple had the scare of exploding batteries, so mine went back under the recall.
This sounds like the battery is going screwy - should Apple have an obligation to replace it even though the machine is now a nearly a year out of warranty?
It sounds like your battery is misbehaving, or it may just be poorly calibrated, so it is reporting incorrect information about power levels.
Have you tried recalibrating the battery? There should be an Apple knowledge base article describing the procedure, and it might be in the manual as well. Make sure you find the correct instructions, as the details differ between models.
From memory, it involves deliberately running the computer on battery until it has forced itself to go to sleep due to low power, then leave it in that state long enough to turn off completely and for a few hours longer, then plug in the mains and let the battery fully charge, and leave it plugged in for a few hours after it has got to 100%.
On Fri, 11 Jan 2008 03:04:58 GMT, David Empson wrote:
Rexx Magnus trashcan@redacted.invalid wrote:
My original Macbook Pro (1.87ghz) has started to develop a problem. This is the second time it's happened, so is beginning to cause concern.
I'm sat doing something with the Mac on battery power, it was at 98%. I watch about 15 minutes of DV video in quicktime. I start converting some of it to divx, and after about 5 minutes, all of a sudden the left hand side of the screen goes dark - whilst the right hand side is still at normal brightness. The darkness fringes laterally across to the right where it is brightest, it's not an even fade, hence the term fringing.
Suddenly it goes dark after a couple of seconds of this strange display problem, then it appears to have gone to sleep. Plugging the power in shows 0% battery and restores normal screen behaviour. Prior to the screen going odd, the power level was at 76%
This battery was replaced not too long ago, after Apple had the scare of exploding batteries, so mine went back under the recall.
This sounds like the battery is going screwy - should Apple have an obligation to replace it even though the machine is now a nearly a year out of warranty?
It sounds like your battery is misbehaving, or it may just be poorly calibrated, so it is reporting incorrect information about power levels.
Have you tried recalibrating the battery? There should be an Apple knowledge base article describing the procedure, and it might be in the manual as well. Make sure you find the correct instructions, as the details differ between models.
From memory, it involves deliberately running the computer on battery until it has forced itself to go to sleep due to low power, then leave it in that state long enough to turn off completely and for a few hours longer, then plug in the mains and let the battery fully charge, and leave it plugged in for a few hours after it has got to 100%.
Yeah, I'd done it recently. Running CoconutBattery showed the battery capacity to be 1260mAh instead of 5000+. I decided to ring apple to see if there was a problem with the replacement battery, but whilst I was on the phone giving the guy the battery serial number, it showed normal capacity after I put it in. He got me to check some file versions in system/library/systemconfiguration, but rather than having the required files in that folder, I just have folders with .bundle suffixes. He couldn't work out what was going on.
He then put me on hold for about 15 minutes, and I couldn't wait any longer so hung up. 10 minutes later a different woman rang me back and suggested doing a PMU reset (holding power button for 5 seconds with battery and power disconnected). Dunno if it'll help in the long run.
I can't see how the battery can be getting tired, as it's only had 16 charge cycles.
On 2008-01-11 03:04:58 +0000, dempson@redacted.invalid (David Empson) said:
Rexx Magnus trashcan@redacted.invalid wrote:
My original Macbook Pro (1.87ghz) has started to develop a problem. This is the second time it's happened, so is beginning to cause concern.
...This battery was replaced not too long ago, after Apple had the scare of exploding batteries, so mine went back under the recall.
This sounds like the battery is going screwy - should Apple have an obligation to replace it even though the machine is now a nearly a year out of warranty?
It sounds like your battery is misbehaving, or it may just be poorly calibrated, so it is reporting incorrect information about power levels.
Yep. My battery, also one received when Apple did the recall, had to be replaced last weekend after exhibiting exactly the same behaviour. No problems since swapping out the battery.
Cheers, Ian