I think I may have left the computer in sleep mode for too long (about a week between occasional usage) because now my battery won't take a charge. It is the original battery and I realize it is probably at the end of it's life, but it was still working quite well up until last week- charged normally, would allow me to run for a couple hours when I didn't have lots of peripherals hooked up to it. Now the lightning bolt shows up for a couple seconds after startup then the battery level indicator in the menubar just shows a little red sliver on the bottom of the battery and it only runs for a minute or so when I take it off AC. I've reset the PRAM and tried resetting with the reset button on the back panel, but it seems to be the same. Does this sound like just an old battery issue or might it have to do with other hardware inside the machine? I haven't had a chance to swap batteries with someone else yet.
Thanks,
Seng
In article <BB936771.119D4%seng@redacted.invalidjunkvisifilterdot*.com>, Keeper of the Mighty Macaulay <seng@redacted.invalidjunkvisifilterdot*.com> wrote:
I think I may have left the computer in sleep mode for too long (about a week between occasional usage) because now my battery won't take a charge. It is the original battery and I realize it is probably at the end of it's life, but it was still working quite well up until last week- charged normally, would allow me to run for a couple hours when I didn't have lots of peripherals hooked up to it. Now the lightning bolt shows up for a couple seconds after startup then the battery level indicator in the menubar just shows a little red sliver on the bottom of the battery and it only runs for a minute or so when I take it off AC. I've reset the PRAM and tried resetting with the reset button on the back panel, but it seems to be the same. Does this sound like just an old battery issue or might it have to do with other hardware inside the machine? I haven't had a chance to swap batteries with someone else yet.
Thanks,
Seng
This sounds like a battery at the end of its life. Confirm by trying a known good battery. I ended up buying a new battery because mine only lasted about 1 hour on a full charge. My new battery gives me 4 (Pismo 400, 384MB RAM, 20GB HD), and if I need a bit more time, I can use the old battery as well. It's heavy with both, but sometimes that extra hour makes the difference between getting the work done and not.
Keeper of the Mighty Macaulay <seng@redacted.invalidjunkvisifilterdot*.com> wrote:
I think I may have left the computer in sleep mode for too long (about a week between occasional usage) because now my battery won't take a charge. It is the original battery and I realize it is probably at the end of it's life, but it was still working quite well up until last week- charged normally, would allow me to run for a couple hours when I didn't have lots of peripherals hooked up to it. Now the lightning bolt shows up for a couple seconds after startup then the battery level indicator in the menubar just shows a little red sliver on the bottom of the battery and it only runs for a minute or so when I take it off AC. I've reset the PRAM and tried resetting with the reset button on the back panel, but it seems to be the same. Does this sound like just an old battery issue or might it have to do with other hardware inside the machine? I haven't had a chance to swap batteries with someone else yet. Two hours runtime just last week and now zippo runtime. Sounds like your battery is a candidate for Battery Reset. Sadly, BR won't run on a Pismo. Do you happen to also have, or know anyone with a Lombard? BR will run on a Lombard, I've revived a number of apparently-dead batteries using mine.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60655
Dan K
on 03.09.21 18:39, Dan K asserted:
Two hours runtime just last week and now zippo runtime. Sounds like your battery is a candidate for Battery Reset. Sadly, BR won't run on a Pismo. Do you happen to also have, or know anyone with a Lombard? BR will run on a Lombard, I've revived a number of apparently-dead batteries using mine.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60655
Dan K
Yeah, after reading other posts and going through the Apple support docs, it sounds like this would be just the thing. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone in the area with a Lombard. Anyone in Berkeley got the utility installed and have time to kill?
Funny thing now is that the battery seems to be slowly "healing" itself, ie the charging lightning bolt seems to stay on for longer and after a few cycles (letting it charge, taking it off AC until it forces going to sleep, waking it up again and charging until it indicates battery power again, repeating) it is bringing the battery level on the menu bar to a little more than half. I am perhaps jinxing it now by mentioning it (if I believe in self-healing technology, I will also believe in jinxes), but I'll update the ng if it gets back to full.
Seng