Frackin Macbook!

[NightrainSrt4]

This is getting extremely frustrating.

For the second time my Macbook shows a battery as [X ]: . It won't recognize the battery, or charge it, or anything. So now I am stuck, again, with a Macbook that will only run on AC power. What fricken good is that? It's not a desktop replacement.

Apparently the Macbook batteries do this. If you use the laptop for a while, and forget to charge it back up, then don't use it for a while, the battery or circuitry in the Macbook that talks to that specific battery, just completely dies.

Why the heck do they tell you to run the battery down, then charge it back up to calibrate it, if doing so risks the battery ever being recognized in the laptop. This is the second time it has happened, except this time they won't cover it, and I will have to pay 130+tax for a new one.

I've tried all the fixes. I'm not going to pay 130+ for another battery, which many users state aren't fixing the issue anyway. Apple won't do anything about it anymore. I could try and replace the dc-in board, but that works for some and not others, and is 50+ to do it myself or 400+ from apple.

I've preached about Apple laptops before, being a worthy alternative, but one thing I can not deal with is crappy batteries. A laptop is useless without its battery functioning. They make good laptops, but the accessories for their products are complete crap. And I'm looking at you Mr. Magsafe.

Such a fricken love hate relationship going on here. I'm off to BestBuy to look for a netbook as I need a laptop that will run on battery for my 4 hour night class. Ughhhhhhhhh... always has to have crap happen to those that baby their stuff. Maybe I just need to beat the hell out of all my crap.

Edit: Sorry, posted in a rush. Can probably be moved to My computer ain't working or laptop/mobile.

[Luke122]

I'd email Apple about this again. The worst outcome is that they still wont help you, but at least it's worth a try. :( Sorry to hear about your battery troubles!

[NightrainSrt4]

Pretty much was told out of warranty so have to buy a new battery. A huge amount of people with the same issue pop up via google, same response as well. They stopped their replacement for this issue as of May 09 or something.

You let the battery run completely out just once, and there's a good chance it will not be usable in that macbook again.

Accessories for laptops just aren't built like they used to be, even though tech has come so much farther. The like 7 year old HP's battery works almost as good as when I first got it, yet this battery, my last (newer) HP, AND fiance's dell battery all crap out within a year.

I'd rather have a battery that lasts for 2 hours consistently for years than a battery that lasts 5 hours but dies if you let it completely discharge.

[Airbozo]

Jeez, that is just not right.

I have never had issues with laptop batteries other than using them so much they just stop working. The SO's laptop is almost 10 years old and both batteries still work... One only lasts for a short time and the other is like new. The newer laptop she got (a hand me down) does not last long at all on the batteries.

I agree that you should email them and reference the last problem you had and ask if it could be an internal issue and not a battery issue.

[NightrainSrt4]

I guess I should try again. I've hardly used the laptop to be honest since I got the new battery, for the same reason, last year. There's got to be hardly 50 cycles put on the battery. I can't tell, as it won't even recognize that there is a battery in it.

Edit: I didn't buy the "Applecare" so no extra warranty for me, even if it is something else, and mainboard/logic board replacements are 700-ish. At that point might as well spend 1100 and get a new aluminum pro w/9400m.

Edit 2: I can't find anywhere on their website to email them about laptop issues. It says they only have email support for itunes and apple photo services. I've already dealt with the in store people to no avail. Last time they weren't even going to replace the battery until I busted out the printout from apple's own website that said they were replacing batteries covered by this issue. As mentioned, that ended in May, so I'm SOL.

I'm frustrated as I would just say screw it and get a new aluminum 13" pro, but not if I'm going to run into similar issues. I love this damn laptop, but FUghghhshshshhghuuuuuu. Frustrating at the very least. Especially when a new battery isn't guaranteed to fix this, especially as this isn't the first time.

[Zephik]

Dang! That's a lot of BS right there. It's not like this whole "battery" thing is exactly new technology here Apple. I mean really, of all things to have wide-spread problems with...

Anyways, concerning the netbook. My friend just bought a 1005HA for $300 the other day and I got to play around with it. They're very nice and have great battery life. But for $30 more, you can get a bump up from the 4 hour battery life (http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-1005HA-EU1X-BK-10-1-Inch-Black-Netbook/dp/B002L6HD9W/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1251921647&sr=8-12) to the 8.5 hour battery life (http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-1005HA-VU1X-BK-10-1-Inch-Black-Netbook/dp/B002DYIXN2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1251921647&sr=8-3), or even the 10.5 hour battery life (http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-1005HA-PU1X-BK-10-1-Inch-Black-Netbook/dp/B002DYIXMI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1251921647&sr=8-1) for a bit more. They're also quite sexy looking. :)

Just a bit better selection and price online if you can afford the time for shipping. But really, the prices are pretty much the same, at least around here. Its just the selection that is the problem, they never have any of the good models. (at least, not around here)

[NightrainSrt4]

I haven't gone to BB to look at netbooks. I remember liking either the HP or Dell one over the acer and asus though. Just felt like better quality overall, but that was quite a while ago.

I really don't want to spend 3-400 on a netbook. Tonight I will just take the big 15" compaq I fixed this past winter. The wifi wire still isn't on the card, so probably won't get internet, and the battery doesn't last long, but at least I will have something.

I just needed something for tonight's software engineering class, but this will just have to do somehow.

I don't think a netbook is right for me, I was just worried and thought it might be my only option. If I'm going to pay that much, I'd rather just look for a slightly used Lenovo X61 or something.

[Bopher]

I know you said you tried all the fixes but I have to ask, have you updated the battery firmware? I was browsing around and found this (http://www.macbookbatteryproblem.com/) page and thought it couldn't hurt to look at the little fixes there.

[NightrainSrt4]

Yup tried the 1.4 update, the battery had all the others prior as well. I don't think it actually got put onto the battery, as apparently that you need to do before, and if so should have been a part of software update, and not hidden in the boondocks for only those actively looking to find. As I don't see how it can apply it to the battery if it doesn't even know a battery is there.

The chip doesn't realize that a battery is even connected. If I had another Macbook I could probably take this battery and shove it into another and it would probably work fine, as most users that can test that have had it work once it gets out of sleep and gets a charge. It seems like its something on the Macbook side, a chip or something, as a new battery may or may not work. Sometimes a new battery wakes whatever chip that recognizes a battery is there up, and other times its just permanently screwed.

[Kayin]

I've got the fix for that. I've a full set of Torx screwdrivers, and when we've stripped everything of use, I have a 3 pound deadblow mallet to take your frustration out on what's left with.

Travel expenses are yours, but I'd put you up for a night on the couch, feed ya, and we'd burn the remains afterwards.

[NightrainSrt4]

I found a quote, but kept forgetting to push the save button when I was running around earlier.

Basically said laptop batteries don't like to be discharged all the way and doing so can cause harm, so some batteries have little microchips, aka macbook, in the battery that makes it so it won't be used (appear dead) once that happens to prevent blowing up or whatever (or make you buy a new one lmfao).

I also found a guide that tore down an ibook battery that had the same kind of chip in it and had the same issue. They said desoldering the board from the cells and letting it sit reset it, and then soldering it back on makes it work like new.

Not sure I want to try and play around with lithium batteries, with the risk of shorting and fires and such, so I just said fock it and went and bought a new one. If I get confident enough maybe I will try to reset the battery. Apparently they said if Apple just put a reset switch on the battery it would solve all the issues.

*Crosses fingers and hopes the new battery is recognized*

[NightrainSrt4]

Well it recognized the new battery. Sometime down the line I will have to take apart the other battery and try and get the chip to reset, by desoldering/resoldering.

Once this charges up then I can move on to my setup for the year; the main reason I didn't want to switch to a new laptop.

OS X Upgrade to Leopard then Snow Leopard

Bootcamp running Win7 Professional (RTM)

And then hopefully a version of linux. I haven't tried throwing that on their yet...man I really need a bigger hard drive. 80GB is starting to feel small on a laptop, lol.

If I forget to charge this battery I am going to scream, lmfao. Such a stupid thing that can be easily remedied by a design change. Now I can see with a bit more clarity the style over function argument, from a perspective other than hate/fanboyism.

[Luke122]

Apparently they said if Apple just put a reset switch on the battery it would solve all the issues.


Sounds easy enough.. momentary switch from an old case to break the power feed from the battery to the circuit..

[NightrainSrt4]

If it worked I could probably mod one into it somewhere if it had the space, I'm just weary of ripping apart the battery and screwing up and shorting out one of the cells or something.

From what I read messing around in one of those batteries isn't for the faint of heart.

[x88x]

Wow, that sucks. I hope that fix works; when you do it, make sure you do a worklog of it on here ;)

I know Apple likes to take the 'amputate the customer's foot so he won't accidentally stub his toe' approach, but this is overkill even for them.

[Shameless plug]
Buy a ThinkPad.
[/Shameless plug]

Seriously though, I've had 2 ThinkPads, an R61 that I used for about a year, heavily cycling the battery, and pretty much treating it like crap...looking at it now, you'd never know it; it still gets the same battery life it did when I bought it (Aug 07). The X200 I upgraded to last September also still gets the same battery life as when I bought it, despite being fully drained many, many times. Also, as a side-note, a friend of mine got a ~15 year old ThinkPad when his dad's work was clearing out old stock; the thing had been heavily used in a business environment it's whole life, and it still worked great and got, like, 30 minutes of battery life.

[NightrainSrt4]

My fiance doesn't want me to try playing with the battery, but I know someday in the not too distant future it is going to start itching me and I will run a long extension cord out off my 2nd story balcony and work on it outside on the pavement. I figure that way if something does happen there is nothing to burn but me, ehh? Lol.

I've got it back working. Leopard installed fine, now working on Snow Leopard. Even just looking at Leopard seems like sooo much has changed since 10.4. So many new features and such to learn and use. Just have to hope I don't let the laptop sit without charging when near dead for a month again, lmfao. Who knew?

Then I've got to see how win7 pro installs in boot camp.

I really need something bigger than 80GB for this laptop. It's not an issue really, but I don't like to feel cramped.

Edit: And I like the thinkpads. In fact, if I could afford one, I would get a brand new tablet right now. I'd even take a used x60 or x61, and the tablet version would just be the icing on the cake.

[x88x]

And I like the thinkpads. In fact, if I could afford one, I would get a brand new tablet right now. I'd even take a used x60 or x61, and the tablet version would just be the icing on the cake.

Check out their outlet: http://outlet.lenovo.com/laptops.html?cat=14

X61 Tablets for as low as $700 if you don't mind a Refurb ($900 and up if you want a new/redistributed).

[NightrainSrt4]

Curse you for showing me that. Must resist . . . lmfao

[x88x]

Heheheheh. :twisted: You know you want to. Come, join the dark side.

[NightrainSrt4]

Well, my fiance and I just bought a new car. Well new to us. A white 99 2dr Honda Accorde. It's nice.

Anyway, she said if the laptop does it again she will buy me a new one. The only catch is that I can't let it happen or try to make it happen. All I would have to do is run the battery down and not use it for a week lmfao. Bam! New laptop, but alas, no. . .

Man, I'd love one of those. I like having multiple environments for dev stuff, but man a tablet would be so very nice too, hehe.

[NightrainSrt4]

Well 6 months ago or so my magsafe connector broke, so I bought a new replacement off ebay. Word to the wise, you get what you pay for. I've used the charge maybe 8 times since I've gotten it, and already the points where the wires were soldered failed. Opened it up and the wires were half bare, and the solder job was horrible. Fricken aye. What I get for buying a 25$ ebay one.

Now to get a fricken apple branded one for the damn extravagant prices as usual. At least the old one lasted 2 years before the connector broke.

Ughhhhhh... this is ridiculous.

Edit: Tried to solder the wires back onto the connector, but I couldn't even get the other solder off. It was so fricken messy it wasn't even funny. Half bare exposed wires. The original connector had everything encapsulated in a hard block of resin. This one had two micro dots of superglue. Wtf. So 250$ on accessories in less than a week just to keep a laptop going.

I hate how people who baby their stuff get fracked. Off to go listen to the Beatles on the ipod. Or maybe I shouldn't or that might stop working, alhjflqajflakdjfklajdflkajdfl. lmfao

[Kayin]

I still have the hammer...