Wireless and Battery problems

drunkymonkey

Hey guys, new to this corner of boards,

Have had my macbook pro 15" for about 5 years now, about two years ago after i got back from a full summer holiday in America my Mac started having problems for the first time.

The battery got less and less powerful, getting to about 30% and than cutting the power off with no warning (sure a lot of ye are familar with this from past threads) i put up with this for a while as i didn't need the laptop out of the house so i just left it plugged in all the time.
It started getting weaker and weaker and today if i plug the lead out it goes off straight away.

So what i'm asking for my first problem is how can i avoid this happening to my next battery i buy as i don't want to be buying one on a yearly basis?


My next problem is to do with the wireless and this also cropped up just after returning from the states.
I could/can only use it in one bedroom in my house, if i bring it into another room it will stay connected to it for about 4/5 minutes sometimes less showing 2 or 3 bars and then suddenly gone!
Its really frustrating, then it could come back for another 5 minutes an hour later.

I have tried to move around the room to see if its the signal, i have even changed our modem but same things happening! It only works in one room and i cant move it as i have no battery so its basically a desktop! :mad:

Is there anything else i can try before i call around some eircom guy to check the connection or scrap the thing??

And also could the sudden cut off on the connection have something to do with the battery problem?

Thanks, any help will be appreciated!

Ham'nd'egger

Five years ago, there wasn't Macbook Pros; I assume you mean a Powerbook

Given a machine of that age, it's as much as you are going to get from a battery. Batteries like to be emptied totally every so often and it helps them live a little longer but overall. The newer lines have a larger battery and some tweaks to help save power; some Macbook Pro's boast 5 hours from one full charge cycle!

On the Airport issue, have you recently checked it for software upgrades or issues?

drunkymonkey wrote: »

Hey guys, new to this corner of boards,

Have had my macbook pro 15" for about 5 years now, about two years ago after i got back from a full summer holiday in America my Mac started having problems for the first time.

The battery got less and less powerful, getting to about 30% and than cutting the power off with no warning (sure a lot of ye are familar with this from past threads) i put up with this for a while as i didn't need the laptop out of the house so i just left it plugged in all the time.
It started getting weaker and weaker and today if i plug the lead out it goes off straight away.

So what i'm asking for my first problem is how can i avoid this happening to my next battery i buy as i don't want to be buying one on a yearly basis?


My next problem is to do with the wireless and this also cropped up just after returning from the states.
I could/can only use it in one bedroom in my house, if i bring it into another room it will stay connected to it for about 4/5 minutes sometimes less showing 2 or 3 bars and then suddenly gone!
Its really frustrating, then it could come back for another 5 minutes an hour later.

I have tried to move around the room to see if its the signal, i have even changed our modem but same things happening! It only works in one room and i cant move it as i have no battery so its basically a desktop! :mad:

Is there anything else i can try before i call around some eircom guy to check the connection or scrap the thing??

And also could the sudden cut off on the connection have something to do with the battery problem?

Thanks, any help will be appreciated!

drunkymonkey

Hamndegger wrote: »

Five years ago, there wasn't Macbook Pros; I assume you mean a Powerbook

Given a machine of that age, it's as much as you are going to get from a battery. Batteries like to be emptied totally every so often and it helps them live a little longer but overall. The newer lines have a larger battery and some tweaks to help save power; some Macbook Pro's boast 5 hours from one full charge cycle!

On the Airport issue, have you recently checked it for software upgrades or issues?

Well i could be wrong with the timeline , could be 3 and a half or 4 years old, but its definitely a Macbook pro! This is the culprit in question! http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/15849.jpg

Ok so its basically don't leave it plugged in while not using it and use the battery fully?

Yeah, its all updated fully, I make sure of that! I have no idea I've been stumped over this for ages and its very frustrating as its an excellent machine that has never given me any other problems and would love if this problem was sorted out!

Ham'nd'egger

drunkymonkey wrote: »

Well i could be wrong with the timeline , could be 3 and a half or 4 years old, but its definitely a Macbook pro! This is the culprit in question! http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/15849.jpg

Ok so its basically don't leave it plugged in while not using it and use the battery fully?

Yeah, its all updated fully, I make sure of that! I have no idea I've been stumped over this for ages and its very frustrating as its an excellent machine that has never given me any other problems and would love if this problem was sorted out!

Now we are sucking diesel

It is good practice is to drain the battery entirely every so often; it's called Calibrating the Battery. I have a Macbook that is over 2 years and it's battery is almost 100% from doing this every so often.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh2339.html

RE Airport, does the signal hold up well using other modems or devices?

drunkymonkey

RE Airport, does the signal hold up well using other modems or devices?

Well, when i am using other devices on the modem, i.e my phone, desktop comp, playstation. The signal is perfect and it stays that way!

I have only ever tried using my macbook on one other wireless network and it didn't connect up at all kept failing, but my friend did say that his modem was a bit dodgy!
To be honest i am pretty sure its something to do with the laptop and not anything else as i said i have changed the modem and the problem continues! And also other devices work perfectly on the modem!

Ham'nd'egger

drunkymonkey wrote: »

Well, when i am using other devices on the modem, i.e my phone, desktop comp, playstation. The signal is perfect and it stays that way!

I have only ever tried using my macbook on one other wireless network and it didn't connect up at all kept failing, but my friend did say that his modem was a bit dodgy!
To be honest i am pretty sure its something to do with the laptop and not anything else as i said i have changed the modem and the problem continues! And also other devices work perfectly on the modem!

Sounds like it to me. Did you have a look on here to see if anybody else has had issues?

http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1153&start=0

Also, try this link http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2247446&tstart=0