Macbook Battery - Condition Replace Now

AlanD

I left my Macbook white in the boot of my car while on holidays for ten days. When I came back the battery was completely dead and won't charge.

It had 668 charge cycles and before I left, it was running over 90% health, or whatever that measure is.

I mistakenly left the machine in standby when I put it in the boot, but figured it would go to deep sleep after an hour or so. I can't remember what the charge was when I did that though.

So what are my options? Can I kick start the battery in to life again or do I need to buy a new one?

If I have to buy, where would you recommend I buy?

The machine is over 2 years old with no warranty to worry about, so I'll buy a battery from anywhere so long as it arrives quickly.

Your help would be appreciated.

Ci2co

Hi dude,

Try this:

•Remove battery and power adapter.
•Hold down power button for 10 seconds.
•Reinstall battery and attach power adapter.
•Hold down Command-Option-P-R, a total of four keys, and press power button. Don't release the keys.
•Continue holding the four keys until you hear the startup sound twice, then release.

After doing this, the machine should then boot up with normal function.

To be completely precise, MacBooks and MacBook Pros manage ppower through the System Management Controller (SMC), and here are Apple's official reset instructions for those machines.

AlanD

Hi there,

thanks for that. I did what you suggested, but after boot up the battery still won't charge.

I find it hard to believe that it can't be recharged to a certain degree.

Ci2co

You could try a battery update. Can be found here

Hope that works for you.

AlanD

No joy, looks like I may need a new battery bizarrely, when the battery was in perfect order before I left!

whiterebel

I think the expected cycles was somewhere around 5/600 for a battery in an older machine, and is up to 1000 in the new non-user replaceable ones. If that is correct, the battery was 90% gone rather than at 90%, and would explain why it is now completely dead.

akaspike

I'm experiencing the same problems as the OP.
Macbook 13 inch - just over 2 years old. 366 cycles
Left on stand by for over 2 weeks and the battery is drained and wont take a charge.
Tried the above with no joy.
So I'll try installing the recent updates and see if that helps but i doubt it.

AlanD

whiterebel wrote: »

I think the expected cycles was somewhere around 5/600 for a battery in an older machine, and is up to 1000 in the new non-user replaceable ones. If that is correct, the battery was 90% gone rather than at 90%, and would explain why it is now completely dead.

No it was definitely over 90% healthy as it had 2+ hours available to me after full charge. The MacBook is a late 2007 core 2 duo machine.

Official battery price is about 130 euro. But what about the 40 euro battery available on eBay? Useless junk?

Ham'nd'egger

AlanD wrote: »

No it was definitely over 90% healthy as it had 2+ hours available to me after full charge. The MacBook is a late 2007 core 2 duo machine.

I may have missed it but does the Macbook work with the charger plugged into it? If so then the battery ought to charge up some of the way, even if it's just a fraction of it's proper life span. If not then there may be something else going in for which we'd need some more info to help you.

BTY you didn't have Coconut installed perchance?

AlanD wrote: »

Official battery price is about 130 euro. But what about the 40 euro battery available on eBay? Useless junk?

Check out the sellers feedback and history; if it's good then you should be fine. Try make sure it's definitely the battery first off though.

AlanD

Yes the MacBook works fine when plugged in. It's an instant off when plugged out. I reckon the SMC prevents it from charging.

No I didn't have coconut installed.

Ham'nd'egger

AlanD wrote: »

Yes the MacBook works fine when plugged in. It's an instant off when plugged out. I reckon the SMC prevents it from charging.

No I didn't have coconut installed.

Download Coconut; it will give you a good reading of the battery's health and charge hold so it may point you a little better on the way to solving this problem:)

julie2tubz

This happened to my mac recently so I just bought battery from eBay. Works perfectly.

So would recommend it instead of paying full whack.

whiterebel

AlanD wrote: »

No it was definitely over 90% healthy as it had 2+ hours available to me after full charge. The MacBook is a late 2007 core 2 duo machine.

Official battery price is about 130 euro. But what about the 40 euro battery available on eBay? Useless junk?

From Apple's website:

"Long-Term Storage

If you don’t plan on using your notebook for more than six months, Apple recommends that you store the battery with a 50% charge. If you store a battery when it’s fully discharged, it could fall into a deep discharge state, which renders it incapable of holding any charge. Conversely, if you store it fully charged for an extended period of time, the battery may experience some loss of battery capacity, meaning it will have a shorter life. Be sure to store your notebook and battery at the proper temperature. (See “Notebook Temperate Zone.”)"

and
"Battery Lifespan

For Apple notebooks with removable batteries — such as previous generation MacBook and MacBook Pro computers — a properly maintained battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 300 full charge and discharge cycles. You may choose to replace your battery when it no longer holds sufficient charge to meet your needs."