MacBook Battery Woes

OK, so I got a MB Core Duo with a battery that has been nothing but trouble since I got the thing. I have reset the SMC on the thing a good 10x and in the past it has seemed to help. However, the battery still has acted weird (it dies within 2 days of being in sleep mode). I could have sworn that my powerbooks and ibooks lasted around 5 days in sleep mode...

Anyway, besides that issue, I can't seem to get the battery to hold a charge anymore. Does anyone know of any diagnostics that I can run on the lap to test the batt integrity?

At this point I think I am just going to have to replace the battery itself. My guess is I just got a lemon battery, but I haven't really been able to test other MacBooks extensively to determine if this is a widespread issue or just my luck.

Anyone?

Did you buy the battery new? If so it may be under warranty. Also check the battery's serial number at apples web site to see if it is a lemon. Apple has had recalls for certain batches of batteries. Also if it is one of the recalled batteries, it shouldn't matter if it is under warranty or not.

good luck to ya

Apple's battery issues didn't cover the macbook. Its also out of warranty and it was purchased refurb from Apple. So, none of those are options. I am basically set to buy a new one if this one is indeed killed, which is seems it is.

What you should do is check the info reported by System Profiler for your battery. Check under the 'Power' heading on the left hand side and look at the battery stats - particularly the number of cycles, full battery charge and the health. I'm guessing the health will be poor and the full charge will not be too high - don't have mine handy for a reference I'm afraid. If your cycle count is low enough, you may be able to persuade an Applecare rep to replace it for you free of charge. 300 is usually the magic number. If your battery is below this, you have a case.

Feel free to cite these numbers to Applecare, though I would prefer you avoid showing exactly where you got them. 'The internet' should be a good enough answer if they ask.

yea, so, here is what I got... (btw, didn't know this info was in the sys profiler, great stuff)

Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 0
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 0

Health Information:
Cycle count: 105
Condition: Check battery

So, I think that says alot. 105, I guess thats pretty low.

take a screen shot of that and call apple.. insist to email it to the rep.. they will replace it....

sweet, thanks Apple for replacing this for me!

I am out of my warranty on this and they are still sending me a replacement! Cheers War! ;D

WOOO!!! gotta love apple!

it helps to be informed when you call in too

So, I recently procured a MB 2gHzC2D. It had a dead battery. Being a late '06 MacBook, it falls into the batch of bad batteries that Apple got. I called Apple and the support guy basically said I was screwed. Then I told the support guy about this web page: http://www.apple.com/support/macbook_macbookpro/batteryupdate/ Here's a quote:
The page even shows that 300 cycle count. After I pointed that out, the support guy sent me over to a tech guy who said I was right. Now they're air mailing me a new battery for free. ;D

glad you got that too. My macbook has more than this simple battery issue. The PMU on mine is wacked out. Sometimes its ok and others its not...

I've seen that a lot actually. It'll report no battery connected when there is one... It'll run fine and then suddenly die while running on battery... (When there's obviously enough juice left) The MB PMUs are reset via dead-flash so reset the PMU -- but instead of putting the battery back in and reconnecting the power adapter, let it sit overnight. See if that helps.

Intermittent behavior however, usually points to Logic board.