TiPowerBook Battery - 2.5 hours to 35 minutes??
I have a Titanium PowerBook G4 400 / 10GB / 384ram laptop with an Airport card. For the past 2.5 years, this laptop has been used as a desktop. I can't think of more than 5 times it was used on battery - it's always been on powercord with battery in bay. After deciding to purchase an Airport card and a wireless router, I've be mobile around the house for about a month.
On 10.3.3 and running Eudora, Safari and Word - I was getting 2.5 hours usage per charge. I've noticed several things in the last several days ...
1) Even after a full drain and a full charge, the battery is lasting 35 minutes on average.
2) There is no longer any warning that the battery is about to run out. It just instantly goes into sleep mode.
3) Even with changing the brightness, processor speed, airport on/off, etc. ... 35 minutes is the estimate of charge left and not that far off.
4) The battery is now fully charged in 40 minutes!!??
The only other change to my system is the recent addition of an iPod. I have the iPod attached to an 80GB firewire drive connected to my laptop. I made the mistake of going on battery and leaving the firewire devices attached. They drained that powerbook in maybe 10 minutes - it was remarkable. I've since never attached firewire items to my laptop (when it's on battery.)
Does anyone have some advice? Any help with this? I've hit the PMU reset button and it's had no effect.
I really don't want to buy a replacement battery.
On 10.3.3 and running Eudora, Safari and Word - I was getting 2.5 hours usage per charge. I've noticed several things in the last several days ...
1) Even after a full drain and a full charge, the battery is lasting 35 minutes on average.
2) There is no longer any warning that the battery is about to run out. It just instantly goes into sleep mode.
3) Even with changing the brightness, processor speed, airport on/off, etc. ... 35 minutes is the estimate of charge left and not that far off.
4) The battery is now fully charged in 40 minutes!!??
The only other change to my system is the recent addition of an iPod. I have the iPod attached to an 80GB firewire drive connected to my laptop. I made the mistake of going on battery and leaving the firewire devices attached. They drained that powerbook in maybe 10 minutes - it was remarkable. I've since never attached firewire items to my laptop (when it's on battery.)
Does anyone have some advice? Any help with this? I've hit the PMU reset button and it's had no effect.
I really don't want to buy a replacement battery.
Comments
I fully charged the battery (in a record 29 minutes) and the rebooted zapping the PRAM three times. I then shut down, reset the PMU and logged in. I managed to squeeze 63 minutes out the battery using the lowest brightness and just Eudora running.
I received a low power warning out of the OS (yah!) and expected to shut down shortly. After reaching 0 minutes left (0% charge remaining) ... I was waiting for sleep.... and waiting ... and waiting. The battery showed it was calculating for 15 minutes at 0% and I kept playing around! I had seven apps running and full brightness for those 15 minutes! Holy what's happening batman!
I'm recharging the battery now and I'll probably test tomorrow. It now shows 62 minutes to a full recharge.
Any ideas as to what's going on?
Then type:
ioreg -l | grep -i IOBatteryInfo
You should get a result that looks like this:
"IOBatteryInfo" = ({"Capacity"=2259,"Amperage"=1200,"Current"=2183," Voltage"=16526,"Flags"=838860805})
It is the capacity that I would be looking at. I have a 667 Ti and my capacity seems to hover around this mark, give or take a couple hundred. I would say I get about 2 hours battery life out of my machine.
Other things I would look at is third party apps such as X-Charge which gives a better idea of what is happening (though won't solve the problem)
"IOBatteryInfo" = ({"Capacity"=1125,"Amperage"=1200,"Current"=1125," Voltage"=16432,"Flags"=838860805})
This is after it took 1hr and 40 minutes to recharge back to 100% (the estimate in the menu said 62 minutes.)
I'm noticing that my capacity is significantly lower than yours. What do you think?
Some say full drain is good, others bad.
It does sound like you have done the usual suspects, reset PRAM blah blah.
Another tidbit I have come across is this:
linky linky
Originally posted by interact
I have a Titanium PowerBook G4 400 / 10GB / 384ram laptop with an Airport card. For the past 2.5 years, this laptop has been used as a desktop. I can't think of more than 5 times it was used on battery - it's always been on powercord with battery in bay. After deciding to purchase an Airport card and a wireless router, I've be mobile around the house for about a month.
On 10.3.3 and running Eudora, Safari and Word - I was getting 2.5 hours usage per charge. I've noticed several things in the last several days ...
1) Even after a full drain and a full charge, the battery is lasting 35 minutes on average.
2) There is no longer any warning that the battery is about to run out. It just instantly goes into sleep mode.
3) Even with changing the brightness, processor speed, airport on/off, etc. ... 35 minutes is the estimate of charge left and not that far off.
4) The battery is now fully charged in 40 minutes!!??
The only other change to my system is the recent addition of an iPod. I have the iPod attached to an 80GB firewire drive connected to my laptop. I made the mistake of going on battery and leaving the firewire devices attached. They drained that powerbook in maybe 10 minutes - it was remarkable. I've since never attached firewire items to my laptop (when it's on battery.)
Does anyone have some advice? Any help with this? I've hit the PMU reset button and it's had no effect.
I really don't want to buy a replacement battery.
same situation with me but i only have 20 minutes
PS
Originally posted by interact
... For the past 2.5 years, this laptop has been used as a desktop. ... I really don't want to buy a replacement battery.
Actually, that means your battery is at least 2.5 years old, no? That is a common timeframe in which batteries live and DIE.
Seriously, i suppose your battery simply said goodby to you. You should face that fact
best
Originally posted by Vox Barbara
Actually, that means your battery is at least 2.5 years old, no? That is a common timeframe in which batteries live and DIE.
Seriously, i suppose your battery simply said goodby to you. You should face that fact
best
yah thats a bummer for both me and interact too bad you(interact) didn't have your battery out when you were running on teh powercord.
I wish I had taken that battery out of the laptop and kept it in the desk!!! I thought I was babying that thing by not using it - I'd only take it off the charger "if I had to."
I hate learning these "valuable lessons" by experience!
PS5533 ... are you really going to spend the money and buy a new battery? I find that my laptop has some issues ...
1) 10GB is WAY too small (I've got a 17GB cd collection alone!)
2) The processor and system really struggle to handle Panther (the dock is even slow)
3) Holy scratched up casing batman! This thing was not meant to be used in the real world, only in a museum on display.
4) On a daily basis, I wish my laptop accepted an Airport EXTREME card (not just an Airport card)
With me, the lease is up in September and this baby is going back! Just have to survive until then. What are your thoughts?
Originally posted by interact
BUT I don't want to face the facts!!!!
I wish I had taken that battery out of the laptop and kept it in the desk!!! I thought I was babying that thing by not using it - I'd only take it off the charger "if I had to."
I hate learning these "valuable lessons" by experience!
PS5533 ... are you really going to spend the money and buy a new battery? I find that my laptop has some issues ...
1) 10GB is WAY too small (I've got a 17GB cd collection alone!)
2) The processor and system really struggle to handle Panther (the dock is even slow)
3) Holy scratched up casing batman! This thing was not meant to be used in the real world, only in a museum on display.
4) On a daily basis, I wish my laptop accepted an Airport EXTREME card (not just an Airport card)
With me, the lease is up in September and this baby is going back! Just have to survive until then. What are your thoughts?
well personally I am going to get a 250Gb external drive for video projects and other things?as well as probably an iPod but that another subject?after the external drive i will get a new battery and some good adapters for my power-cord so maybe i can run on a "cigarette lighter adapter"(if there is one) or some other funky things :-P but other than that i have the same problem with look and i have no issue with that?these apple computers look good but thats not why i buy them ITS FOR THEIR INSIDES NOT OUTSIDES that i love them.
Get Real!
PS
1) Have an 80GB firewire drive already - unworkable to only have 10GB.
2) If I want to burn a cd, I have to attach an external firewire burner.
3) Would love to burn a DVD, but that's another firewire burner.
4) Have a 30GB iPod daisy chained into the mix.
Except for the iPod, it kinda looks like the PC Frankenstein that I dropped to buy the Apple. Ease of use? Not quite. Elegant? More like an underpowered workable solution - think functional - not exactly Photoshop or video friendly. I did spend twice as much for a laptop, not a desktop.
As for the scratches on the case and cracks in the cd bay - I thought a nearly $4,000 laptop made out of aluminum would last more than 6 months. Ask around, the casing is on the TiPowerBooks is not exactly a legacy feature.
Good luck with the enhancements to your "new" desktop.
<div class="quote-block">
<i>Originally posted by PS5533 </i><br />
<b>yah thats a bummer for both me and <i>interact</i> too bad you(interact) didn't have your battery out when you were running on teh powercord. <img src="/images/smilies/1frown.gif" border="0" alt="" title="bFrown" class="inlineimg" /> </b>
</div>
</div>
<br>I'm experiencing the same problems with my battery too - it's about 3 years old now, so it probably is dying! <i>(I hate that it doesn't give a warning now before it loses all power!)</i><br />
<br />
Anyway, I feel like such a newbie... <b>PS5533</b> are you telling us that we could have used our PBooks and iBooks plugged in with the battery stored away safely - thus preserving its life and, at the same time, not affecting our portable computers? <br />
<br />
Big <b>d'oh!</b> <img src="/images/smilies/1oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="" title="No" class="inlineimg" /> live & learn!
that will probably run about $90 - $120, or $30 - $40 per year. that's not that bad.
Originally posted by alcimedes
well, if it makes you feel any better, think of your battery in your laptop as a little UPS. it protected you against brownouts and blackouts for 3 years, and now it's time to replace the battery.
that will probably run about $90 - $120, or $30 - $40 per year. that's not that bad.
yeah ... fair call alcimedes.
I'm not lamenting the fact that I have to replace the battery - more the fact that I didn't cotton on to the idea of using the laptop* (oops - I mean "PowerBook") plugged in without the battery in its compartment.
* I read somehwere on this board that Apple don't refer to the iBooks or PowerBooks as laptops and now I can't shake the feeling that I shouldn't be using that terminology to describe their products.