2010 Macbook Air Throttling when battery half empty

jimmysofat6864jimmysofat6864
Posted:
in Genius Bar
For some reason, my Macbook Air is throttling and not running at full performance when the battery level is under 40 ish percent. I have iStats Menu and it seems like the CPU is peaking around 140 degrees compared to the 180-190 that I normally get when I use my computer at full load at battery percentages above 40. And the fans never spin up as well. And when the battery gets under 20 percent, the temperatures max out at 120 and the fans never spin up either. And the computer runs much slower and the lag gets worse. However, the moment I plug in my computer, the lag stops immediately and then the temperatures go back up to 180-190 like usual and the fans spin up.

I thought it was a battery issue because sometimes I would get a "service battery" message that occasionally goes away. I replaced the battery but I am still experiencing the same issue. Is this normal behavior or do I need to get another battery replacement? I know that macs tend to throttle when the battery is removed.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 1
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,861administrator
    This feels very much like an undervoltage problem -- which is the root cause of the "macs tend to throttle when the battery is removed" that you mentioned.

    However, given the age of your machine, there may be a larger underlying problem if the battery is new and in good shape when you bought it.
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