iBook Battery Problem

[Robert Peirce]

My daughter has an iBook that is about 2-3 years old. The battery has
stopped charging. Normally, I would just check the voltage across the
charging terminals to see if the problem was the battery or the charger.
Is this safe in an iBook? If so, what voltage should I see? If it is
the battery, how much does a new one cost?

--
Robert B. Peirce, Venetia, PA 724-941-6883
[email]rbpeirce@adelphia.net[/email] [Mac]
[email]rbp@cooksonpeirce.com[/email] [Office]

[matt neuburg]

In <rbpeirce-54FE94.18570518082003@news3.news.adelphia.net> Robert
Peirce wrote:

> My daughter has an iBook that is about 2-3 years old. The battery has
> stopped charging. Normally, I would just check the voltage across the
> charging terminals to see if the problem was the battery or the
> charger. Is this safe in an iBook? If so, what voltage should I see?
> If it is the battery, how much does a new one cost?

Before playing with electricity, reset the Power Manager as explained in
the docs. m.

--
matt neuburg, phd = [email]matt@tidbits.com[/email], [url]http://www.tidbits.com/matt[/url]
REALbasic: The Definitive Guide! 2nd edition!
[url]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596001770/somethingsbymatt[/url]
Subscribe to TidBITS. It's free and smart.

[Barry Twycross]

In article <rbpeirce-54FE94.18570518082003@news3.news.adelphia.net>,
Robert Peirce <rbpeirce@adelphia.net> wrote:

> My daughter has an iBook that is about 2-3 years old. The battery has
> stopped charging.

This is a common problem, you may be able to revive the battery by
resetting the NVRAM from Open Firmware. It goes something like this:

1) reboot while holding option-command-o-f (boot into open firmware)
2) type reset-nvram
3) type reset-all
4) reboot the iBook

--
Barry
[email]Barry@netbox.com[/email] <http://www.netbox.com/barry>
------
(I should put something down here).

[Robert Peirce]

In article <190820032000283751%barry@netbox.com>,
Barry Twycross <barry@netbox.com> wrote:

> In article <rbpeirce-54FE94.18570518082003@news3.news.adelphia.net>,
> Robert Peirce <rbpeirce@adelphia.net> wrote:
>

> > My daughter has an iBook that is about 2-3 years old. The battery has
> > stopped charging.

>
> This is a common problem, you may be able to revive the battery by
> resetting the NVRAM from Open Firmware. It goes something like this:
>
> 1) reboot while holding option-command-o-f (boot into open firmware)
> 2) type reset-nvram
> 3) type reset-all
> 4) reboot the iBook

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a shot.

--
Robert B. Peirce, Venetia, PA 724-941-6883
[email]rbpeirce@adelphia.net[/email] [Mac]
[email]rbp@cooksonpeirce.com[/email] [Office]

[Robert Peirce]

In article <rbpeirce-AACFB5.22511320082003@news3.news.adelphia.net>,
Robert Peirce <rbpeirce@adelphia.net> wrote:

> In article <190820032000283751%barry@netbox.com>,
> Barry Twycross <barry@netbox.com> wrote:
>

> > In article <rbpeirce-54FE94.18570518082003@news3.news.adelphia.net>,
> > Robert Peirce <rbpeirce@adelphia.net> wrote:
> >

> > > My daughter has an iBook that is about 2-3 years old. The battery has
> > > stopped charging.

> >
> > This is a common problem, you may be able to revive the battery by
> > resetting the NVRAM from Open Firmware. It goes something like this:
> >
> > 1) reboot while holding option-command-o-f (boot into open firmware)
> > 2) type reset-nvram
> > 3) type reset-all
> > 4) reboot the iBook

>
> Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a shot.

Didn't work. The light around the plug is amber, which supposedly means
it is charging, but the battery isn't responding. Before getting a new
battery I would like to check the charger so I ask again if there is
anything about the iMac that makes this a bad idea? I would just want
to check the voltage across the terminals.

--
Robert B. Peirce, Venetia, PA 724-941-6883
[email]rbpeirce@adelphia.net[/email] [Mac]
[email]rbp@cooksonpeirce.com[/email] [Office]

[matt neuburg]

In <rbpeirce-7FD177.10211621082003@news3.news.adelphia.net> Robert
Peirce wrote:

> In article <rbpeirce-AACFB5.22511320082003@news3.news.adelphia.net>,
> Robert Peirce <rbpeirce@adelphia.net> wrote:
>

>> In article <190820032000283751%barry@netbox.com>,
>> Barry Twycross <barry@netbox.com> wrote:
>>

>> > In article <rbpeirce-54FE94.18570518082003@news3.news.adelphia.net>,
>> > Robert Peirce <rbpeirce@adelphia.net> wrote:
>> >
>> > > My daughter has an iBook that is about 2-3 years old. The
>> > > battery has stopped charging.
>> >
>> > This is a common problem, you may be able to revive the battery by
>> > resetting the NVRAM from Open Firmware. It goes something like this:
>> >
>> > 1) reboot while holding option-command-o-f (boot into open firmware)
>> > 2) type reset-nvram
>> > 3) type reset-all
>> > 4) reboot the iBook

>>
>> Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a shot.

>
> Didn't work. The light around the plug is amber, which supposedly
> means it is charging, but the battery isn't responding.

And you also reset PMU? m.

--
matt neuburg, phd = [email]matt@tidbits.com[/email], [url]http://www.tidbits.com/matt[/url]
REALbasic: The Definitive Guide! 2nd edition!
[url]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596001770/somethingsbymatt[/url]
Subscribe to TidBITS. It's free and smart.

[John Johnson]

In article <rbpeirce-7FD177.10211621082003@news3.news.adelphia.net>,
Robert Peirce <rbpeirce@adelphia.net> wrote:

> In article <rbpeirce-AACFB5.22511320082003@news3.news.adelphia.net>,
> Robert Peirce <rbpeirce@adelphia.net> wrote:
>

> > In article <190820032000283751%barry@netbox.com>,
> > Barry Twycross <barry@netbox.com> wrote:
> >

> > > In article <rbpeirce-54FE94.18570518082003@news3.news.adelphia.net>,
> > > Robert Peirce <rbpeirce@adelphia.net> wrote:
> > >
> > > > My daughter has an iBook that is about 2-3 years old. The battery has
> > > > stopped charging.
> > >
> > > This is a common problem, you may be able to revive the battery by
> > > resetting the NVRAM from Open Firmware. It goes something like this:
> > >
> > > 1) reboot while holding option-command-o-f (boot into open firmware)
> > > 2) type reset-nvram
> > > 3) type reset-all
> > > 4) reboot the iBook

> >
> > Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a shot.

>
> Didn't work. The light around the plug is amber, which supposedly means
> it is charging, but the battery isn't responding. Before getting a new
> battery I would like to check the charger so I ask again if there is
> anything about the iMac that makes this a bad idea? I would just want
> to check the voltage across the terminals.

I don't know enough about the system on the iBook to say for certain
whether this would work or not. Some Li-chemistry charging systems will
not charge without information from the on-battery charge controller. If
this is the case, you will get 0V across the terminals no matter what
condition the charger is in. Again, I'm not certain that the iBook has
this sort of charger.

The easiest way for most people to check a battery/charger is to find
someone else with the same iBook and trade batteries. If the suspect
battery performs well on the other machine and the new battery doesn't
work on yours, the problem is in the charger. If battery trouble follows
the battery around, the battery is either damaged or worn out.

Based on the age of the iBook, it is also quite possible that the
battery is just at the end of its useful life. This does not typically
result in your reported behavior, but it might.

later.

--
johajohn AT indianahoosiers DOT edu

Remove the non place-name reply. Indiana is a place-name.

[Robert Peirce]

In article <20030821074420195-0700@news.la.sbcglobal.net>,
matt neuburg <matt@tidbits.com> wrote:

> In <rbpeirce-7FD177.10211621082003@news3.news.adelphia.net> Robert
> Peirce wrote:

> > In article <rbpeirce-AACFB5.22511320082003@news3.news.adelphia.net>,
> > Robert Peirce <rbpeirce@adelphia.net> wrote:
> >

> >> In article <190820032000283751%barry@netbox.com>,
> >> Barry Twycross <barry@netbox.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> > In article <rbpeirce-54FE94.18570518082003@news3.news.adelphia.net>,
> >> > Robert Peirce <rbpeirce@adelphia.net> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > > My daughter has an iBook that is about 2-3 years old. The
> >> > > battery has stopped charging.
> >> >
> >> > This is a common problem, you may be able to revive the battery by
> >> > resetting the NVRAM from Open Firmware. It goes something like this:
> >> >
> >> > 1) reboot while holding option-command-o-f (boot into open firmware)
> >> > 2) type reset-nvram
> >> > 3) type reset-all
> >> > 4) reboot the iBook
> >>
> >> Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a shot.

> >
> > Didn't work. The light around the plug is amber, which supposedly
> > means it is charging, but the battery isn't responding.

>
> And you also reset PMU? m.

I reset the PRAM. What is PMU and how do I reset it?

--
Robert B. Peirce, Venetia, PA 724-941-6883
[email]rbpeirce@adelphia.net[/email] [Mac]
[email]rbp@cooksonpeirce.com[/email] [Office]

[Joe Heimann]

Ben Sharvy <bsharvy@mac.com> wrote:

> I have a new iBook. I notice that sometimes it starts charging while
> I'm using it, even though I've been running it off AC solely for about
> a month. Does the battery drain during steady AC usage?

LiIon batteries will self discharge when not in use, about 5-10% per
month depending on the environmental conditions. Unlike charging a
NiCd or NiMH battery, LiIon batteries do not tolerate any overcharge.
So charging circuits for LiIon batteries do not keep a trickle charge
going after reaching full charge. They will cut back in and top off
the battery again when the charge has dropped to about 95% of full.

Joe Heimann

[Barry Twycross]

In article <d196ca8d.0308211022.4e4a7602@posting.google.com >, Ben
Sharvy <bsharvy@mac.com> wrote:

> I have a new iBook. I notice that sometimes it starts charging while
> I'm using it, even though I've been running it off AC solely for about
> a month. Does the battery drain during steady AC usage?

There's a tech note about that. Continuously charging the battery is
bad for it, so when the battery's full it stops charging it. It lets
the battery drift down to 95% before it starts charging again.

--
Barry
[email]Barry@netbox.com[/email] <http://www.netbox.com/barry>
------
(I should put something down here).