DssW - PowerBook

Battery lifespan on PowerBook?

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:54:27 -0500

How long is it reasonable to expect a battery to last? (15" PowerBook G4.)
My first battery started to show signs of aging after about a year and a
half (the computer no longer gave a "low battery" warning but just quit most
unceremoniously after a couple of hours of use). My second battery is now
showing the same signs after about year -- it says it's gone through 128
cycles. The machine is plugged in most of the time but tends to be used a
couple of hours a day on just the battery -- I have to admit I don't
remember the last time I intentionally fully discharged it, but it certainly
doesn't feel to me like it's happened a couple of times a week, which is
what that cycle count says. Right now it's fully charged but if I pull the
plug it says I only have 2.5 hours of battery usage left (full brightness,
wifi on, bluetooth off, doing nothing.) Says full charge capacity 3287mAh,
but remaining capacity (right after unplugging) 3263.

--
Ted Lee
Minnetonka, MN

PB G4 Ti Battery evaluation ?

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 08:15:57 -0500

Is there a way to determine if a PowerBook G4 Ti's battery is gone or if
it is another problem?

Battery percentage stays at 0%.

If battery is gone, is there a "best" place to purchase a replacement?

Thanks in advance.

Power-Button on PowerBook G4 FW800

Tue, 13 May 2008 07:20:58 -0500

Hi NG,
i have wall-mounted a headless powerbook to become my home server.
I have added a new power button on the outside.
Is there a possibility to change the switch-off behavior in osx?
I want a direct shutdown (shutdown now -h) instead off the finders
shutdown dialog. I run os 10.4.11 on this machine.

Thank you for your time and help.

Florian

Car power for a MacBook Pro?

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 13:40:54 -0500

I had a device for my PowerBook that plugged into the car's accessory
outlet. The MacBook Pro has a different connector. Is there a car
power device for it?

--
Robert B. Peirce, Venetia, PA 724-941-6883
bob AT peirce-family.com [Mac]
rbp AT cooksonpeirce.com [Office]

PowerBook battery - Can this be right!?

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:29:18 -0500

So, my four year old G4 Powerbook (17 inch Alluminium) has started to
revert to that date (is it 1901?) which lets me know that its internal
back up battery needs replaced.

Thinking that a replacement would cost about five quid - no, ten quid,
this is a Mac! - and be readily available at my local Maplins, I had a
quick look on the net to see what I needed.

Well, first off, these things are surprisingly thin on the ground.
http://www.applemacparts.co.uk/store/ seems to be one of the very few
sources for a replacement battery. You'd think they would be in the
Applestore. I mean, shouldn't there be hundreds of thousands of aging
PowerBooks with depleted batteries by now!?

Secondly, the replacement battery isn't just a battery, it's a whole USB
port and battery assembly (see
http://www.applemacparts.co.uk/store/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=35
2&products_id=63133 ). And it doesn't cost �10, it's �65 + VAT +
Shipping. That's over �80!

To add insult to injury, it seems that much of the PowerBook has to be
disassembled in order to fit the thing - torque screwdrivers, ribbns
disconnected, the lot!

Rant over. Starting to feel a bit better!

Ian

What to Do With Battery That Just Arrived

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:57:30 -0500

I have a PowerBook G4 15" aluminum that is a bit over four years ago. About
a week and a half ago, the battery began to appear to act a little erratically
(this is the second battery that I've had) according to coconutBattery, with
capacity dropping to about 75%. Concerned that the battery was about to die
on me, I ordered another battery from Apple, which arrived today.

However, the situation with the battery appeared to stabilize, and the battery
is no longer showing signs of impending doom. My question is: with the new
battery, would it degrade if I let it sit in the box for a while before
starting to use it? Or should I wait until the current battery get a little
worse before starting to use the new one?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

End of battery life! or something else wrong with my PBG4 15"?

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 01:16:32 -0500

On 2007-10-24 23:21:56 +0100, deano <deano@yesits.freeserve.co.uk> said:

> On 24 Oct, 23:09, David Kennedy
> <davidkenn...@nospamtodaythanksverymuchforthekindofferyoubastard.invalid>
> wrote:
>
>> This is rubbish they sent me a new one last week - there is still a
>> current battery recall program with this model - have you checked to see
>> if yours qualifies ?
>
> What's rubbish? My post or the replacement battery you were sent?

Apple's claim not to sell batteries for that model Powerbook is
rubbish. OK, some retail stores might not have them, but the online
store does. If I search the UK store for "battery" the top hit is for
the right model. The Apple Store part number for the battery is M9756,
which you could search for instead.

> I do remember the battery recall program and I'm surprised it's still
> going. I would have thought that there'd be a honeymoon period for
> returns and, in any case, could it really be possible that my old
> machine would qualify? What a wonderful turn-up for the books that
> would be!
>
> While I go look for myself, do you know where I can go to check if my
> machine qualifies?

<https://support.apple.com/ibook_powerbook/batteryexchange/?> It shows
you where to find your battery's model number and serial number.

>> Coconut battery [or something like that, try version tracker]
>
> Is that a brand name or just your term for a non-apple product? :)

It is the name of a program that shows you more details about your
battery. Get it direct from the author at:

<http://coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/>

Cheers,

Chris

G4 powerbook logic board

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 00:46:09 -0500

I just replaced the logic board on this machine. All went well, except for
now the fans run wide open all the time. Reset pram and re-checked
connections, and tried changing OS settings, but problem persists.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

James

Why Wake Up on USB Activity?

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 19:38:17 -0500

One thing I've never understood is why Macs wake up from sleep on USB
activity. Why is that?

That seems to complicate things for no useful reason. Is there any way
to turn off that feature, and only wake up when I open the lid (on a
PowerBook) or hit a key on the keyboard?

--

(Preferably reply to the newsgroup, please. If you reply by Email, I
will sincerely try to receive your message, but it will probably get
buried in spam.)

battery for 12inch powerbook

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 05:16:13 -0500

okay after 4and a half years and over 1500 load cycles the battery is
fairly knackered it doesn't tend to last much below 50%

are any of the copies any good? it's my main machine so would be nice
for it to be moble again.

roger

Uninterruptible power supply

Sat, 25 Aug 2007 00:15:38 -0500

Lately, for reasons unknown (and my electrician reckons unknowable
without *major* testing) my earth leakage circuit breaker trips
occasionally and takes out all my power. So I am thinking of getting a
UPS, but finding it quite difficult to get the full details of
connections, etc.

It isn't my computer itself that concerns me, as this is a laptop, but
external hard drives that may be working when the power goes. I am quite
happy to have my machine shut down, so that the hard drives will also
spin down normally.

Things that concern me.

1. APC is well thought of, but its own software seems poor. I gather
that when I have a UPS connected there will be a setting in Energy Saver
inviting me to shut down the machine automatically after a certain time
on battery. I take it that this will automatically save open files. I am
likely to be away from the computer at the time there is a failure. What
happens if some program "cancels shutdown", as has happened to me once
or twice (very rarely) when I wanted to shutdown or restart my machine?

2. I gather the automatic shutdown is governed by a USB connection. Can
this go through a hub? Otherwise one does not have enough USB ports.
Presumably, such a hub if powered (which is what I have) would need to
be connected to the UPS.

3. Annoyingly, the APC model that does NOT have a USB connection will
take British plugs, whereas the better model has the computer/kettle
sockets. All my equipment has British plugs. I am sure there is a
connector easily available, but I am wondering if I can get one
connector and plug in a standard multi-socket into which the other
equipment would fit.

It's really only the external hard drives that worry me (I am expecting
to upgrade from my current PowerBook, but it is more likely to be to a
MacBook(Pro) than an iMac). Everything else should not worry too much
about power suddenly going off.
--
http://www.decohen.com
Send e-mail to the Reply-To address;
mail to the From address is never read

PB G4 System/NVRAM battery

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 06:23:22 -0500

I think mine has gone. Apple says their part number is 661-3233. Two
questions. 1. Where is it in the laptop, or how do you change it? 2.
What is the type and number from typical battery manufacturers, if there
is one?

--
Robert B. Peirce, Venetia, PA 724-941-6883
bob AT peirce-family.com [Mac]
rbp AT cooksonpeirce.com [Office]

PowerBook Battery Problem

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 14:31:05 -0500

I got a new MBP and gave my old Ti PB to my wife. I suddenly started to
have battery problems, which apparently have nothing to do with
Migration Assistant.

The original battery showed no charge and would not charge. The
electric plug glowed amber all the time. I replaced the battery. With
the new battery, the plug switches back and forth between green and
amber. I seem to recall that it used to stay amber until the battery
was charged.

I totally discharged the battery last night and plugged it in over
night. It was only up to 20% this morning. I have reset the PMU a
number of times but that doesn't seem to help. If I pull the plug, the
battery icon goes red, as it should, so the system seems to be working a
little bit but not all the way.

Any ideas?

--
Robert B. Peirce, Venetia, PA 724-941-6883
bob AT peirce-family.com [Mac]
rbp AT cooksonpeirce.com [Office]

Powerbook battery won't charge

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 14:51:47 -0500

Back in June I bought a MacBok Pro and transfered everything from my PB.
Since then the PB won't charge. The battery, which is relatively new,
won't take any charge at all. I am wondering if Migration Assistant set
something on the PB that is causing this. More important, how can I get
the charge capability back? I reset the prom, but that had no effect.
This is very strange since even my old battery slowly died. It did not
just shut off.

--
Robert B. Peirce, Venetia, PA 724-941-6883
bob AT peirce-family.com [Mac]
rbp AT cooksonpeirce.com [Office]

SeaMonkey and sleep mode, with OSX

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 22:15:19 -0500

preface: I use SeaMonkey (SM), the continuation of the abandoned
Mozilla Suite.

post:
Any Mac OSX SM users have problems with their machine staying asleep?

I rarely ever turn my iMac G5 off, I just put it to sleep. SM is ALWAYS
running. Sometimes the machine wakes back up before I even leave the
room, sometimes I go away for an hour and come back and the machine is
awake with just the screen asleep. This has been going on since maybe
January (I do every OSX update the week it comes out and every SM one also).

I recently started quitting SM, and the problem seems to have gone away.
I know there's only a few OSX guys that read this group, could you try
duplicating my problem, or verifying if you are already "sleep prone
non-quitters"? ;-)

GW
SM 1.1.2 on OSX 10.4.10 on both iMac G5, and PowerBook G4
ps
I used to have a problem where if I clicked "get messages" too soon
after waking the machine up (i.e. network conn not reestablished yet) SM
would crash the whole User Account. I'd have to log-out, log-in. That
has either gone away or I finally learned to count to ten in my head
before clicking anything.

Powerbook G4 DVI: Monitor keeps going to sleep

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:01:34 -0500

I have a Powerbook G4 DVI.

When I boot the system the screen is black, The only way I can get the
monitor to come on is to close the lid and put the computer to sleep.
waking it from sleep activates the monitor.

sometimes i have to repeat the process of putting the computer to
sleep and waking it several times before the monitor comes on.

is this a MOBO issue ? (i read someone mention an inverter card ) .

Can a Powerbook battery cause a problem like this?

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:20:17 -0500

I had an inquiry about a gray screen I recently experienced with a G4
Titanium Powerbook 867 (more fully described when posted under inquiry
to some Mac groups: "Gray screen Powerbook G4 867, doubtful hardware
problem...") that I could not figure out since the drive would show on
another computer in Target Disk mode and the screen worked, to some
extent, just before start up would stall and the gray screen began.

Anyway, the PB ran OK after I removed the battery for the night and
then booted up again after installing it and running it with the power
cord attached. I noticed that eventually, the gray screen came up and
the same problem with trying to boot occurred again, so I removed the
battery altogether and ran the PB with the power cord only. It seems
to work OK, so I thought that I'd ask about this theory: might the
battery itself in some way have caused this problem all of a sudden?
I'm leaning that way if the PB runs fine without the battery, but I
always thought that if a battery simply went bad, it merely would fail
to hold a charge. Is there something about the battery that in theory
could cause the PB to not boot up or quit even though the cord was
attached?

Thanks for any help!
Paul

Disposing of a Powerbook LION battery

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 11:57:48 -0500

I got a dud pb lion battery and would like to know the best way to
dispose of it.

Converting it into a missile and firing it at Iraqi children is not an
option !

Powerbook not waking

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 06:35:09 -0500

My friend's Powerbook Titanium (so fairly ancient, and with a dead PRAM
battery) has lately developed a bad habit of not always waking from
sleep.

It will often wake ok, but on other occasions pressing a key turns the
sleep light off, but the screen remains black.

Does anyone know the cause and cure of this. It shouldn't be a PRAM
battery issue, as that is long-standing and this is new. The PB is
running on mains power, and is on 10.4.9

--
http://www.decohen.com
Send e-mail to the Reply-To address;
mail to the From address is never read

When will the 17" MBP get the LED-Backlit Screen?

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 01:14:38 -0500

I need to replace my ageing G3 PowerBook with a new PowerBook. I had
expected to be able to do so this month but I was disappointed by
Tuesday's announcement of the new MacBook Pro models. It would seem
that the 15" now has a better screen than the 17" model. I know the
17"model has a much better resolution. How long am I likely to have to
wait for the 17" version to get the LED-Backlit screen. Is it worth
waiting for?

How do you decide between the matte and glossy screen versions?

David

BATTERY MAINTENANCE - Powerbook G4 DVI

Mon, 21 May 2007 00:31:12 -0500

I just got my new battery for my powerbook G4 DVI

Any tips on long life preservance ?

Is it basically a case of keeping the battery plugged in and charged
as often as possible ?

is there any benefit to discharging then recharging the battery ?

Replacement battery for PowerBook G4/667 (Gigabit Ethernet) ?

Sat, 19 May 2007 08:56:00 -0500

Hi all,

I need to replace the battery of my PB G4/667. I see two models at
reseller web sites :
- M8244
- M8511
Both seem to be compatible with my PowerBook. What is the difference ???

cab

12" G4 Battery won't charge

Fri, 18 May 2007 21:29:50 -0500

Battery is obviously detected, but won't charge. Two different power
adapters. The ring will briefly turn orange sometimes, but always goes
green within a minute or so. I've tried resetting the power manager. Any
other ideas? Any way to isolate the PowerBook vs. the battery short of
buying another battery (or, worse, another PowerBook)?

how do i disable the system start up sound

Tue, 15 May 2007 13:20:17 -0500

on a powerbook g4 dvi ?

Battery saving/AC adaptor usage

Mon, 07 May 2007 10:04:04 -0500

My Powerbook G4 (1.67GHz/dual-layer Superdrive model) stays on a desk
99% of the time, powered by the AC adaptor.
I'm concerned about the battery. Will it last longer if I physically
remove it, then insert it whenever I bring the Powerbook with me
somewhere else, or doesn't it make any difference?

backup battery

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 20:59:33 -0500

My friend has a second-hand Titanium Powerbook, which of course is
fairly old. It seems that the backup (PRAM) battery is dead.

1. She always uses it on mains power (the only reason for a laptop is
that I bought it for her when she was visiting me in England, and she
needed a machine she could take back to California). Is there anythig
nasty that is likely to happen with this battery being dead. I already
know that things happen when the machine is taken on a trip.

2. What's the situation about replacing the battery? Apple's replacement
battery, even when bought from another dealer, is madly expensive, and
replacing it does need to be done professionally. It's usually easy
enough to replace the battery on a desktop machine, but portables are a
different matter (I've seen the instructions for doing it, and they are
well beyond her abilities or mine).

3. There's a problem with the main battery. On the rare occasions we've
used it on battery, the connection with the battery sometimes fails and
the machine shuts down. I understand this is a known problem with this
machine, which was solved in slightly later models, and that the battery
is just rather loose in its fitting. Is there a simple solution to this?
It's not a major problem, given that it is almost always on mains, but
it would be nice to have it working ok.

4. I think the latch on the baterry compartment may be loose, as the
battery has sometimes come out when moving the machine. I expect that
fastening it shut with tape might solve this issue.

--
http://www.decohen.com
Send e-mail to the Reply-To address;
mail to the From address is never read

Resetting the PMU on my Powerbook G4 Titanium 800mhz

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 10:57:53 -0500

i want to know how to Reset the PMU on my Powerbook G4 Titanium 800mhz

I looked at the instructions on the apple site

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449
Resetting PowerBook and iBook Power Management Unit (PMU)

but my mac isnt listed,, its not on the list of older models either

any help appreciated.

Crash on waking from sleep

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 10:07:39 -0500

Ever since I installed security update 2007-004 my Titanium Powerbook
has been crashing when it wakes from a sleep. This is when running OS X
10.3.9

Has anyone any experience with this? Know a way to fix it?

--
Quando omni flunkus moritati
Visit the Buffy Body Count at <http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/>

2 Powerbook g4 17in Battery issues(HELP!!!)

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 16:57:13 -0500

I have inherited a couple year old g4, and i got it with 2 batteries.
I assume on is the original and the second purchased later. First i
noticed that one(the original i presume) had problems. It would be
charged to 100% and i would start working off battery power and it
would drain normally to around 50% and without warning the laptop
would sleep. When i would plug it in and bring it back up, i would
see that the battery was on 0% and i would start charging it back up
and this happens every time.

After seeing this, i assumed the 2nd battery was purchased because of
this problem, so i just always used the 'newer' one. I had no
problems until about a week ago when i charged it up fully and when i
tried to power the laptop up on the road it wouldnt respond. i found
a plug and booted it up to find that my date was reset to 1969 and
that while plugged in my battery is stuck on 44%. It wont charge up
and the second i pull the plug the g4 dies and when i plug in and boot
the date and time have once again revertted to 1969.

This really sucks because now i have 2 batteries that are messed up
and i dont really wanna spend the 150bucks for a new battery unless i
absolutely have to. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what the
hell i should/could do about these issues?

Any help would be MUCH APPRECIATED!!

Mike
mcosmi@gmail.com

Battery do not charge?

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 04:57:02 -0500

Hi, I have a powerbook. I noticed that the battery is not charging but
the power-cord is plugg in on the screen it say that us calculating
and is not using the battery energy.... The battery is new so is not a
bat problem... What else can be???

Thanks for help.

Tanesh