My TiBook has recently been unable to determine how much life is left in its battery. When I unplug the power, the estimated time left will be anywhere from 15 to 35 hours. While in use the estimated time varies wildly. When the battery runs down, the TiBook goes to sleep without any low-battery warning. I get a similar effect when charging-- the TiBook estimates something like 20 hours to full charge, but invariably charges up much more quickly.
Has anyone else seen this kind of symptom?
I'm tempted to just replace the battery, which is around 18 months old, and which doesn't last as long as a new battery anyway. However this is the second battery this TiBook has had, and when the first one died the symptoms were nothing at all like this. In that case the battery life got shorter until it was no longer useful to me, but the TiBook was always able to tell me how long the battery would last (even when it was only 30 minutes or so). So I'm wondering if the problem lies somewhere in the power-management circuitry.
For what it's worth, I've already done everything that would seem relevant--- reset the power manager, zapped the pram, run down the battery and charged fully, etc, all multiple times. I haven't waved a dead chicken over it yet; maybe that's what I need?
In article tph-C203D3.16191129112005@redacted.invalid, Tom Harrington tph@redacted.invalid wrote:
My TiBook has recently been unable to determine how much life is left in its battery. When I unplug the power, the estimated time left will be anywhere from 15 to 35 hours. While in use the estimated time varies wildly. When the battery runs down, the TiBook goes to sleep without any low-battery warning. I get a similar effect when charging-- the TiBook estimates something like 20 hours to full charge, but invariably charges up much more quickly.
Has anyone else seen this kind of symptom?
I'm tempted to just replace the battery, which is around 18 months old, and which doesn't last as long as a new battery anyway. However this is the second battery this TiBook has had, and when the first one died the symptoms were nothing at all like this. In that case the battery life got shorter until it was no longer useful to me, but the TiBook was always able to tell me how long the battery would last (even when it was only 30 minutes or so). So I'm wondering if the problem lies somewhere in the power-management circuitry.
For what it's worth, I've already done everything that would seem relevant--- reset the power manager, zapped the pram, run down the battery and charged fully, etc, all multiple times. I haven't waved a dead chicken over it yet; maybe that's what I need?
Many of those symptoms match what I had with my TiBook 800. Prior to this, I seldom actually took it away from its AC adapter and ran on batteries. I finally bought a new battery and now regularly make a point of discharging it to the point where I get the reserve warning and forced sleep, about every month or so.
= Steve =
In article stevewjackson-1E4F1E.14580430112005@redacted.invalid, "Steve W. Jackson" stevewjackson@redacted.invalid wrote:
In article tph-C203D3.16191129112005@redacted.invalid, Tom Harrington tph@redacted.invalid wrote:
My TiBook has recently been unable to determine how much life is left in its battery. When I unplug the power, the estimated time left will be anywhere from 15 to 35 hours. While in use the estimated time varies wildly. When the battery runs down, the TiBook goes to sleep without any low-battery warning. I get a similar effect when charging-- the TiBook estimates something like 20 hours to full charge, but invariably charges up much more quickly.
Has anyone else seen this kind of symptom?
I'm tempted to just replace the battery, which is around 18 months old, and which doesn't last as long as a new battery anyway. However this is the second battery this TiBook has had, and when the first one died the symptoms were nothing at all like this. In that case the battery life got shorter until it was no longer useful to me, but the TiBook was always able to tell me how long the battery would last (even when it was only 30 minutes or so). So I'm wondering if the problem lies somewhere in the power-management circuitry.
For what it's worth, I've already done everything that would seem relevant--- reset the power manager, zapped the pram, run down the battery and charged fully, etc, all multiple times. I haven't waved a dead chicken over it yet; maybe that's what I need?
Many of those symptoms match what I had with my TiBook 800. Prior to this, I seldom actually took it away from its AC adapter and ran on batteries. I finally bought a new battery and now regularly make a point of discharging it to the point where I get the reserve warning and forced sleep, about every month or so.
For anyone Googling or whatever, I just thought I'd add: I got a new battery, and all is well.
Entity Tom Harrington uttered this profundity:
For anyone Googling or whatever, I just thought I'd add: I got a new battery, and all is well. If it's any consolation, My old 667 TiBook is on the tail end of its 2nd battery and waiting for its 3rd. Everything you describe here sounds about normal, but at $120 per battery it's high maintenance.
-- Gnarlie