MacBook pro Battery problems... No batteries available!?
July 13th, 2006
So I was at the Oxegen music festival at the weekend past, and it was absolutely brilliant (more to come on that later...) anyway on the monday after, waking up (some time in the afternon) I turned on my MacBook, everything seemed as normal until I went to lift it into the living room and removed the power adapter, the screen went black and left a very tired me in a very confused state.
What happened?
Well, looking in the menu bar at my battery icon it has a nice big X through it instead of the percentage charge (or a plug), clicking on the icon i'm treated to the lovely text saying No batteries available... in disbelief I lift my MacBook pro and oh yes the battery is indeed still there, confused? so am I.
No batteries available... attempting a soltion
With any hardware failure on a mac there are a number of steps to take to try and fix things.
- Remove any unecessary external peripherals
- Restart
- Shutdown and remove power cables and battery
- Reconnect the ac cable and battery and turn on
- Reset PRAM and NVRAM
- Reset PMU
When none of this worked I knew it was time to phone for help!
Apple & Mac-sys to the rescue
After a quick phone call to apple to register this fault and told him all of the steps I'd already taken (it was great to get someone smart on the other end, as he didn't waste my time asking me to repeat them... that's happened before) anyway, he suggested to try another battery to see if that should be the problem before they send me out a futile replacement battery.
So i took a quick jaunt to my nearest (read only) apple certified service provider in Northern Ireland. The guys at Mac-Sys are always really helpful and all too happy to help... even went that extra mile by using one of their personal machines batteries to check if mine was a dud, now that's great service! My battery wouldn't charge in their machine, and inserting the definitely working battery in mine everything was dandy.
Not alone
After a bit of googling, I came across a thread on the apple discussion forum where a lot of others seem to have had this same problem.
The Why?!
It appears that the battery in the MacBook pro has a Minimum charge level which if one were to go on holiday for a couple of days, would drop below. Once it reaches below this point the MacBook does not recognize it has a battery inserted, and thus can not be charged!
Hopefully this is something as simple as a firmware / software problem that can be fixed by Apple sometime soon. Well Apple, this is your second strike (major problem) one more with this MacBook and I believe you owe me a new one :)
July 14th, 2006 at 11:26 AM Nasty little fella. At least you've got a wonderful bbq tonight to look forward to. I hear Connor's got some Italians teaching him how to cook and are preparing the insalata :)
July 31st, 2006 at 06:57 AM Simple solution I've used with many devices, like mobile phones and laptops: Take the battery out of the laptop Get a power source of same or slightly higher voltage than the battery Connect the power source straight to the battery terminals (carefully, charger "+" to the battery "+", same with "-") Hold it like this for a few minutes and the battery should charge above the minimal level. Then continue charging it normally in the device.
July 31st, 2006 at 11:04 AM Sounds like an interesting technique madman! Update on wick batteries dave: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/07/31/apple_battery_recall/ and https://support.apple.com/macbookpro15/batteryexchange/index.html Looks like i'll be getting a new one too.
November 30th, 2006 at 04:40 PM I have the same problem with my macbook, try to reset my macbook following the steps u mentioned. ty in advance.
November 30th, 2006 at 04:40 PM I have the same problem with my macbook, try to reset my macbook following the steps u mentioned. ty in advance.
December 14th, 2006 at 10:40 AM Whoa there madman, I read that high-capacity Li-Ion batteries (presumably the MacBook battery is like that) must not be charged with too much current, or they might EXPLODE. Charging circuits are, as far as I know, complex beasts that carefully limit the current being delivered to the battery at all times. Also the battery itself has some internal current-related circuitry. Now, while your solution might work, it sounds risky to be dumping that much current into a battery in an uncontrolled way. Do some googling and understand the risks before you try this approach... PS My MacBook battery just died too, aargh...
January 23rd, 2007 at 07:16 PM This battery problem just happened to me too. My "laptop" has just been rendered moot, since it has to be plugged in at all times to fix this problem. I had a white iBook for five years and had almost no problems with it. I bought the MacBook when it first came out and find it crashes much more frequently and sometimes doesn't like to start up when the button is pushed. It's definitely more buggy than the old laptops. I've had problems with this computer from the first month I owned it. My stellar reviews for Apple products are soon going to become lukewarm.
April 9th, 2007 at 05:35 PM Phone Apple. They'll get you to reset your SMC/PMU (power management chip). If you're still under warranty, they ship you a new battery and you send the old one back for recycling. Simple.
December 5th, 2007 at 03:22 PM
if you dont have a warranty are you screwed? :s
January 1st, 2008 at 03:28 PM
See if you are on the apple battery exchange programme which appears to cover me. Having gone through the above steps I was not happy, but looks like they'll send a new one free of charge...
https://support.apple.com/macbookpro15/batteryexchange/
January 25th, 2008 at 06:10 PM
thanks, this really helped!
April 24th, 2008 at 05:32 AM
I have a MacBookPro and seem to be having the same problem.Unfortunately I am not on the battery exchange problem >.<. Im really mad right now and can not do anything with my MBP because I can not take it anywhere and my apostrophe doesnt work . it goes beep. mac vs pc . Talk about this error... >.<
May 15th, 2008 at 04:50 PM
I have a 13" macbook. Its about 2 years old. I bought it used almost a year ago. Last winter the power supply spontaneously combusted the power cord, right next to the MagSafe Connector. I took it to the local apple store, and was told it was not a recall, and apple doesn't care that it caught on fire, but they would sell me a new one for $79. All I needed was a new connector, as it burned up the wires and insulation within 1/8" of the strain relief. Seeing as the insulation and wiring may catch on fire, I decided repairing was a bad idea anyway. So... I had to pay $80 for a new one, or not use the computer.
Last week I left the computer off the power supply (forgot it at work), and after a couple days, the battery died, and wont come back. The computer doesn't recognize a battery is even in the computer (like everyone else posting).
I did all the things everyone else here did, but the computer doesn't see the battery. So, I take it too the apple store, and once again, apple thinks its ok for batteries to last less than 2 years/200 power cycles.
So... they want another $129 for a new battery. Thats pushing my additional cost of ownership for the first year $210. Thats just for 1 battery, and 1 power supply (that apparently are only good for 1-2 years under light use.)
I was mistaken when I thought spending more money upfront for a quality computer was a good idea. My MacBook experience for 1 year has lead me to believe that macs are lower than average quality, for twice the price.
If I told any of you getting a mac was a good idea, I sincerely apologize.
June 6th, 2008 at 08:33 AM
I have had the same problem but while I would like to blame me being on vacation or something of that ilk, I poured a ton of water on my laptop yesterday and luckily everything seems to be working aside from the battery. I wish they would make macs that could survive being my computer for more than 2 years max. The last one got some serious abuse mostly because I got hit by a car when I was on my bike and my iBook innocently cruising along in my basket.....Oh well! Maybe I'll learn to be careful at some point.
June 25th, 2008 at 07:14 PM
I had the same "X" in the menu bar icon, but interestingly, I was able to remove the power adapter and the battery still worked. None of the comments above helped. Also, I tried this forum on mac.com:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1457?viewlocale=en_US
... which didn't help.
Then I called apple care, and they suggested that I reset the Power Management Unit (see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1431). This did it!
hope this was helpful.
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:44 PM
I think Apple is losing me as a client for three reasons:
Apple products can be fancy, cute and stylish but so far, my experience with energy devices suck! I seriously do not recommend an Apple product, and I am seriously thinking about quitting from being a customer. I guess the I-phone and other products will bring similar dissapointments.
August 17th, 2008 at 11:24 PM
I just did the same thing as Erin, I accidentally dropped some water over my macbook. and now the battery doesn't work. I have to buy a new battery now? or will apple send me a new one, though it was my own clumsiness?
August 21st, 2008 at 07:45 AM
I just buy MacBook 1 month ago I'm far away from Home, I'm in Bombay India and I live in Florida. How can I deal with local Apple Store if I don't have my recite with me ? I have the Big X on mine battery computer
August 24th, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Hello,
I left my Macbook unplugged for three weeks while on vacation and, upon returning, I saw the black X. My computer is over a year old. If my warantee is up can I still get a new battery?