Powerbook Turns Off

[Zack Uidl]

So here is the deal. When I work on my old powerbook (not for recording) and have it running on battery, it just turns off. It can run take 5 minutes, 15 minutes, or full battery life, which is why it is rather odd to me. I am not that good at understanding how computers work and diagnosing issues with them, but it seems strange that sometimes it will last for the full battery life and others five minutes.

Sometimes it does this when it is at 90 - 100% battery life?!

I do not get a warning saying that I am running on reserve battery or anything at all anymore either. It just turns off completely. Before, it would hibernate or whatever it is called.

Just curious if any of you have run into similar situations. Maybe someone has some insight?

Thanks

 

[Darkening]

I'm GUESSING you need a new battery.

The battery gauge could be wrong due to a faulty battery or the battery may just be unable to supply a steady voltage to the computer.

 

[Razorjack]

Same issue here with my last gen iBook, you need a new battery. It'll get to the point (like mine has) where you can't run the laptop at all without it being plugged in. Since I don't need to be portable anymore I just haven't bothered spending the £90 Apple want for a new battery and keep it plugged into the mains.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Laptop batteries lifespan is a joke man. I have been through 2 in the past 3 years and the second is already doing the same shit. It's fucking terrible.

 

[beyond dead]

common issue. actually if its a power book then you actually got good life span out of it. in system profiler you can check the cycle count and full charge capacity. apple only guarantees the battery for 300 cycle counts, so plug er in if ya can. also the protection plans are awesome cause they will ship you a free battery if you are within 300 cycle counts and the computer is under 3 yrs old!

 

[Zack Uidl]

Thanks for the information guys

I have had this computer for years and never had a problem with the battery, but what you all have said makes sense.

appreciate all your time, thank you

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

189 cycles.

 

[LydonB]

I have the same issue with my Powerbook.

 

[beyond dead]

189 cycles.

sorry dood,.. i know did it die after 189?

 

[beyond dead]

[Q

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

sorry dood,.. i know did it die after 189?

I honestly think it was more like 120. The battery has been worthless for quite some months now.

 

[Aaron Smith]

My Powerbook does this as well. Apparently it is extremely common in earlier generation G4 Powerbooks. I've read about people actually cutting/unsoldering a temperature gauge from the motherboard (sounds scary to me), turning off a temperature gauge via OS coding... If you do a Google search you will find a ridiculous amount of info and many courses of action. Here's what Wikipedia says about quality issues on 15" Powerbooks:

There has also been a rash of reports concerning sudden and pervasive sleeping of 1.67 GHz mode.[5] Symptoms will include the PowerBook suddenly entering sleep mode, no matter the battery level or if plugged into the mains, and System Logs will report "Received emergency signal from power management. Going to sleep now." The cause is generally the trackpad sensor monitoring the trackpad; it will sporadically spike to over 100+ C, causing the PowerBook to think it will melt if it does not immediately shut down. Often service groups will replace the motherboard or power converter, but the actual fix is to replace the top case which holds the trackpad and sensor. Alternatively, there are reports that removing key sensor .ktexts from /System/Extensions Powerbook Sleeping Issue Fix or rebuilding the kernel using the Darwin Open Source project, commenting-out the relevant sleepSystem() call.

I haven't yet tried the fix that is suggested at that link, but it sounds very easy and also sounds like it commonly is successful.

 

[beyond dead]

in all honesty, it happens quite a bit with portable computers. its really important to take precautions to maximize your batteries lifespan. here`s an article on the subject:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1446?viewlocale=en_US

 

[beyond dead]

heres a better one: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490