iBook G4 battery problems...

[juan123]

Hey everyone!

Lately I've been having some issues with my iBook's battery. When I open an application that tells me its health and its current status, it says it has 86% health (3803mAh vs 4400mAh when new) and has 250 battery-loadcycles. Well my issue is as follows . One day I used the battery until my iBook just randomly shut off completely, no sleep mode, nothing like that. Therefore , I plugged in the laptop, and it started charging with the orange light on the power connector. Later on, I came back and the light was green. When I turned on my laptop I found that instead of having charged up to 100% , it charged to 47% (1800mAh) with the green light on, also at the battery meter on the menubar got stuck showing : (calculating) but it stays like that... Therefore , later on, I tried discharging and charging again only to get similar results ; except that this time up to 45%. What's going on? I'm guessing the health of my battery is more like 50% rather than the 86%...? Any solutions? Thanks in advance!

xx( 8-o

 

[Christopher]

It sounds like a dead cell possibly, or the chip board for the batteries is messed up, check to see if it follows under the recall program.

https://support.apple.com/ibook_powerbook/batteryexchange/main?id=qp

 

[juan123]

I checked...it's not a recall battery....therefore, that can't be it... any other ideas anyone?

 

[superpantoufle]

First I'd suggest you go through a full calibration circle.

The fact that the iBook shuts off without warning nor sleep seems to tell the battery doesn't know what's its charge.

 

[Gil]

That was the same case with my iBook. Calibrating did nothing.

 

[superpantoufle]

If calibration doesn't do it, then I'd say the battery's dead. I saw that wit my first gen "BlackBook": one day 85% of full charge capacity, and the next day it shuts off without warning after half an hour. But that one was under a battery recall from Apple, so it was changed by AppleCare.