Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

battery issue w/ 2009 16 mo. old macbook pro

Nov 25, 2010 8:32AM PST

i recently posted about spontaneous on/off issue and now my battery shows on coconutbattery as below 650 mAh. Also, i just noticed the battery temp is 30.0 C. Cold, right? Any ideas besides take to Apple? Also, any known battery issues?

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
That's not cold
Nov 25, 2010 10:21AM PST

That's not cold, it's probably in the 100F range give or take. The battery should remain fairly cool when it's not in use, and if it gets significantly warm, it will expand and ultimately explode.

Just stop looking for problems and let someone take a look at the thing tomorrow. The odds of you stumbling across the source of the problem is just this side of none. Let a professional take care of it tomorrow. Stop messing around with things so you don't accidentally make matters worse.

- Collapse -
You are so right!
Nov 25, 2010 10:42PM PST

Thanks Jimmy for the input. Of course I know what to do, as the answer will not magically appear online. It's just so wierd!

- Collapse -
new battery
Nov 27, 2010 11:26PM PST

The Genius Bar folks replaced my battery but I was frustrated because, as they were so busy and despite having an appt., they did not run a diagnostic. My Macbook is mid-2009 model and had 540 load cycles. They told me max was 300. I thought it was a bit more than that. Soooo, we shall see. I am still under Apple care for a year 1/2.

- Collapse -
30 degree??
Nov 27, 2010 12:47PM PST

30 degree C is absolutely hot you should always watch out your battery temperature for batteries may explode

- Collapse -
Not for a battery
Nov 27, 2010 11:27PM PST

Not for a battery, especially when it's pretty common for the ambient temp inside a laptop case to be over 30C. It may feel hot to you and me, but to electronic components, including a battery, that's like a cool spring day.

If we were talking 50-60C, then I would definitely be getting worried, but 30C is probably colder than the water in your typical shower. It's warm to the touch, but that's about it.

- Collapse -
hot or cold & sudden drop in battery capacity
Nov 28, 2010 1:45AM PST

This post comment was my mistake, as in celsius versus fahrenheit. I forgot! So, you folks are correct. Thirty C's is not bad. My Macbook does feel cool all the time. Even on my lap it has never overheated.

I am glad Apple Genius did give me a battery on Applecare. I just wish they had done a diagnostic as I had other probs besides strange behavior of my power indicators. My Macbook was shutting itself on/off and was not programmed to do this at any specific time. I suppose I will need to keep an eye on things.

- Collapse -
So take it back
Nov 28, 2010 2:41AM PST

So take it back, and if the idiots at the Apple store won't do it, look for an AASP in your area. They have the same training and tools (sometimes even better ones) than Apple's "geniuses".

Frankly I've never been overly impressed with Apple's in-store service. They always seem to be in a rush to get you out, since you're not buying anything. Plus, Apple store techs get to be lazy. Since Apple isn't paying out labor reimbursements, they get to just toss part after part at a system until they stumble across the solution. The problem with that, is every time you remove a part from the system, you introduce the chance for ESD damage, not to mention other possibilities.

An AASP has to worry about what Apple calls a Service Excellence score, which determines the rate at which they pay labor reimbursements. AASPs are expected to fix something with only one part, the repair turnaround time is supposed to be 10 days or less, and if the system comes back within 30 days, that dings the score too. So AASPs have to actually know their stuff, they can't just throw a dart at a picture of a system to decide what part they're going to replace until they find the one that fixes the problem. Your AppleCare agreement is valid at any AASP, so Apple will pick up the tab for your repair, and you'll be helping a small business at the same time.

If the Apple store doesn't want your business, take it somewhere that will actually value you as a customer, and will take the time to make sure your system is good as new.

- Collapse -
Thanks for the input!
Nov 28, 2010 10:37PM PST

I was a bit ticked about the lack of diagnostic. I thought that would be the FIRST thing they'd do. They were busy and seem to overbook appts. Seemed to have only one diagnostic machine. The work order stated that IT COULD BE a bad battery or a used up battery. I'd rather know which, along w/ other issues. So, next time I shall go to an AASP. Also, the Apple store was so small and CROWDED!!

The tech did not rely on the coconut app. which was O.K. He did, however, say my computer was lying to me when it said my battery was "good". Hence, the battery replacement. I was a bit curious as to why I had so much lower performance for 2 days, under 600mAh, and then, suddenly, back to "normal" yesterday. Oh well.

Thanks all for the assistance.

Linnea

- Collapse -
And it could
Nov 29, 2010 9:51AM PST

And it could, but it could also be something far more serious.

FWIW, I don't trust third party monitoring programs. Apple has their own battery diagnostic program. It takes usually all of 30 seconds to tell you if the battery and adapter are good. It even tells you how much of the battery you have consumed. As in, out of the 300 or so recharge cycles its rated for, how many have been used. Obviously that can be skipped now unless you still have the old battery, and that seems unlikely given the liability issues they'd be facing from the safety hazards you'd be exposed to.

You should take it back some time, get them to run a proper diagnostic on it. Tell them you want them to run ASD OS on it. I'm guessing you have a late 2009 model, so that would probably be 3S132 they need to run. Their techs should know what that means, and if they don't, take the system somewhere else because you don't want those people anywhere near your system. It'll take about an hour, so come prepared with either some other tasks or something to keep you occupied because the diagnostic tests are boring. Especially when you've seen them run countless times like I have.

- Collapse -
tnx
Dec 4, 2010 10:13AM PST

Oh I see thanks, I never knew about this before

- Collapse -
Let me comment on battery and coconuts.
Nov 28, 2010 3:36AM PST
http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/ finds this to be some third party app. That's not a bad thing but I've found so much magic in how people think of battery technology that I hang my head in shame over all the bad information out there.

For example, your average 300 cycle battery at 500+ cycles is not going to have much capacity or time. Replacing it should help restore the time but given all the miscues and misinfo and possible bugs in software I know not to take what a coconut app reports too seriously.

I have found it's best to do the old rundown test and see how long it runs on battery power. If it's even half of spec then I call it good and done. Yes there are purists that want us to show it getting the 4 hours 23 minutes of run time but to achieve that I have to (possibly) reload the OS and be too exacting in my test. Of course if they will pay for the test, let's do that!

If they swapped in a new battery I think they did well by you.
Bob