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General discussion

Battery recognition

Jan 19, 2011 3:57AM PST

Hi,
I recently spilled coffee on my mid 2010 2.4ghz macbook pro. After drying out, the computer worked fine, although the battery was not recognized. Since apple does not cover water damage i bought a replacement battery and installed it today. After starting up the problem is not solved. there is still an X through the battery indicator and if i unplug the laptop it shuts down instantly. When i turn it on, the status LED on the front blinks 6 times before the laptop actually boots up.
I have reset the SMC, NVRAM and PRAM.
Any help or input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Discussion is locked

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10 to 1 you have fried the charging circuit
Jan 19, 2011 5:23AM PST

on the logic board.

I'm sure Jimmy will be able to tell you if this is an easily changed out part or not


P

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thanks ...
Jan 19, 2011 7:18AM PST

I went to see an apple authorized technician today and he opened it up, pointed to the charging circuit (the little board that has the charging port connected to it) showed me it was fried and gave me the part number. He told me it was an easy swap (2 screws). i ordered the part today so i hope that is the problem. He also said he did not think it could be the logic board since the computer runs fine, the only problem is the connection between the board and the computer, which is done by the charging circuit.
thanks for your input.

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That sounds suspicious to me
Jan 19, 2011 9:59AM PST

That sounds suspicious to me, because AFAIK, Apple doesn't have a separate part for that. It's a part of the logic board. So, not sure where it is you took this system, but I'd go get a second opinion somewhere else, because it sounds like this person has no clue what they're talking about.

A quick perusal of the parts list for Mid-2010 MBPs doesn't show anything either. If you have the part number the person gave you, I'd be interested in knowing that so I can look it up.

And I'd agree with the initial diagnosis. You fried some of the contacts that send power from the battery to the logic board, but through dumb luck managed to avoid any collateral damage (that you've discovered so far). Depending on whether or not you want to know, the headphone and microphone jack are very close to that. They may well be gone too.

Personally, I'd take the new battery back, get a refund, and just accept that your laptop has no battery. Replacing the logic board with liquid damage is basically going to run you around $1,000US when it's all said and done. You can have a whole new laptop for about another $300 or so.

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magsafe dc in board
Jan 24, 2011 3:31AM PST

the part came in, it's called a Magsafe DC-IN board for macbook. the part number is 922-9307.
I installed it, but still no change. My mic and headphone jacks work fine. and so does every other port on the computer.
thanks.

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fixed!
Jan 24, 2011 8:29AM PST

Ok, so i got it fixed, what i did was remove the logic board and with a plastic tool very carefully removed any rust or corrosion i could find. I know that this has the potential to destroy the logic board, but after water damage it was not under warranty anyhow.
Sure enough, i plugged it in and my battery is now charging!
Thanks for your input!

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That's completely different
Jan 24, 2011 10:53AM PST

That's completely different from what you were describing before. The magsafe port is on the other side of the system from the battery. And that's a little more than just two screws as well. It requires removing the entire logic board to really get at the connector.

Had you said that in the first place, I could have saved you the $50 or whatever they charged you for the part. It's incredibly rare for those things to go bad because there's almost nothing to go bad. It's the physical port, a small PCB so you can solder a couple of wires to carry the power, and then the cable.

And given what you say you did, I would not leave your laptop unattended for any period of time. Especially not leaving it charging overnight. I'd say the odds are very high that some day real soon you'll notice your laptop getting very hot, and then shortly after that, you'll see smoke coming up from inside. So you'll want to be there to yank the magsafe connector out when that happens.

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yes
Jan 24, 2011 1:05PM PST

yes i had to remove the whole logic board, i paid about 35$ for the part.
Why is it that it might get really hot one day? i mean i understand i could have shorted something out but why would the effects of the short become a problem later on as opposed to right away?

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Same problem--much older iBook G4
Jan 25, 2011 12:54PM PST

I have a 2004 iBook G4 1.3 GHz 14 inch iBook. Several chargers have been used and burned up. Lately, we've noticed the "x" in the battery icon. We have two known working chargers (plug type, not Mag-safe). We put a new battery in and within 4 months it would not give any indicator lights and the "x" was again in the icon. We did the PMU reset routine several times with no success. We took it to the Apple Genius and they merely confirmed what we knew, the battery is dead---not what was causing it to go bad. I suspect, too, that there may be a bad DC power-in board ( if it exists on this older model). The computer intermittently shuts down with out warning while plugged into the charger cord and the Super drive no longer functions. In all other respects the computer is working fine.

We are trying to decide if its is worth opening up the device to fix the DC problem and if it is possible for a person of average technical skill to replace the optical drive.

Thanks for any suggestions

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No
Jan 25, 2011 10:02PM PST

No, it's not. The iBook G4's are a giant PITA to get apart unless you want to buy a new bottom case at the same time.

That system has reached Vintage status, so you'd have a hard time finding an AASP willing to sell you the parts unless you're in California.

There was also an issue with those systems where the solder joints around the video chip would crack. So yours is likely living on borrowed time as it is. Put whatever money you would spend on replacement parts towards a new MacBook. Your system is old, so just let it die peacefully, don't prolong it's suffering. And in the future, make a separate thread, don't hijack someone else's.

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Same problem iBook G4
Jan 27, 2011 12:37AM PST

Sorry about the "hijack". I'm new to this forum and a little in-experienced. Thank you for your sound advice.

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ibook g4 not that difficult to take apart
Dec 21, 2011 3:22PM PST

I'm just saying. Come on now. They aren't that tough to take apart & re-assemble with out needing to buy replacement anythings. If i am "hijacking" any thread or threads, idc (i don't care) in case the dog catcher wants to know! hey......peace out FOO!

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Sure they are
Dec 21, 2011 9:24PM PST

Sure they are, and I said giant PITA, not difficult. There's a difference.

But the iBook G4 line was retired around 2006, so that's about 5 years now give or take, even if you have one of the last ones to roll off the assembly line. Plastic, like a lot of things, dries out and becomes brittle over time. Taking apart a unit that is still pretty fresh off the assembly line is a very different prospect from one that has had years of sitting in essentially one position, and developed something of a bond with anything else it touches. Not to mention it dries out and becomes far more brittle.

All of this combines to it being a giant PITA to get the thing off without breaking it. I deal with older Apple laptops on a near daily basis, so I'm not just yanking this out of my ****.

So next time you feel like trying to impress everyone with your knowledge, how about actually demonstrating some knowledge, rather than making a comment based off your hasty and inaccurate interpretation of something someone else said? Especially when it's roughly a year after the fact.

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Explaining
Jan 27, 2011 9:06AM PST

Explaining this would require getting into how electronics work, and by asking the question it shows you don't have that base knowledge. So suffice it to say that what you did could have easily damaged one of the resistors or capacitors on the logic board that helps regulate power flow. That damage may be subtle, so subtle that it's not even noticeable at first. However, little by little, the damage is being compounded by continued use, and eventually it will exceed some threshold causing unknown things to happen, though almost certainly of the bad variety.

A good example of this is the symptoms of bad capacitors. Sometimes the system will run absolutely fine, even though you have some spectacularly failed capacitors. Other times, it will refuse to do anything at all. Yet other times, the behavior is completely unpredictable.

I would not leave that system unattended for any length of time, so when you see smoke coming out of it, you can get yourself, and other things, away from it.

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thanks for the information
Jan 27, 2011 11:04AM PST

Ok, i understand. Thank you for your help Jimmy.