Uh oh... Battery not found?


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Okay... so I was using my iBook and all of a sudden, it turns off. I knew battery was below 20%, so I expected it to turn off sometime. So the screen goes blank and I shut the display, figure I'll go back later and use it, I have stuff to do.

So I plug it back in and hit the power button, hear the typical Mac startup sound...

Which isn't supposed to happen.

So I boot into X, and it's saying Battery Not Found.

Is my battery dead? Any software tools that could try to kick my battery back into gear? I can't afford a new battery for at least another month and a half.

Thanks in advance.

Edited by Bling3k12
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How old is the iBook? Did it give you a warning about reserve power at all?

If you have a fairly recent iBook (G3 Dual USB or G4), you can try resetting the Power Management Unit by hold Shift-Control-Option while turning the machine on. If that doesn't work, I'd take it to the Apple Store to look at.

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I had the same problem with my G3 iBook. I was able to plug it in and use it, but once in OSX, it had a red x throught the battery icon. I reset the power management and a few other tips I found online from others with the issue, but I had to end up replacing the battery. Once I did that, it worked fine. I am not sure why it stopped working, but it did

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Specs are in my sig, but I bought it used off a friend and it was definitely a year past that AppleCare cutoff date.

I'll try resetting the PMU, but if that doesn't work, a $130 replacement battery will have to wait until at least April. :(

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I had a similar problem with my iBook G3. One minute its running on the battery with a 70 percent charge, next its sitting there off. The battery simply seems to have died. Even the light on the bottom of the battery doesn't work anymore.... pretty weird! :wacko:

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That has absolutely nothing to do with this, besides being flamebait. I've said it once, I'll say it again, batteries die and this one was almost 2 years old anyways. Two years and still using the same battery, that's pretty good. After near 2 years of constant charge and discharge, the lifespan will die out. Then you get those awkward cases, like with my Dell, who's battery died no more than 1 week after the 1 year warranty ended. Yeah, I was ****ed, and because it was my Dell, I just left it be. It can hold a charge though, but the maximum is 2 minutes before the computer just does.

Anyways, an update on the status... it is dead, hasn't worked since the 21st and now my iBook is now technically a "powerful 12" LCD based G3 iMac", since it's no longer portable and just sits there looking pretty. Looks like it will be that way for a few months until I can buy a new battery.

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Batteries die - like the OP said no matter what laptop you buy.

I imagine in 2 or 3 years you'll start hearing stories like this about G4 ibooks just like you would with any other notebook.

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And, for no reason at all, I got home, brought my iBook back up from sleep, and what do you know, my iBook started charging again.

Right now I'm at 12%, but it's extremely slow... as long as I get it to recharge fully, I think it will be fine.

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I imagine in 2 or 3 years you'll start hearing stories like this about G4 ibooks just like you would with any other notebook.

Exactly, but for some reason with PC laptops, people just acknowledge it an move on. With an Apple product, when it happens, everybody starts getting on Apple's case saying things like "Apple's batteries suck!". Gets on my nerves. :hmmm:

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