• Cycled the battery (run it down completely and then recharge it)
• Reset the Power Mgmt Unit (PMU) - see this apple kbase doc on PowerBook and iBook: Resetting Power Management Unit (PMU)

If neither of these help, please note that in email reports. Some have went so far as to re-install OS X, but if that's done a clean install w/o preserving preferances is probably best. (Apple's pre-OS X Battery Reset 2.0 utility is not for the PB G4 and later iBook models.)

Reader Reports:

This reader comments on battery life after the Bluetooth 1.5 update (strange it would have affected that)

(added 2/9/2004)
"< Hi Mike, This is my first post although I have been a regular fan for years.
Curiously enough, I just installed the Bluetooth 1.5 update with Software update this morning, after which I repaired permissions and rebooted.

I had just drained my batteries to about 46% so I decided to recharge, 30 minutes later the battery is 100% charged, this is first time it has read 100% since the day I bought and calibrated the PB 15" in December. To my amazement, I now have a 7hrs and 30mins charge with my battery at 100%. Brightness is at 50% and Energy saver is set to Automatic and setting are for Battery Power and my audio is turned off. I do not have and Bluetooth devices and Airport is off. I was just about to have my battery changed by Apple Asia, IÕm in Singapore. Go figure.

I'm no newbie to the battery issues with Macs so I calibrate all batteries before using them and have applied all the battery updates up to and including 1.1.
William J. "

(added 2/4/2004)
" I've experienced a drastic drop in battery life after the Battery Update. I used to be able to go comfortably for four hours of class, albeit with some sleeping during that time. Now, I have to recharge between classes or it will be in the red by the second class. So, the reported 3:30 is real and not just a new way of estimating battery life.

I tried recalibrating twice, resetting the PMU, and have done several clean installs of Panther since the first one. Nothing has restored the battery. Also, if this is relevant, the menubar says the battery is charged, but never goes past 99%.

This is a Rev. A 12" Powerbook, purchased at the beginning of September. I guess five months is enough to start showing some loss of performance, but losing an hour with one update seems a bit unreasonable.

I'm thinking about bringing it in for service, but I'm out of Applecare and don't want to be slapped with an assessment fee if the techs judge there's nothing wrong with it. I'm a grad student (i.e. broke) and I can't afford much for repairs. Yet, the battery life was a key selling point and a great benefit to me during those long hours in the library. I'm learning not to trust Apple updates, but the damage seems irreversible in this case.
Alex F. "

(added 1/30/2004)
" Hello, regarding: http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/feedback/battery_update_problems.html (this page)

I just spoke with a Apple IBook repair specialist at 1-800-275-2273. I explained my problems following installation of Battery Update (described below), to which he said that they had heard of such problems before. He made a note of it and said that if enough people called in with the same problem, they would look into it and try to post a fix!!! Specifically, my problem was as follows:
- Running 10.3.2, getting <3hrs battery life
- Installed Battery Update
- Suddenly, battery would not charge over 66%
- Reconditioned battery, battery went to 99%, once.
- Now, a new set of problems:

- battery never charges fully, power adapter ring light always amber, never green
- when unplugged, after about 30 minutes, computer goes into sleep mode with no warning
- it seems like there is only ever one light on on the battery itself.

If you have similar problems, please call Apple and make it known.

FYI, I also asked him if Apple guaranteed its software against causing hardware problems. He put me on hold for awhile and came back and said no. After some negotiation, we concluded that Apple's position was that, if you value your hardware, don't install anything from Software Update until it gets positive feedback on the web in terms of not causing hardware problems!
Chris P. "

I asked if he had tried the suggestions at the top of this page (cycled the battery and reset the pwr manager) and he said yes. I've not seen this problem with two different powerbooks personally but some have (see previous reports below).

This PB G4 12in owner notes resetting the PMU (see link above) and cycling the battery didn't help. (*Updated 1/6/2004 for comments on replacement battery*)

(added 1/2/2004)
" I'm running OS X 10.2.8 on a 867 MHz 12" Powerbook G4.
Before installing battery update, I had no problems at all with battery life. My powerbook would charge to 100% without any issues. Since I went from 10.2.4 to 10.2.8, I managed to skip the associated problems with incorrect battery time.

Shortly after installing Battery Update 1.1, my battery stopped charging past 75%. When I push the button on the battery itself, I never get more than 4 out of 5 dots, so I don't believe the OS is reporting the charge incorrectly.

I reset the power manager twice and re-calibrated the battery, both to no effect.

I need the laptop for work, so I haven't had a chance to get the battery looked at, and also for that reason I've avoided installing Panther for now. Fortunately, the Powerbook is only two months old, so they should replace the battery under warranty.

I'm not sure if the update caused the problem, or if this is just a coincidence. The Apple guy I spoke to wasn't sure either.
LuigiM
(he later wrote)
Followup to my last email..
Apple replaced the battery at a store free of charge and without any questions asked, and I'm back to showing 100% capacity."

(added 1/2/2004)
" FYI, I applied the Battery Update on my girlfriend's iBook 600 12". Her battery was already on it's last legs before the update, giving less than a half hour of battery time per charge. After the update, and it could be coincidence, the battery took a nosedive and rapidly degenerated to about 10 minutes of battery time per charge.

I've since replaced the battery, and presuming the Battery Update also updated that battery as Apple said it would, am happy to report upwards of 4 hours of battery time per charge. Now that's more like it!
Rex R. "

(added 12/31/2003)
" The update caused my battery's capacity, which i was already not having a great time with, to go down by nearly 35 % ! XBattery indicated I had 1.1 Ah of capacity beforehand, and now have .78 Ah. I have what seems like 30 minutes of battery time !!!

Additionally, The charge indicator (in the menubar) will go down to about 60-40% and then the machine will shut off (go into hibernation). I then check the battery indicator and find only a single flashing green light (depleted battery). However, only moments before, I had checked the same indicator which had yielded 3 or 2 full green lights (out of 4).

I have no idea what's going on... but I just starting writing this letter w/ 99% charge, and i'm now down to 83% and dropping fast. Something is seriously screwy. I recommend using XBattery to get stats and make graphs for battery numbers (voltage, amperage, capcity, charge times, etc) find it at www.macupdate.com.

Additional information: When I boot into target disk mode, my battery shows 1 blinking green light, but the battery meter on the computer shows slightly more than half full battery ! Furthermore, repeated and varied combinations of PMU/ PRAM resets arnt clearing this nasty problem.
-Adam L. "

(added 12/31/2003)
" I found your very interesting site while searching for support. I have since three month the PB G4, 17". It was delivered with Jaguar. Since the first day of operation there was no alert, when the battery went flat. The Menu indicator still shows always about 1 Hour of battery life, when my PB went to sleep (naturally without alert, coz the Mac "thinks" there is still plenty of energy...) I thought this is one of the several bugs of 10.2.6. After Upgrading to Panther, in the meantime I've also installed the new Battery upgrade, nothing changed. I have never seen the Low Battery Alert on my Power Book.

Is there any way to reset the battery, because I think its a battery problem, rather than a problem with the PB or is this problem known and there is a way to re-calibrate the battery?
Thanks for any help!
Kind regards, Uwe K. "

(added 12/31/2003)
" I have an odd problem that I haven't seen and have not found others having it.
I have a iBook 500 Dual USB purchased when they first came out. A fully charged battery will show 45-50 minutes and only last about 30 minutes before sleep. However at that point three of the four LEDs on the battery are lit indicating a 75% charge. This does not agree with the menu bar percentage at all. I've tried resetting it through the process at Apple all to no avail. The iBook is several years old so the need of a new battery would not be too surprising. But those three LEDs on the battery pack makes me wonder if it's something else. This problem was before Jaguar and has not changed through all the upgrades to 10.2.3. Even the recent battery update didn't help.
Any thoughts?
Frank H. "

(added 12/31/2003 -added here but not really directly related to the battery update.)
" PB G4/400 TI April 2001, OSX 10.2.8, upgrading soon to 10.3.2. PB did not turn on out of box, returned, new logic board.
August 2002, computer freezes up when moved, using, or unplugging or plugging items into back connections.

Replaced logic board $1030.00, was told that I had a bad screen and battery card (?) as the battery did not charge or work. updated to system 10.2 at that time from 9. Screen would not come on. Always worked fine before new logic board and battery was never a problem until OS 10.2
Determined a screen wire was crushed by the repair facility ( screw missing at hinge cover and could see red wire crushed through screw hole) and demanded they remove the hinge cover and repair. Shop complied after a severe brow beating and the screen has functioned perfectly for one year now. Shop wanted $1500 for new screen. No battery though.

Authorised Apple shop in Quito Ecuador, no confidence, was poor workmanship or ripoff. Third logic board has now burned out the top RAM mem. slot. limping along on one ram slot at 512 Megs.

Still have no battery after one year, tethered to my desk. I can remove the keyboard and move wires around on the multi pin connector at the battery to the logic board and sometimes the battery will start charging and become full, will run down to about 30% and then die instantly. Cannot reproduce loose wire or problem with connectors on a consistrant basis so am unsure of diagnosis. Have played with the entire battery system, removing battery, X battery, wiggleing wires, and get mixed results. Have given up.

About ready to update to 10.3.2, keeping my fingers crossed as well as my legs.

I know I may need a new battery but where do I get one without paying $400.00 (list price is less than $200 - $129 or $149 I think normally - OWC also sells high-capacity PB G4 batteries for early model PB G4s.)

I keep a fan blowing on the computer for cooling at all operating times. No droppage, no coffee, lots of love and usage. Cannot see the logic (no pun) in replacing yet another logic board at $1K.
James C. "

I just sold my PB G4/800 with 1GB RAM, 80GB HD and 2x superdrive for $1200... no way I'd put $1000 into a PB G4/400.

(added 12/29/2003)
" I just wanted to let you know my experience with the Battery Update after applying it to my new PowerBook G4 17" (1.33 GHz) running OS X 10.3.2 with all other updates applied.

FIrst off, when I got the book it actually had OS X 10.2.7 installed. Running Software Update a few times brought me to 10.2.8 and also installed the Battery Update software for Jaguar. I saw no problems as far as either battery life or charge time. However, I was only running Jaguar for about a week. I then got my Panther CD's via the OS-up-to-date program.

The upgrade to Panther (10.3.0) was done as an Archive and Install, rather than than an upgrade install. All of my user data was copied over, but of course none of the previously applied Software Update programs were present any longer. I ran Software Update twice and updated to 10.2.3 and had the Battery Update installed at the same time.

Since installing the update, I find that my charge times are still unaffected (about 3 hours for a full charge of a fully drained battery). When running off battery power, the time indicator generally starts somewhere around 3 hours and 30 minutes, but quickly goes down to the 3 hour mark. Depending on what I'm doing, the available time may actually increase by a few minutes (as it's doing while I write this), most likely because I am not doing anything processor intensive and the CPU scales down.

Switching to a moderately processor-intensive app (such as a web site that makes heavy use of Flash) brings the battery time down to about 2 hours and 30 minutes on a full charge. Times in general seem to be accurate, and when I first used the laptop to calibrate the battery I got a little over 2 and a half hours of charge time before the computer went into forced sleep mode.

I saw one reader comment that the battery only showed two lights on a fully charged battery. I have not seen this -- when I press the button on the battery after it's fully charged, all five lights come on.
So it looks good for PB 17 owners!
Joseph M. "

(added 12/29/2003)
" my son has a 12" iBook 800MHz (only a few weeks old). Has all the updates except 10.3.2. Battery Update caused no problems and does appear to give longer life while on battery (not measured).
Jeff D. "

(added Dec. 24, 2003)
"Just applied OS X 10.3.2 Update and the Battery Update 1.1 to my 12" iBook G4. After the restart, my *fully* charged battery was only indicating 3% charge on the battery icon. I shut it down and tried pushing the battery button, and the fully charged battery only registered one LED light! Seems that somehow Battery Update messes with the internal HW of the actual iBook battery. This does not look promising. I think Apple has big problems here, and I'm beginning to wish I hadn't upgraded with Battery Update.
Richard F. "

I wish I knew why these problems were happening. I'm sure I saw a battery update 1.1 appear during a 10.2.8 Software Update check on a PB G4 17in (new 1.33GHz model) and it didn't seem to cause any problems. But there's been more than a few reports here noting problems.

(added Dec. 23, 2003)
"I'm not sure if this is worth mentioning, but...
After I installed the Battery Update on my 1.33 GHz 17" PowerBook I was very disappointed to see that my battery life dropped from about 3:30 to 2:30. I tried conditioning the battery by running it down all the way several times but it didn't seem to help.

However, right before submitting this report I decided to check it once more...and now it reports remaining battery life fluctuating around 4:05 at 98%. I can't confirm that it is actually the true battery life yet, but it usually seems to be fairly accurate.
-Tom "

(added Dec. 23, 2003)
"G'day, My new 15" Aluminium Powerbook G4 (1.25GHz, 5400rpm 80GB HD, 2GB RAM, 10.3.1) had dropped to under an hour or so of battery life since receiving it 2 months ago. Completely discharging it many times had no effect. Zapping the PRAM or the Power Manager likewise had no effect.

However, after installing the Battery Update, I am now getting a good two and a half hours of battery life with Airport on and no extra battery saving policies. Not quite the advertised 4.5 hrs, but I have yet to see how long it lasts airport off and other power-saving options on.
-Mart "

(added Dec. 23, 2003)
"I am replying to the Apple Battery Updater page on your website with some comments of my experiences before and after the update.

I have a one month old 15" Aluminium Powerbook 1.25Ghz which was getting (according to the battery monitor) around 3 hours (max time was 3:06) before the update, after applying the update there has been a depreciation in time to generally under 2hr:50min. Currently the monitor tells me it is 93% charged with 2:33 remaining.
Regards, Gary M. "

(added Dec. 23, 2003)
"Hi Mike.
I have a TiBook 500 which is a couple of years old, and yes I too have the same problems with my battery ever since 10.2. All the updates since have only made my battery worse which now only gives me about 11 minutes of charge.
I was extremely disappointed when the Battery Update came out and found that my TiBook 500 wasn't included in the list of update-able Macs. (...why?)
As a last resort, I was wondering if anyone has tried having their batteries rejuvenated/reconditioned?

In the old days when Ni-cad used to be the go, they used to suffer from a memory effect which given the right equipment, could actually be rejuvenated or reconditioned. Can this also be done with the Li-on batteries that are now currently in use? (Lion doesn't have the memory effect of Nicads) I have spoken at length to someone locally who claims this may be possible. Maybe someone could shed some light on the matter.
George A "

Lion batteries should not have the memory effect of Nicads/Nimh batteries - Nicads over time also build up some sort of crystals inside the cells as I remember and these decrease the capacity. (When I raced Electric RC cars I had a Tekin "pulse" charger that would discharge/charge in pulsed cycles that could help restore capacity to my hand-made custom Nicad Cell packs.) But I don't think this applies to Lion batteries. They will also decrease in runtime over time. There's some battery info sites on the web that would have more detailed info. (use google)

(added Dec. 22, 2003)
Have you heard any news from 15" TiBook owners? I hadn't been paying attention to the net and then realized my two powerbook batteries kept telling me they were only going to get about 45 minutes of power. In checking the net I found out about the Battery Update, but it doesn't list 15" TiBook's as supported AND when I installed it, it ran software before install and decided I didn't need it. Are the batteries just toast ?
-Rob
(he later wrote)
Thanks for the tip. (I suggested checking apple's PB forum) This forum (thread) at Apple is filled with people sniping about the same problem I'm having. No solutions, unfortunately. "

I saw a "Battery Update 1.1" appear after updating to 10.2.8 on a PB G4 17in recently (before updating that machine to 10.3.x) - seems to have had no negative effects (running 10.3.2 now), but can't remember if that appeared on my PB G4 15in. (I usually keep that on AC power also.)
If any PowerBook G4 owners have applied the update and have seen any pros/cons - let me know. (include system/OS details in reports and the age of your battery. thanks.)

(added Dec. 22, 2003)
"Mike, Hi. Got some of my own battery woes. Prior to the release of the Battery Updater, I posted this in c.s.m.hardware.misc:

After upgrading to 10.2.8 - I can't recall any other milestone - my 600 MHz 14" iBook's battery suddenly lost most of it's capacity. I researched the problem the usual way, and found a lot of info on osxhints.com. Seems like there's a lot of info on it once you start looking, naturally. Lots of advice on PMU and PRAM resets, stuff like that.

Using some terminal scripts and X-battery, I found that I had a battery capacity of about 0.98 amp-hours. This was way lower than anyone else had reported in forums; maybe a half-hour from full charge to the low-power warning.

This morning I ignored the warning and went all the way down to complete loss of power, save for the pulsing sleep lite. After pluggin in, the capacity was suddenly 1.95 A-h. Quite the improvment.

Anybody else got any similar tales, or advice? I think my Apple Care is still good, but I'd prefer to find out why my capacity dropped. I usually work plugged-in, and only go off the charger occasionally.

Now after installing the Updater, I've got about 1.5 Ah, and a full drain doesn't help. Some of the time, it gives me the "Going to reserve power" alert, and sometimes it doesn't.
Cheers, Mike "

(added Dec. 22, 2003)
"My wife has a new iBook G4 12". Before the battery update, she was getting 3.5 to 4 hours of use before charging and it took around 2 hours to charge. When I ran the battery update everything seemed to go fine until restart. The computer would not start back up even using the power key. The solution was to remove the battery and reinstall and then it started back up using the power key. After the battery update it will sometimes show more than 5 hours of battery life (which never happened in the past) for a short time and then drop down to the normal 3 hour 45 minute to 4 hour range. Charging time seems to be about the same, and we don't seem to be getting more or less actual use out of a charge.
Thanks, Jeff Klammer
P.S. The latest group of updates finally made my Airport extreme card work properly. When we first purchased the unit it wouldn't see things on my local network (iTunes shared music, iChat Rendezvous people) after waking from sleep. Now it seems to reconnect the local network stuff without turning the Airport card off and on via the menubar. "

(added Dec. 22, 2003)
"New 12" G4 iBook here, 10.3.2 installed yesterday, no problems with battery. Plus I seem to be getting longer battery life than I had prior to upgrading.

I know, not news or necessarily helpful BUT I did have one observation. During the download/install/reboot procedure I had my iBook on a full charge *and* plugged into AC power, Energy Saver setting was "Automatic" (my usual).

My WAG is that somehow those three parameters at install factor into this mystery, coupled with the typical runtime Power Saver setting. But without data from those affected (and not affected) I suppose it's hard to say. Probably just a big ol' goose chase.

Been reading your site since the beginning, never had a chance to thank you for all your great work. So thanks! :)
Cheers,
-Ultralight Joe ("Ultralight" as in backpacking, though my iBook is also a pleasantly easy load to carry around....)
PS- In case you find it worth accumulating data on it, I'll start:

Battery Problem: No
Recalibrate After 10.3.2 Install: No
Typical iBook Energy Saver Setting: Automatic iBook Power State at Time of 10.3.2 Install:

- Battery: Full
- Power Source: AC
- Energy Saver Setting: Automatic "

(added Dec. 22, 2003)
"Thought I would chime in with a battery problem...
I was running OS X 10.1 on my wife's Tangerine iBook (G3 300) and decided to upgrade to 10.2 this week in order to take advantage of print sharing. After doing the initial 10.2 install from disc I then proceeded to do the 10.2.8 install from Software Update (along with all the other various software updates).

Since then, I have been unable to charge the battery (which is a replacement of about 1 year in age). I simply get a "Calculating" message in the menu bar and a reading of 0% charge in the pulldown menu. I checked the Knowledge Base and found a suggestion to Reset the Power Manager, but to no avail. The battery was taking a full 3 hour charge immediately preceding the updates and now it won't take anything. Strangely, the OEM battery that I still had laying around will take a charge (but only about 20 minutes which was why it warranted replacement).
I guess the next stop is the Apple Genius desk...
Chris "

(reports from the Dec. 19th, 2003 news page follow)
This is the 2nd iBook G4 owner today to report very slow charging or other problems after the recent Battery Update:

" Hi Mike, ....feedback on the recent Battery Update from Apple.
I installed all the update for my iBook (12" iBook G4 800) this morning. The iBook was plugged into mains power. When I restarted I unplugged it as I was about to pack it away before heading out for the day. I then got a message stating that the battery was low and I should plug in power. I thought this was rather strange being as it had been plugged in all morning, but it gets even stranger....

So I plug in the power again and it says "3:36 until full", a few minutes later I check again and it says "4:28 until full", mmmm.... strange... I go off to make coffee and return to find it now says "6:57 until full"!!!!

Anyone else have this issue? Is this normal?
Perhaps other users have had this issue since the update?
System Spec:
12" iBook G4 800
256Meg RAM
AirPort Extreme
Mac OS X 10.3.2
-Adman
p.s. It now says "7:24 until full" "

I had another iBook G4 owner (14in model) report very very slow charging after the update - saying it would take appx 5.5hrs at the rate he was seeing.
Update - here's more iBook owner comments on the battery update in reply to the above today:
The author of the iBook G4/800 review here wrote he also saw a similar low battery problem after the update:

" Hi Mike, I thought I'd chime in on the recent reports and updates.
I updated my iBook G4 12" yesterday and also had a weird experience. I updated it on a full charge, plugged in. After rebooting it told me there were only 12 minutes of charge left. (a similar story as the first report above)
I thought I might have been mistaken and the battery might have been lower than I thought, checked the cable of the adaptor etc. After 2 minutes it told me it was going into reserve battery now. I thought, ok, let it drain to 0, then recalibrate it.
it decreased further until 2 minutes remained. stayed there for about 3 hours playing movies until the battery eventually died indeed. clearly this was some kind of bug in the battery and/or the indicator.

Then charged it back up and it said about 1:55 to full charge. This is normal. However, after it got to about 80% charge, things slowed down considerably and the last few percent took about 20 minutes to charge. I assume Apple has changed the charging curve of the battery in order to get more work out of it, since, as I've heard on a TV show recently, the "curve" is vital to how a battery eventually will perform.

The good thing: After having a full charge, I unplugged the machine with the screen set to minimum brightness (not turned off, but one notch above), Airport off and nothing going on and it told me it had a charge of 6 hours and 18 minutes left. That is far more than before the update. With screen on brightest and iTunes playing, I got about 3:48 after the initial calculation. Haven't actually tested it yet though.

Other than that, I sent you an e-mail recently, telling you I'd go to a LAN with the iBook. My experience there was very positive. The iBook is absolutely suitable for playing Quake 3 on an advanced level. No problems with anything but one: Recording a demo while playing in multiplayer caused occasional bad lag spikes for both me and the players playing against me (ie they said I was warping around). Turning that off fixed the problem....
On the 10.3.2 update, I can happily confirm that UT has gotten faster slightly. Haven't tested the other games yet, but I expect an average speed increase of 1-5 FPS, depending on the game and the machine.
G-News "

" I've had no problem with the battery update. But then again, immediately after applying the update, I shut down, booted back up, then calibrated the battery (by running it down).
wayne
(I asked wayne if the charging was slower than previously seen. )
Nope. It fully charged from empty in about 2 hours, which is the same as before the update. "

I'm not sure why some have gotten a low battery warning even though it should have been fully charged (was plugged in all day).

This iBook G3 owner talks about battery life/runtime (not charging rate/time or incorrectly reported low battery after the update)

" I have a 800mHz G3 Dual USB 14.1" iBook and battery life has been an issue ever since the 10.2.7 update. These days I'm lucky to get 3 hours, and it's not an old battery It got a little better with Panther, but I still do not have the 5 hour life I had at 10.2.6 and prior. It makes one wonder if Apple is messing up our batteries with it's changes to the software. If this keeps up, some lawyer will be getting a class-action suit together.
David G. "

Apple wouldn't intentionally do anything like that, but OS X hasn't had a stellar track record for battery runtime from day 1. Over time batteries lose some of their run-time, and usage patterns/settings (energy saver, backlight, HD, etc.) affect runtime also but I'm assuming he's kept the same settings and usage.