For the phrase
iBook Clamshell battery problem Google returned 111,000 links in 2010 (back when Google used to show the number of results anyway). It should be an obvious sign that G3 iBooks have problems with their batteries. But sometimes the battery itself is not a culprit.
What happens often is this. One day you purchase a new battery for your iBook Clamshell, put it in the tray, close the cover, turn on the laptop. You battery shows 0% and you impatiently wait for it to charge. In about 10 minutes, to your great surprise, battery icon shows you "X" instead of the charge percentage. That's just a glitch, you think. You try the usual routine, take the battery out and put it back, turn on and off the computer, etc. Yet you get the very same result - 10 minutes with 0% and then "X". iBook clearly "thinks" its battery compartment is empty, despite having there a brand new, or recently fully functional battery. But don't rush to reach for the receipt to claim the warranty or, worst, throw the battery away (it has to be recycled! :).
I have been through all the stages of grief with my Ye Olde iBooke Clamshell to know how frustrating it can get. But there is an easy fix. Grieving is just the first step =)
After weeks drilling through forums and blogs I have identified the suspect: Power Management Unit. You see, its registers hold configuration of which indicates the state of the battery, probably how much cycles it had, what is the last stable voltage it reached, etc. Once in a while the PMU can get stack in the wrong configuration and reject the replacement battery. It happens to happen when old battery is swapped with a new one, and somehow PMU gets confused.
There is a guide on Apple's site how to reset PMU, but it is incomplete. Here is the deal. Clamshell series do not have PRAM PMU battery, like the later models. They have a PRAM CAPASITOR! Aha! Typically, when you pull out the BIOS battery, CMOS losses voltage to its volatile memory and mobo config is reset. You cannot (carefully) pull out the capacitor soldered onto the iBook's board =) But you sure can drain it!
Experimentally, I have discovered that after resetting PMU according to Apple's instruction certain voltage remained on the motherboard. I assume that residual voltage feeds PMU and keeps it in the dumb configuration.
Solution is simple. (part of this comes from http://www.applefritter.com/node/18613)
Beforehand, unplug the AC adapter from iBook. Pull the battery out. And go have some coffee, or better some green tea. In about 30 minutes or so PRAM Capacitor should discharge fully. Then do as followed:
1) Reset the PMU. With the computer off (and the battery pulled out!), use a straightened paper clip to push down the reset button "under the grille" near the power button for 5-10 seconds (the proper technique for this model). Congratulations, your PMU has been reset.
2) Now reset the PRAM for a good measure too. Power up the machine (AC only, no battery!), then hold down the following 4-key combination immediately after the start-up chime: [Apple]-[Option]-[letter P]-[letter R]. I usually find it helpful to hold [Apple]-[Option]-[letter R] with my left hand, press the power button with my right hand, then immediately press the [letter P] (now you see how many times I had to do this =). Hold down all four keys until the Mac has chimed 3-4 times. When you let up, the Mac should start up normally. You'll have to shut it down again for the third step.
3) Reset the NVRAM to make sure all onboard configs are clean. Start up the machine, then hold down the following 4-key combination immediately after the start-up chime: [Apple]-[Option]-[letter O]-[letter F]. Hold down all four keys until the machine boots up to a grey screen with text: this is Open Firmware mode. NOTE: Be very careful what you do here! It's easy to mess things up in Open Firmware very quickly if you don't know what you're doing! Type the following commands exactly as they're written here, and follow each command by pressing the [Return] key:
reset-nvram
reset-all
Your NVRAM has been reset, and your Mac will now restart itself normally.
Put the battery back. Now you can go about the task of completely draining, then recharging, your battery. This step is necessary to ensure that PMU charges battery up to the capacity every time. Otherwise it may think this is still an old battery and stop charging before the new battery is full.
Go to your Apple Menu>System Preferences>Energy Saver. Select "Battery" instead of "Power Adapter," and set the all the sliders to not sleep, ever. Period.
Now stick a CD or DVD in the drive and open iTunes. Turn on Repeat mode and play it indefinitely (you might want to pick one you actually like ...).
Unplug the power adapter and let the iBook run until it goes into low-power deep sleep. This could be in 5 minutes, or it could be the full 2 hours. Just let it drain.
Once you're in deep-sleep mode, plug in the power adapter and allow the battery to charge for however long it takes -- overnight would be ideal. Then you can test the battery under normal use conditions.
Sometimes, the PMU becomes confused and either (1) reports a charge higher than it actually is on the battery, causing the charging circuit to turn off prematurely, (2) reports a charge lower than it actually is on the battery, causing the computer to shut down or deep-sleep prematurely, or (3) some combination of these symptoms.
By resetting the PMU, the PRAM, and the NVRAM, the Mac should now have a clean slate low level config. It is then forced to "relearn" when the battery is fully drained and fully charged. A full drain-and-charge cycle should help it find these parameters.
Repeat as needed.
Boilerplate: Your results may vary and are not guarantied. Any manipulations you do with your computer you do at your own risk. Be careful and good luck.
Sergi B.
iBook Clamshell Battery Issue
February 7, 2012
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