PB G4 Ti Battery evaluation ?

1. Norm - 11 September 2008

   Is there a way to determine if a PowerBook G4 Ti's battery is gone or if it is another problem?

   Battery percentage stays at 0%.

   If battery is gone, is there a "best" place to purchase a replacement?

   Thanks in advance.

2. Claude V. Lucas - 11 September 2008

   Presuming that you are referring to the battery charge indicator.

   Before you spend, give this a go.

   Boot it on the power supply.

   Unplug the power supply, let it sit till the battery goes dead.

   Plug the power back in and let it charge up.

   This might take a few hours.

   See if that recalibrates the indicator.

   If it does, then you're all set.

   If not, unplug it again and see hoe long it takes to die again.

   If you have a reasonable amount of charge time you might not need to buy a battery.

   If it dies quickly then the battery is gone...

   "reasonable" and "quickly" are something *you* have to decide for your situation.

3. nospam - 11 September 2008

   if it stays at 0% when charging then it's definitely gone.

   apple might still sell them, otherwise check ebay. also, newertech has replacements if apple doesn't.

4. Norm - 11 September 2008

   Yes, stays at battery of 0% when AC plugged in.

5. Norm - 11 September 2008

   I'll try again.

   If you have a reasonable amount of charge time you might not need to buy a battery.

   If it dies quickly then the battery is gone...

   "reasonable" and "quickly" are something *you* have to decide for your situation.

6. Claude V. Lucas - 12 September 2008

   Sounds like it's dead...

   Google...

7. Jolly Roger - 12 September 2008

   Download and install this script onto the PowerBook:

   <http://www.mitt-eget.com/software/macosx/#battery>

   Then run it to see the reported voltage.

   Send responses to the relevant news group rather than to me, as E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM filter. Due to Google's refusal to prevent spammers from posting messages through their servers, I often ignore posts from Google Groups. Use a real news client if you want me to see your posts.

   JR

8. Tom Harrington - 12 September 2008

   Unless the contacts are damaged or something, it's dead.

   I've had good luck with replacements from Newer Technology.

   Tom "Tom" Harrington
   Independent Mac OS X developer since 2002
   http://www.atomicbird.com/

9. nospam - 12 September 2008

   probably just a coincidence.

   dead battery.

10. Fred McKenzie - 14 September 2008

    Norm-

    Have you tried resetting the Power Management Unit (PMU)? Doing that might correct a problem that prevents the PowerBook from charging the battery. For info, see:

    <http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1431?viewlocale=en_US>

    On the other hand, your PMU might be defective. I had similar symptoms to yours on an old PB G3 (Wallstreet). I replaced the battery, but after a few days the symptoms returned. The PMU was replaced and both batteries worked again. You might have to replace your battery just to find out if the PMU is OK or not!

    Fred