changing batteries -g4 LOSES POWER & shuts off!

R

roninsmurf

Registered
yikes.
sometimes, when i'm at the coffee shop and i change batteries,
the computer just DIES! it just loses power, and i have to power up again.
needless to say, everything unsaved is gone...
i'm g4, 15", osx 10.4.4
i have all the recent updates (one seemed to relate to battery life, but everything has seemed fine - the batteries work fine -- it's the changing that does work (which is the internal batt in my computer?? it's a new computer- shouldn't be dead yet...))

i've actually had this problem a while now, with this 5month old g4
here's how i go about changing batteries (is this the right way?)

the computer says i'm on reserve power.
i put the computer to sleep (is there a difference between just closing the laptop or doing it through the apple icon menu??)
then i turn the computer over and - zoom! i change batteries as fast as i can.
sometimes i'm fine, sometimes the computer JUST SHUTS OFF and takes about 5 minutes to reboot once i turn it on.
yikes.
anyone have advice? thanks if you do -- i've lost some unsaved data cause of this...
 
You can't change batteries without shutting your computer off first. The Powerbook gets its power directly from the battery. If you pull the battery, you pull the power. Just that simple. This applies to all electronic devices that aren't plugged into the wall.

Who told you you could pull the battery without shutting down first?

"Reserve power" means you're on your BATTERY's power reserve. Your laptop does not have its own power reserve.

If you need to change batteries without shutting down, plug it into the wall first.
 
well, you may be right in practice, but according to apple's user guide:

>>>Powerbook G4 15-inch Users Guide.
If your battery runs low while you are working, you can put your PowerBook to sleep and replace the battery with a charged one. The internal backup battery provides enough power to maintain the contents of RAM for up to three minutes while you change the battery.
>>>

so, according to apple, i have 3 minutes (!!?) to make the change. obviously, sometimes, there's a difference between theory and practice.
about 70% of the time, i can "hot-swap" batteries without any problem...
anyone else know of ways to make this hot-swapping safer?
 
is there any way to asess this "internal batttery" that apple mentions?

apple system profiler didn't help much -- all i got was this:

System Power Settings:
AC Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 90.... etc
Battery Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 22... etc
Battery Information:
Battery Installed: Yes
First low level warning: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 4400
Remaining Capacity (mAh): 4400
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12558
Cycle Count: 14
AC Charger Information:
AC Charger (Watts): 65...etc
Hardware Configuration:
Clamshell Closed: No
UPS Installed: No
 
You could try to enable "safe sleep", but I don't know if that is native for pre-revision powerbooks. Their might be hacks to enable it. Then, if the computer shuts down, it will have all of the memory in the hard drive, so it can revert back like it was in sleep mode. It could also be that your internal backup battery needs to be replaced, batteries are like that.
 
Once again, Apple has thought ahead of the curve and I stand corrected.

In theory, the internal backup battery would let you perform the swap. However, I imagine that if you let the battery run down to Reserve Power, then it most likely won't have the charge necessary to keep the internal backup battery fully charged. If it's only big enough to keep the memory charged for 3 minutes, then it's

If you try to swap when the battery is down to about 5%, it's more likely that it wouldn't crash out on you.
 
No, even when the system goes to sleep at 0%, there should still be enough power for a few seconds to replace the battery. At least from my experience with older TiBooks (I don't have more than one battery anymore since my TiBook...).
 
thanks to all; that AndrewEscobar link sure does explain stuff.
it may be a bit too advanced for me -- inputting that kinda complicated stuff seems like it could cause more problems than it fixed- so i may just keep sufferring...
dunno.

yeah: from what i've seen, it can hot-swap at 0%, but it's kinda random when it crashes. doesn't seem to relate to what applications are open/running... a mystery, alas. i guess i just gotta close everything out before i swap
(too bad, too, cause apple's battery life sorta sucks. i only get 4hrs with 2 NEW batteries. -- anyone know of a good after-m,arket battery? those tend to be better, in my exp...)
 
It's only a half dozen terminal commands and you can copy and paste them. You'd probably be better off doing it than crashing your Powerbook like you've been doing.
 
Make sure your machine is fully in sleep mode before changing the battery. In other words, give it a short period with the lid closed. I've had this happen to me a few times and the simple fix was to count to 10 [1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, etc.] after I close the lid, then flip the laptop over and switch the batteries. That's (so far) solved the issue of power loss for me. If you have more RAM than stock, you might want to make that a bit longer. You should also make sure you limit the amount of open apps when doing it.

If you run it until it forces you to sleep, the only noticeable difference should be when you reopen the lid on the new battery. It'll have to reload the saved memory from the HD (because it did a "safe sleep").
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top