Original iBook & Battery/Poweradapter Problems

[macidiot]

Hello All...

I just got an original iBook today, and I am having problems with the battery, and the Power adapter. I wanted to get others opinions on what the problem could be...

The guy I bought it off of used it for years with no problems, but hasn't used it for about a year, so it has just sat around. Today, as soon as I got it, I wiped the drive, and installed 10.2.5, and all the updates, but I noticed that the battery was showing unavailable in the menu at the top. The light on the side, where the power plugs in to is green, but no charge indication on the menu bar.

So, after everything was installed I decided to try it with out it plugged in to the power, And it wouldn't boot. As if it had no power.

The color around the power plug in the side was green, but if you moved it, it would go amber. Also, if you move the cord going in to the plug itself, you see a spark, and power cuts out.

OK, So I know that the power adapter has a short where the cord connects to the plug itself. A little tape, and the situation was fixed. (temporarily)

First thing that comes to mind is dead battery, right?

Well, then I came across THIS Knowledge base article about this exact issue I am having. That article tells you to try Resetting Power Management Unit. I did that, and the behavior did not change.

It also mentioned using This Battery Reset tool. That darn thing requires 8.6-9.x, so I had to install 9... did that, then installed that software, it put an extension in the extension folder, and restarted. That's it. It never looked like it was doing anything, and never helped anything.

So I just wiped the drive again, and installed 10.2.5 again, and everything else.

So I need some opinions... Do you think it is the battery? The Charger? The iBook itself? What do you think about the battery reset deal? or how about the Resetting Power Management Unit?

. My parents have a wallstreet PB G3, and the adapter is the same, so I could try that, but I don't know anyone with another clamshell iBook battery... would the mac Genius at my local Apple store (not really local, 2 hour drive) have an extra battery for me to try before I tried to go and buy one?

Any guidance would certainly be appreciated

 

[pds]

Originally posted by macidiot
Hello All...

but hasn't used it for about a year, so it has just sat around.
First thing that comes to mind is dead battery, right?

yep. that thang is dead!

Well, then I came across THIS Knowledge base article about this exact issue I am having. That article tells you to try Resetting Power Management Unit. I did that, and the behavior did not change.

Don't feel bad, it probably wouldn't have worked in any case, but your battery is dead. If you don't want a clamshell desktop you'll have to shell out the clams ::ha::

At least there's a good reason for your case, a battery lying around for a year is just not going to revive. Many have lost good batteries just by upgrading their system to X.2.4

 

[macidiot]

darn... those batteries are expensive... cheapest new one I've found is $108, and I dont trust the used ones on e-bay...

 

[pds]

Yeah, one hundred and nine songs you wont be able to download from the music store

don't forget shipping and handling and be glad that Ohio doesn't have import duty or you'd be looking at even bigger bucks.

but being unchained is worth every penny.