BrianShort

Problem with my MBP, or feature?

I've noticed with my new MBP that when I close the lid while the computer is still on, and come back a while later and open it up, it does not come back on. I can hear the fan spinning, and the optical drive spins up quckly (like it does when I power the computer on), but the LCD never turns on. I have to power down and reboot. Is this something that is supposed to happen if the computer is kept closed while still on for awhile, or should it wake back up no matter how long it's been closed, assuming I still have battery power left (it was plugged in, btw).

Also, yesterday I had my computer out at work, running on battery power, so I could listen to music in iTunes. The screen had shut down to save power, and according to the battery life indicator I still should have had over an hour of batter life left, but then at one point, the computer just suddenly turned itself off.

I love my new machine, I'm just hoping these aren't problems it's having already!

Brian

Michael_K_Sr

Re: Problem with my MBP, or feature?

I presume you've applied all the firmware and software updates, some of which addressed non-responsiveness from sleep mode?

BrianShort

Re: Problem with my MBP, or feature?

I presumed that was automatic, but I'll check. Also, my Mac just shut itself off again while on battery power. When I rebooted it said it was still at 30%... wonder if I have a battery issue. So far havent had any problems while it's been plugged in.

BrianShort

Re: Problem with my MBP, or feature?

It seems like the larger problem is my battery... Three times now my MBP has shut down with about 30% left on the battery indicator. If I try to turn it back on, it just shuts off again right away. I tried reseting the power management chip thing, but either I did it wrong or it just didn't work. I went into system profiler to see my batteries properties, and get this:

Battery Information:

Model Information:
Serial Number: Sony-ASMB012-36b6-c3bd
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0003
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 2919
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 3279
Health Information:
Cycle count: 22
Battery health: Fair
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1417
Voltage (mV): 11844

Based of reading the support forums at Apple.com, I've learned a few things. One, that this isn't an uncommon problem, and two, a new battery should have a capacity of around 5500 mAh, not the just over 3000 I'm getting. I'm hoping this is just a battery problem. I'm doing the battery calibration procedure right now to see if that works, but I'm betting not. If not, I'll just call AppleCare tomorrow and see if they can send me a new battery.

I'm thinking it's probably isolated to the battery because I've had no problems while plugged in, other than the sleep thing. I found that if I just close the lid again, wait a second, then reopen it, it will wake up.

This is aggravating... I love my new Mac but I've also never had a new PC with issues like this

DaveF

Re: Problem with my MBP, or feature?

Brian, if you're having obvious battery problems, call AppleCare and have it replaced. I had the battery problem, where it was dropped from 98% health to 60% after about 50 cycles. I called AppleCare and they replaced it free.

An easy check is with the iStat Pro Dashboard widget. It reports battery health and cycles.

As for your sleep issue: that's not right. You should never need to reboot to come out of sleep. On my MBP, if it goes to sleep, I would have to press the power button to wake it up (but not press and hold to reboot).

BrianShort

Re: Problem with my MBP, or feature?

Yes, I will be calling them tomorrow... the calibration didn't make anything better, in fact it seems to be a bit worse... sigh Good thing I like the "Apple experience" because normally I'd swear off the brand and try something else!

BrianShort

Re: Problem with my MBP, or feature?

Thanks for that tip... it shows battery health at 40%.

BrianShort

Re: Problem with my MBP, or feature?

Well I just had a frustrating experience with Apple support. My current battery capacity is listed at just over 3000 mAh currenly, and the tech I talked to said it did not fall under the criteria for battery replacement. Apparently it needs to be at 50% capacity... he had me go through a couple of other procedures to try to fix the premature shutdowns, so I'll need to test that later, but he wasn't willing to replace the battery I should have called when I had battery capacity shown to be in the 2000's... grrr!

Oh, and he said what I should do is take the whole computer to a authorized Mac service center or Apple store, which is of course a reasonable request that I would do if I could... but I'm kind of on an island in Alaska, so that's not really that easy...

So I guess I'll just see if the random shutdown thing has been fixed (I doubt it), then just hit an apple store when I'm on vacation here next month. I was hoping I'd get on the phone, tell them what the deal was, and they'd just send me a new battery. I guess that wasn't the case

Brian

DaveF

Re: Problem with my MBP, or feature?

Brian, I'm sorry to hear of your troubles. I'm surprised that iStat reports 40% health, but it's not qualified for replacement. I've since deleted my notes on this, so I don't know what my situation was.

If you continue to have problems in the next few days I'd call AppleCare again and push the issue harder, escalating it to higher levels of authority. A new Mac, a few weeks old, shouldn't have these problems. And since you're in Alaska, it's completely unreasonable to have to take it to a store.