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MacBook Pro Battery Exchange

I think I was actually vaguely aware of the 15-inch MacBook Pro Battery Exchange Program, but *I* wasn't having any battery problems so I never looked into it.

I should have, and if you own an affected model, you should get your battery exchanged. You may not be having problems (I saw no problems until this week) but chances are that you will. Interestingly, Apple doesn't say that you actually will have problems, just that "We recently discovered that some 15-inch MacBook Pro batteries supplied to Apple do not meet our high standards for battery performance". Well, that's pretty vague, but here's what I actually experienced:

I don't often use my machine disconnected from power. I have calibrated it a few times, and never saw any problem during that. I fell out of the habit of discharging it slightly at night as I was doing originally. Once every few weeks I bring the computer when I visit my mother at her nursing home; I use it to show her pictures of family and friends. Three weeks ago I noticed something strange: the battery didn't last quite long enough to show all the pictures. I thought that was unusual, but it was an unusually large batch of photos, and the battery had not been fully discharged for a while, so.. I thought it was normal.

But then this weekend I had another batch of pictures to show. I thought to bring my power adaptor just in case, and sure enough, the computer shut off part way through the pictures. I noted the time: it was only a few minutes. I plugged it in and finished showing the pictures. The battery charge went back up to 100%, but now I was suspicious: I unplugged it again, and it shutoff within two minutes. Obviously something wrong..

Back home last night I let it charge up again. I noticed this time the charge won't go beyond 98% and if I unplug it, it fails very quickly. Apparently this is what Apple is concerned about.. so I found my serial number, checked it with their site, and yup, this is one of the "bad" ones. Check yours before you have a problem.

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Tue Nov 14 15:33:38 2006:   BigDUmbDinosaur


At least it didn't execute the HFC instruction. <Grin>



Tue Nov 14 17:33:13 2006:   TonyLawrence


Well, effectively it was - the power would drain off so quickly that it never warned me - it just shut off.





Tue Nov 14 21:13:31 2006:   TonyLawrence


The new battery arrived today.. I charged it up and all is happy again :-)




Wed Nov 15 16:24:52 2006:   BigDumbDinosaur


I was making a weak pun on the incidents where laptops have been going up in flames due to faulty batteries. You recall the HFC menmonic in Motorola 6800 assembly language, no? (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halt_and_Catch_Fire for some history on this "phenomena.") HFC was the basis for some computer lore about how a BASIC POKE instruction to the right location in memory could literally cause system fatality. As long as your Mac didn't burst into flames you didn't execute HFC. <Grin>



Wed Nov 15 17:23:40 2006:   TonyLawrence


No, I thought you meant Halt the Effing Computer.. :-)



Thu Nov 16 15:48:43 2006:   BigDumbDinosaur


It was pointed out to me that I got the F and C reversed in the HCF mnemonic, which might have explained Tony's confusion. Obviously, this was an inadvertent example of dyslexic assembly language programming (I meant TXA, dammit, not TAX!). Having done that, I'm now resigned to what the doctor has been telling me: I can't see diddley squat anymore. BTW, I had someone read what I just typed to make sure I got it write...er...right.

Seriously, those of you reading this who are old enough to remember when Monopoly Inc. was trying to peddle Micro-Soft BASIC and IBM considered anything smaller than a System/370 to be a toy should visit an opthamologist (not optometrist) for a comprehensive eye examine that includes glaucoma and macular degeneration tests. I was diagnosed with macular degeneration several years ago and it has progressed since then. Macular degeneration occurs when the retina starts to lose its ability to respond to light. From my perspective, it appears as though I am looking through a dirty window. There is no cure for macular degeneration but its effects can be counteracted to some extent.

Although my vision has not deteriorated to the point where I can't drive or read a computer screen, that day will come. It's already gotten to where I have had to invest in a 21 inch LCD monitor running at a relatively low resolution in order to make reading easier. I had to forsake high resolution because the font sizes used in most programs and on most websites (this one included) these days are too small for me to see well. This is one case where bigger definitely is better.

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