A few weeks ago I nearly :( cried when my Pismo battery started to die off, a sudden and unexpected death.

Resolved to the fact that I could no longer be mobile, I moved my powerbook to a new desk space in my house, plugged it in to a new powerbar, and shazzam! battery charging tongue.gif !?!? It sucks and isn't always possible to be deskbound as a graduate student - which was why I got the powerbook in the first place. Broke as I am, I can't afford a new battery.

the problem is this, the battery went from 2hrs to 17min to 0min to 2hrs and now I'm back at 0mins :mad: This occurred over the course of about 6 weeks. The back up to 2 hours lasted for about 2 weeks. What gives?

Any thoughts?

I think that the ac adapter might be off, but if it is, why am I still able to use it to run off ac? Would a wonky adapter make charging impossible but still allow general power?

Also, if it's something else, is this something better left to the professionals to fix, or, with the right diagnosis, could I fix it myself?

Ravi
(you can also email me directly mohabeer@yorku.ca)

you could have a bad power adapter. the power adapter can supply ac power while at the same time not be able to recharge a battery.

borrow somebody's power adapter for a few minutes and narrow down the issue.

thanks dcyyz. I didn't know that the adapter could supply power but not charge the battery.

That's a good place to start...now it's a matter of finding an adapter to borrow....

The lights on the battery only light up when they are charging. So if you plug in and they light up, then you know your adapter is OK.
Let the battery run down to about 20 minutes left, then shutdown. Don't run it completely dead or it may not come back. Then press the reset button in the back and hold it for a couple of seconds. This will reset your PMU and correct the battery condition. Don't do this alot, because it will drain your PRAM battery, which may also be the cause of your problems. You didn't say which OS you were using. The early X systems were bad on the Pismo for battery life. System 9 is very accurate,
If the PMU doesn't fix it, then it is the battery.
I just had my Pismo battery rebuilt at Radio Shack for $199. Now it reads 4 hours under 10.3.1