[P1] Troubleshooting (pulled) Mac OS X 10.2.8: Re-calibrating the battery

[Brian Pearce]

> The procedure for re-calibrating is to first fully charge your 
> PowerBook, then disconnect it from the external power source and run 
> it until there is no power left (the machine goes to sleep). Then 
> connect the adapter and full recharge.

This is a good tip to keep in mind; I have a three- or four-year-old 
battery that's seen more than its' fair share of charge and recharge 
cycles (it was down to about a 30 minute charge), and both times I've 
done this I've seen surprising improvement. (Now it's back up to a 
40-45 minute charge again.)

There seems to be lots of mixed information on the web as to whether 
it's necessary to do this on a regular basis; but I've been running the 
iBook down to sleep mode (or close to it) throughout most of the 
battery's useful life, and it's lasted me this long. (Though these 
days, with the capacity depleted, I'm not as careful with it as I once 
was.)

BRIAN/bpearce at cloud9.net
(Looking forward to the imminent arrival of his replacement batteries.)