Battery perpetually "calculating..."

I noticed today that after having my MBP plugged in (during use) for a few hours, I saw "calculating" on the battery display but it had a 'charged' icon and the adapter cable shows as green. However, the percentage shows as 95%
When I use coconutBattery, it shows that the battery is currently charged at 95%, charger connected, battery is NOT charging.
When I disconnect the charger the icon changes to battery power and still shows "calculating..." in perpetuity. With a 95% charge.
The MBP is 3 months old, coconutBattery shows that it has 94% of its original capacity and 50 load cycles.
Anyone have any experience with this or something similar. It's not really a performance issue, as far as I know, but I am curious about it... And hoping it's not symptomatic of something bigger.

Your battery is fine - 94% of original capatity is a good reading for 50 cycles. Apple's spec is that a battery should maintain 80% over 300 cycles (the drop is not linear, but keep an eye on it regardless!).
95% charged, plugged in, and NOT charging is also normal. Your MBP will not initiate charging if the current charge is 95% or greater (according to Apple, this can actually occur down to 93%, but in my experience it's 95% in practice). This is to prevent overcharging and frequent incremental charging, both of which are bad for the battery. So, if you run off battery until you drop below 95% then plug in, it will charge to 100%.
One thing it sounds like you need to do is properly calibrate your battery - this enables the MBP to accurately determine time to charge and time to discharge. Instructions are here (MBP is the second set):
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86284
Hope this helps!

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http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449

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This is my first post here so apologies if I'm on old ground.
For the first time today the battery of my Powerbook displayed odd signs.
When I plug into the mains I have the setting to show how much time is left in the battery. When I plugged in today it seemed to get stuck on " calculating". The time did not appear.
In system preferences the battery charge seemed to be stuck at 95%.
Has anyone any experience of this problem?
Thanks for the Help
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I have the same problem with my Powerbook G4. It's three years old, with a relatively new battery. While it's true the primary downside to this is that there is no warning before shutdown, this is not an acceptable situation. Sudden shutdowns can't be healthy for data and I'm hitting 'save' so often it feels like Windows.
My problem began when I upgraded to 10.4.5. It was fine before this. Now, my computer shuts down suddenly, and when restarted it says the battery is at 40-50% and that it's May, 1970. I can't tell you how embarrasing it is, walking around with a laptop that wears flares and a rainbow tube-top.
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Battery Installed: Yes
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Remaining Capacity (mAh): 2426
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12456
Cycle Count: 158
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Robert,
My MacBook is currently at Apple's mail-in repair center in Memphis for this exact problem. They sent me a replacement AC adapter, but that didn't solve the problem. I'll be posting what I find out in the thread I started earlier:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=897360&tstart=0
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All,
You might try this to reset your Battery Usage calculation statistics. It worked for me and it does NOT ROOT you phone.
To save time do this before you go to bed.
Turn your phone off by holding the on/off button until the phone turns completely off
Remove the battery, the SD card, and the SIM card.
Wait a couple of minutes and reinstall the SiM card, SD card and the battery BUT DO NOT turn the phone back on...Do NOT.
Before you go to bed keep the phone turned off and plug it into the small 110 volt 1 Amp charger that came with the phone and let it charge overnight.
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http://community.vzw.com/t5/DROID-Charge-by-Samsung/Battery-use-by-the-APP-GPS-Status-amp-Toolbox-What-s-Up-with/td-p/751866
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PS, You might take a screen shot of you current Battery Statistics before you do this for comparison.

I found an easier and much quicker way to reset the Battery Use than the method that I described here so please go to the following thread to see how.
http://community.vzw.com/t5/DROID-Charge-by-Samsung/Easiest-amp-Quickest-way-to-RESET-your-Battery-Use-statistics/td-p/754534
Thanks,
JerryF

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So here is an update: I've followed the article posted by OGELTHORPE (Thank you!). What I actually did is 1. Reset the SMC and 2. Reset the PRAM (MacBook Air SMC and PRAM reset).
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Hi snetiger,
Have you installed the "Battery Update" from the Apple site? Has the battery been replaced through the battery program? Check the Magsafe plug. Is it melting? Do you have access to another charger to eliminate a bad charger? Does the orange charge light coming on or the green power adapter mode light? Have you unplugged the charger from the wall for about 60 secs. (if no lights, this resets charger) What are your energy saver preferences set to?
I have been dealing with this battery issue across three different machines. I think it is a time formatting issue with the software. Keep an eye on the clock. Most of my worst issues have always occurs when the battery is "Calculating Until Full" this can go on for a while unless I unplug the Magsafe or open energy saver. Just opening it not having to change any settings.
Sweet Polly

Multiple Hardware Issues

I'm using the first gen core duo black macbook with 2gb ram (approved compatiblity).
I've send my macbook to service two weeks ago, and the issues are still reccuring.
Issues I've faced:
Battery: No answers given.
Battery always calculating, the task bar will keep on showing calculating, charge, calculating, charged.... It also cannot hold charge, recaliberated, still cannot perform more than two hours running low process app like text document. (Don't doubt me.)
Screen: Invertor board replaced
Screen flickers, blackout occurs, replaced Invertor board, screen still flickers on day 1 of collection.
Wireless Lan: No answers given
My white macbook is comparatively receiving weaker signal compared to another white macbook of my mate's under many circumstances. Both were used under the same physical condition, place, exact position (e.g my own lap). The signals received by my macbook is relatively weaker by a bar or two.
Processor: No answers given
When running office apps, (even when widget, background files not running) the processor will be driving at high speed so much that the macbook gets real hot (as high as 85˚c according to istat)
Occassional shut down: HDD replaced, still happens (Logicboard replaced before on its 2nd month)
New os installed, usage as per norm, either the black multi-language shut down screen shows up, or macbook hangs, or just shut down on its own (either running battery alone or while plug in power adapter)
Please kindly advise..
Austin

We cannot help you. If you have hardware problems or repair problems you must take those up either with AppleCare or your local service center.
The Apple Discussions is not monitored by Apple. Users do not represent Apple in any way. We cannot:
Tell you what Apple policy is about anything.
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Strange power issues

I am having some strange power issues with my six week old Macbook. The symptoms are as follows (I apologise in advance for the length of this post) :
1) If the battery charge is below 50%, and you connect the magsafe charger prior to power-on, the charge light will illuminate until the grey boot screen comes up. Then the charge light turns of completely & the Macbook boots up using battery power. If I disconnect the magsafe connector, followed by the mains and reconnect in the reverse sequence, the light turns green momentarily and then orange (as it should for charging)
2) If I start the coconutBattery application after booting into OSX, while the charge is still below 50%, the same issue occurs again with the magsafe. It appears to happen at the exact time the application queries the battery. I can get the charger working if I follow the same disconnect/mains/reconnect sequence.
3) The issues above also seems to occur when the battery updater checks the battery. The Macbook does not recognise that the charger is plugged in.
4) If the charge is above 50%, then all works as expected. The coconutBattery application does not affect the charger. The Macbook works as normal.
I have tested with a brand new magsafe & a new battery - symptoms are identical. I have noticed several other non-consistent issues - the flashing green light/orange light on the magsafe connection, unusual battery life calculations (70+ hours).
I have performed calibrations & reset the PMU and the PRAM, and have all current updates. And I have spent a large amount of time in the forums looking at similar issues without much success. I am beginning to suspect the logic board (DC chip) is at fault, however I dont relish the idea of dropping my new Macbook at my local Apple Repair centre & getting it back three weeks later with the same issue.
My current cycles (on this new battery) are at 2 with a full charge capacity of 5142 mAh.
My questions to the community are:
Does anyone have a similar experience with these types of symptoms?
Or can someone illustrate on what would cause the Macbook to believe that the magsafe was disconnected? Whatever internal system call the coconutBattery application uses to recover details from the battery appears to trigger this behavior.
I would appreciate any thoughts on this one.
Macbook Core 2 Duo - 2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Just another observation, based on reading some of Apple's documentation regarding the AC charger:
"If the adapter works after this 60-second "rest," you most likely have a line noise issue with your power source that will require you to reset the adapter (by repeating this moment of rest) periodically. This happens when the AC adapter's over voltage protection feature senses ground noise and then turns off the adapter."
Could a sudden draw of power required at a 50% and below charge trip this over voltage protection feature? I know the charging draw varies based on current battery level.
I have tested this in UPS protected boards with the same result.

Battery perpetually "calculating..."

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