Abrupt loss of power, no low battery warning

a familiar story, but haven't been able to dig up a solid solution in past discussions--so perhaps a fresh suggestion...? (thanks in advance!)
okay, so one moment the battery indicator shows 45 minutes remaining; the next, my tibook puts itself to sleep or shuts down entirely. and when i plug it back in--yep, the battery indicator shows a 0% charge.
this is actually my 2nd battery for this tibook, a replacement i purchased from apple after the 1st died as expected. for the life of that 1st battery, i would always see a low battery warning before shut-down, and the charge indicator generally was on target. but as for the current battery, even though it's relatively new (maybe just over a year old, 193 cycles) and still holds a decent charge (lasts a couple of hours), i can't even recall the last time i saw that warning message before the computer went dark on me. i tend to stay plugged in, but when running on battery power the charge indicator seems pretty accurate--unless i dare to get anywhere near depletion as described above, and then suddenly it's way off the mark and the screen is dark.
i've tried messing with power settings, follow tips for maintaining battery life, etc.--no luck. surely the battery can't be dead already!
...though that would figure since i can't return it anymore... and since my extended applecare plan expired a week ago, maybe now my (replacement) adapter will explode and almost burn the house down like the 1st one did. sheesh.
anyways, big-time thanks for any insight or suggestions, much appreciated.
PowerBook G4 (ti) Mac OS X (10.3.9)

maybe the power mangement unit on your logic board is broken?
The more people experience the same symptoms, the more I doubt it.
did you do all the resets pram etc?
Yes, of course. To no effect.
While I am trying the "trick" described above by SuperSizeIt (discharge until forced sleep + sleep for another whole day + recharge to maximum), please: everybody go to SystemProfiler and check their capacity. Is it going down from charge cycle to charge cycle, as in my case?
Initially I had: 4200 mAh
After just six cycles in three weeks: 3176 mAh
So the drop is more than ~170 mAh/cycle. I would consider a few mAh normal, but certainly not this much!
Now, I would like to know whether this symptom is just part of the problem described in this thread, or an additional one.
Powerbook G4 400 Mhz Mac OS X (10.4.4)

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I will now do an SMC reset an then let the battery run low and watch what happens.
Then do a calibration.
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My Battery was replace after showing the x symptome about a year ago but now it looks bad again
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I'm not sure is this is the right forum for this, but since the problem occurs during a specific battery state, I'm going to post it here.
I just got one of the new November 07 MacBooks. The machine is great, and screams with the pre-installed Leopard.
First thing I did was plug it in to charge as I started configuring software. Once it was fully charged, I pulled the plug, and began using it on battery. My plan was to calibrate the battery, by running it all the way until it forced a sleep, then shutting down and plugging it in again, as Apple recommends.
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I recently upgraded my iBook G4 to Leopard. Everything works fine until I run the battery down low. When the low battery warning pops up, it either causes a spinning pinwheel or just appears as a white rectangle with a shadow. Then, after slowing down my Mac for a few seconds, the warning window disappears and the airport and battery icons in my menu bar disappear. A few seconds more, and warning and the icons reappear. The only way for me to stop this cycle is to plug in the adapter.
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Hi mmp_2013,
Thank you for considering Sony Community!
If the LED or the light indicator is blinking, then something is going on with the battery. It could be hardware but we cannot tell right away. Please follow the steps here to isolate your issue:
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Reset BIOS - Turn off the unit -> press and power button and immediately, keep hitting F2 key. Once in BIOS, go to Exit tab -> Get Default Values -> hit Enter -> Save changes and exit.
Download or update Sony® Shared Library, Sony® Firmware Extension Parser Device Driver, BIOS Update Utility from Sony's website based on your location or from where you purchase the laptop.
Your Vaio VPCYB15AG is an Asia-Pacific model and we have limited information about your unit.
For further assistance regarding your concern, please contact the Sony offices/Sony representative offices nearest to your place of residence in Asia Pacific region http://www.sony-asia.com/countryselector.html?hpid=countryselector:AsiaPacific. Due to proximity, they are in a better position to respond to your questions or concerns.
Hope these help.
Regards,
Vincent
If my post answers your question, please mark it as "Accept as Solution"

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Abrupt loss of power, no low battery warning

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