Erratic charger Behavior

Hi your help is greatly appreciated.
my macbook is 6 months old and and i am having having problems with erratic charger behavior. It varies depending on screen fluctuations and automatically switches off while switching to different applications on screen, or on switching on or turning off the computer. I am having to switch off and switch on power adaptor many times before i get my mac book charged. Battery has completed 60 cycles so far. Please help. Thanks

Tim Bergman wrote:
I've checked the firmware on battery; it's 1.3, presumably the latest.
The 1.3 update is the MacBook Pro update. You need to remove it before you can find out if anything else might be wrong. Leopard installs it.
Try these two locations for it. It will be one or the other.
MacBook/Library/System/Library/SystemConfiguration/BatteryUpdater.bundle
MacBook/System/Library/SystemConfiguration/BatteryUpdater.bundle
Drag it to the trash and then reboot. After you reboot you will be able to empty the trash. Once you have done that run software update and it should install Battery Update 1.2. You should reset the SMC (System Management Controller) after doing this.
Then watch your battery and see if any of the things continue to happen.
How many cycles do you have on your battery?
Apple: Determining Battery Cycle Count

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Can adapter cause erratic charging behavior?

For months, my 15" aluminum G4 Powerbook, which otherwise works fine, started slowly losing its charge--went down to 92%, 80%, sometimes 70%, then started recharging, apparently by itself. Also, the light often showed orange at 100 or 99% and sometimes turned green when it was going down. However, the battery appears to work normally when used without the adapter.
I called Apple and was told to reset the PMU and zap the PRAM, which helped. I then bought a new Macbook, and as soon as Apple had transferred my data from the PB to the Macbook, the weird behavior suddenly disappeared.
In the last couple of days, though, it's started again--battery apparently draining for no reason, then recharging again. This time, I tried tightening the connections at various times (duckhead, extension cord head, PB plug), and doing that does seem to get the battery to start recharging. I also noticed that the base of the adapter where the cord winds around the feet, and the adapter itself in that area, seem unusually warm. But the adapter is supposed to get warm when plugged in, right?
Has anyone else had this problem, and if so, did replacing the adapter fix it? (And should I buy fire insurance for my apartment?) Thanks for any advice you may have.

Here is an article on troubleshooting power adaptors:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1725
The body of the power adaptor can get warm, but it should not get too hot. If you think it is getting hot enough to possibly start a fire, you should stop using it immediately. Don't take any chances with it.
Do you have access to an Apple Store? If so, you could try one of their known good adaptors and see if the weird behavior continues with it. If not, then a new power adaptor might be in order. If the weird behavior continues, then you have a different problem.
You could also get your own power adaptor evaluated.
Good luck!

Erratic Charger Behavior - Indicator light (thus charger) work sporadically

On my 18 mo. old Macbook, the charger (or perhaps the battery) is acting erratically in that when connected, the light often will not come on. Sometimes it works instantly, other times you have to snap it on & off 1-20x, or just wait for a while & repeat the above. Occasionally, it will illuminate for just a short period, then turn off. It likely will continue to get worse. Is this symptomatic of the defective batteries on the recall, or is this a charger problem, or something in the computer? I've checked the firmware on battery; it's 1.3, presumably the latest. All software updates have been installed as well.
Further, I've noticed that when the charge goes to about 40%, the machine just shuts off. No warning, just powers down, w/ subsequent loss of unsaved data. This may or may not be related.
Thx for the replies w/ diagnosis!

Tim Bergman wrote:
I've checked the firmware on battery; it's 1.3, presumably the latest.
The 1.3 update is the MacBook Pro update. You need to remove it before you can find out if anything else might be wrong. Leopard installs it.
Try these two locations for it. It will be one or the other.
MacBook/Library/System/Library/SystemConfiguration/BatteryUpdater.bundle
MacBook/System/Library/SystemConfiguration/BatteryUpdater.bundle
Drag it to the trash and then reboot. After you reboot you will be able to empty the trash. Once you have done that run software update and it should install Battery Update 1.2. You should reset the SMC (System Management Controller) after doing this.
Then watch your battery and see if any of the things continue to happen.
How many cycles do you have on your battery?
Apple: Determining Battery Cycle Count

Erratic volume behavior

I finally resolved my Nano's erratic volume behavior. I use my Nano with a wrist band when working out. Finally figured out that it was the heat / sweat coming off my body that was causing my ipod to go haywire. I cut out a small square of foam and adhered it to the back of the Nano. Problem solved. Just keeping something between the Nano and my Skin seems to work great. I have never had the problem since. Here's a close up off the type of foam I used.

Thanks for the link. While the comments on that site do show that others are experiencing the same erratic volume issue, they don't say how to fix it, only that a nearby cellphone is the most likely culprit. I just don't see cellphone interference magically controlling the scroll wheel on my iPod. I guess I'll need to keep looking for a solution.
By the way, I have previously had many other cellphones (made by a handful of different manufacturers) and have only now experienced this with my new iPhone.
Additional thoughts?
_rs

Erratic power behavior when wall charging

Whenever I charge my iPad using the charging block and AC current, I like to turn the power off altogether, rather than just put the iPad into sleep mode.
As soon as I plug it into the wall, the iPad power comes back on. When I go to shut it off again, sometimes it stays off, but sometimes it powers off and then back on after a few seconds.
Is this normal behavior when wall charging?

The ipad cannot charge white it is off. So therefore when you plug it into the wall it turns on to charge and turn it off the ipad knows the power is there but needs to be on to keep it so it turns on..
You are actually damaging your ipad when you turn it off while charging. The reason the second time it stays off a little longer is because the ipad stopped connection until the next wave of electricity flows which is why it turns back on.

Very Erratic Trackpad Behavior - Heat?

The trackpad on my one-year-old MBPro has started exhibiting extremely erratic and intermittent behavior:
• Taps react as control-clicks
• Cursor jumps and becomes impossible to control
• Drags and scrolls behave unpredictably
The trackpad becomes impossible to use. Eventually, as now, everything returns to normal. I'm very experienced in the proper use of the trackpad, and am familiar with the 'phantom fingers' phenomenon, so no need to advise against keeping extra fingers and hands away from the trackpad.
This behavior has even occurred when standing well away from the computer: after fighting to control the cursor and restart the computer via the Apple menu, I left the room and returned to see a contextual menu of the Activity Monitor (set to auto-launch at restart) being self-activated.
I'm starting to guess that this is related to heat issues. In support of this theory, the following:
- This behavior was first seen a few months ago when I traveled to the south of France where it was quite warm, and the computer had been playing video for some time. The computer was indeed rather warm.
- Now it's summertime and the ambient temperature is warmer (though here in the Netherlands, it's not exactly tropical). The last two occurrences of this behavior (yesterday and today) have been hot sunny days. After allowing the computer to cool, the trackpad behaves as normal.
Others have reported strange trackpad behavior, but they seem to believe it is caused by defective or damaged hardware, or else user-error. It is often suggested they check their trackpad System Preferences. This post which supports my theory that this is indeed heat-related problem, also remarks that the problem is more likely when the battery is charging.
Can anyone offer advice, explanation or supporting arguments?
Thanks

Try using your laptop without the battery installed (ie remove the battery and run the laptop from the mains supply only), and see if that cures the problem.
If it does, then you have a warped battery casing, and will need to replace the battery.
The battery sits directly over the trackpad circuitry, so that if the battery casing warps, it presses against the trackpad circuitry and causes it to act as though you have pressed it.
If that doesn't cure the problem, then you probably need to replace the trackpad, itself.

Odd battery/charge behavior

Something odd happened today with my MBP (2011)... I'm working away with it while it's plugged into power and all of a sudden it starts charging... but I never unplugged it or lost power or anything (and it's on a mondo UPS anyway).
It's been showing 98% instead of 100%, but showing "fully charged" with a green light and from reading the articles from Apple this is totally normal. I did manage to get it to show 100% after a SMC reset, but after a subsequent reboot it went back to 98%. Anyway, it actually looks like it's going to charge to 100% now (99% and still showing orange light).
Has anyone seen this behavior? Normal? Something to consider going to Apple store about?
Thanks.

I understand the system will charge when it needs to, but in all my days with MacBook's and the like I've never seen one up and start charging AFTER being plugged in for several days and without any provocation (i.e. unplugging it for a few minutes).
My battery info all looks really good and the condition says "normal" so as long as "normal" is the same as "good" then it's probably fine. Still odd, but fine.

Erratic charging, No full charge.

Possible warning to always use surge protection?
While running my PB off an automotive inverter and then repeatedly trying to start a vehicle. (causing the inverter to go into low voltage alarm) A week or so ago also dropped it and bent the case, making the plug not fit well and not always making full contact, It would show green when discharged and requiring a little extra push to go orange and start charging.
Replaced my battery and got a new 65w charger a couple years ago. Still barely got 2 hours use of it on the battery and prior to now barely 1 1/2 hours which might be normal for the age of it. Now maybe a 1/2 hour starting from an indicated full charge.
Now plugging it shows green and occasionally flashing orange briefly while in use, (usually only for a minute or two and tpically only for 15-30 seconds) charge rate is slower than normal, power indicator shows as charging, but isn't.
Installing the plug incomplete has the adapter showing charge orange but the charge indicator shows as on battery power and quickly shows a discharge state.
I put the unit to sleep with 45% charge and woke it up 8 hours later with the same state and it typically appears to stay at what ever charge it was at when put to sleep and not be charging unless in use.
The adapter light usually flashes orange for maybe a minute at a time when in use and gradually shows an increasing state of charge while in orange. Though sometimes still shows an increasing state of charge despite not changing to orange or not always going up immediately when it's actually showing orange charging.
When the hard drive is spinning up and other use also has the adapter light showing charge and charge state stays the same when showing green, so it appears I'm only charging for brief times. It might start showing an orange charge when the screen saver kicks in and for about 15-30 seconds when closing the lid.
When it eventually gets to an indicated full charge it turns out I only have a 20-30 minutes of use and typical shutting down despite showing indications of over 50% capacity.
Reset the PMU and restated, ran the utility, Figuring if it still works resetting should make it work properly, but it not making any difference. My cd/dvd drive also failed, so I can't run the hardware test.
Any clues as to what the problem is, Requiring replacement of part or all the charging circuit components?
I also developed hard drive noises after dropping it a few weeks ago, but this charging problem didn't started till my vehicle starting problem.
PB 12 G4 1.12 GB Mac OS X (10.2.x)

Looking in posts for different size units, others seem to have encountered similar problems.
It looks like it could be a battery problem, though in my case I'm still getting about a 1/2 hour out of it (but was getting 1 1/2 hours out of it) and it acting the battery is at the end of it's life on top of the odd orange green light function etc,
The charging problem also possibly tied to something in the PMU or logic board, or charger itself that is either damaged or worn out and the problems with incorrect battery capacity etc appears not exclusive to old units or OS's and being a bit erratic and not showing up in the hardware test. (of which I can't run due to my disc drive also not working anymore)
When I first had problems with my old battery everything went back to normal with a new battery and charger. So I'll blame it on built in defects, globalization and profit margins.
I bought a new 65w charger thinking I might get better life out of the new battery, but it didn't. (and despite extended applecare supposedly my old battery was at it's expected performance level and not replaceable for free, and the place I had it tested at claimed to get better life out it than I ever could, but was likely using newer charger)
My old 45w charger also had a frayed cord where it entered the plug and wasn't maintaining a good connection and I was getting tired of fixing it as well figuring my problems might be tied to running off inverters and a not very good plug in power source when plugged in, not getting full line voltage.
My current problem started with dropping it and it not making a good connection unless forcing it in more and later developing into erratic and incorrect charging after a few power surges. But because it still appears to work, I figured it could be a software problem, but didn't fix itself running the disc utility or restarting.
I've yet to try running the battery down again, because it appears to take so long to recharge and only recharges while using it.
Even sleeping for a 3-4 hours on the battery runs it down to 80% where it used to only lose a few points. Seeing it shut down at 60% last time, likely means I don't have very much use on the battery now and my power indicator is optimistic.
PB 12 G4 1.12 GB Mac OS X (10.2.x)
PB 12 G4 1.12 GB Mac OS X (10.2.x)

Erratic trackpad behavior

The other day I replaced the hard drive in my iBook with a larger one, and every since I reassembled it the trackpad seems to be behaving erratically. I reopened it up and made sure that the trackpad ribbon cable was connected firmly, and it helped a little however the problem still remains. I know it is not a software issue because when I boot up holding option and play around with the cursor it has the same problem, skipping around and whatnot. I notice the mouse seems to work pretty well when I first boot, but gradually gets worse the longer the computer has been on. Could it somehow be related to the laptop overheating? Could heat from underneath the trackpad effect it? Would that explain why the longer it's on the worse it gets? That's the only conclusion I can come to. And just so you know I've reset the PMU, PRAM, and NVRAM. I've tried it all, wall outlet vs. battery (everything). So any thoughts? Is my theory valid?

I've never heard of overheating causing the trackpad to behave erratically.
I can think of several things that could cause this.
The PMU settings may be getting corrupted in some way.
From the Apple Knowledge Base article on _resetting the PMU_:
The Power Manager is an integrated circuit (computer chip) that is usually on the logic board of the PowerBook and iBook. As the name implies, it is responsible for power management of the computer. It controls backlighting, hard disk spin down, sleep and wake, some charging aspects, trackpad control, and some input/output as it relates to the computer sleeping.
Over time, the settings in the Power Manager may become unusable, which can result in operational anomalies with the computer.
Since making sure the trackpad ribbon cable was firmly connected helped a bit, it could be that the trackpad connector has been damaged slightly.
Another possibility is that the trackpad cable itself may have been damaged.

How to trouble shoot curious charger behavior

Having a power cord charging issue.
1.67 GHz PB G4 15" about 8 years old.
The origional power cord died long ago with a pop and smell of smoke.
I replaced the cord with a powerbook medic brand power adapter that has worked
with out flaw for 6 years.
The curious behavior is that when plugged into the port the PB will sometimes stop taking a charge.
Giggle the cord at the port and it will some times return. When the PB stops charging green light on adapter stays green.
How do I determine if it is the charger or the port in the computer that is faulty?

The other weak link is the barrel-shaped power jack within the Powerbook:
(this image from microdocusa.com is of a G3 Powerbook connector but is similar to the G4's)
With age and stress, the solder joints that hold the thin "legs" to the logic board can loosen and cause intermittent charging failures. If you are handy with ripping apart a PowerBook and resoldering tiny parts, that's usually the sure cure, but not one for the faint of heart.
One person I know simply inserted tiny plastic shims between his loose connector and the logic board to wedge the connector back into constant contact. Decided a low-tech approach, but it greatly extended the life of his PowerBook.

IMAC and external screen--screen flickering and erratic mouse behavior

I have purchased a screen Medion 25.5 inch to connect it to my IMAC 27 inch.
I have noticed two unexpected behaviours:
- from time to time, after the IMAC comes out of the SLEEP mode, the external screen is flickering, I need to put the IMAC to sleep one or several times before the display of the external screen becomes stable.
- since I connected the external screen, the behavior of the mouse is highly erratic, eg when I move the mouse by a fraction of a millimeter, the display of the mouse pointer moves by half a screen, or even disappears completely. I have performed many tests, with several apple mice, a Dell mouse and a Microsoft mouse. As soon as I completely disconnect the screen (not only power the screen down) the mouse works normally again. I have now decided to stop using the external screen until a software update resolves the situation.
Any advice?
Patrick

When my 2008 24" iMac started to die from overheating, two of the symptoms I would see would be white flickering from the bottom going about half way up, like it was going blank and repainting the screen over and over. Also, the mouse pointer would jump erratically to all the edges and corners of the screen. After a few seconds, it might recover or it might freeze. I would use a program like iStat Pro to see what your temps are when you attach that screen. I suspect it may be excess heat due to the GPU now pushing two screens instead of 1?
Also try diags, and all those reset thingies people keep mentioning over and over.
First and foremost, if you have coverage, contact a "genius" and let him belittle you with his expertise.

HT4060 Charging behavior for iPad 4

When my battery is low on my iPad 4, I'll power it off and then connect it to the charger. Once connected to the charger, the apple logo will appear and the iPad powers back up. Is this normal behavior?

The quickest way (and really the only way) to charge your iPad is with the included 10W or 12W (5W on Mini) USB Power Adapter. iPad will also charge, although more slowly, when attached to a computer with a high-power USB port (many recent Mac computers) or with an iPhone Power Adapter (5W). When attached to a computer via a standard USB port (2.5W, most PCs or older Mac computers) iPad will charge very slowly (but iPad indicates not charging). Make sure your computer is on while charging iPad via USB. If iPad is connected to a computer that’s turned off or is in sleep or standby mode, the iPad battery will continue to drain.
Apple recommends that once a month you let the iPad fully discharge & then recharge to 100%.
How to Calibrate Your Mac, iPhone, or iPad Battery
http://www.macblend.com/how-to-calibrate-your-mac-iphone-or-ipad-battery/
At this link http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/galaxy-tab-android-tablet,3014-11.html , tests show that the iPad 2 battery (25 watt-hours) will charge to 90% in 3 hours 1 minute. It will charge to 100% in 4 hours 2 minutes. The new iPad has a larger capacity battery (42 watt-hours), so using the 10W charger will obviously take longer. If you are using your iPad while charging, it will take even longer. It's best to turn your new iPad OFF and charge over night. Also look at The iPad's charging challenge explained http://www.macworld.com/article/1150356/ipadcharging.html
Also, if you have a 3rd generation iPad, look at
Apple: iPad Battery Nothing to Get Charged Up About
http://allthingsd.com/20120327/apple-ipad-battery-nothing-to-get-charged-up-abou t/
Apple Explains New iPad's Continued Charging Beyond 100% Battery Level
http://www.macrumors.com/2012/03/27/apple-explains-new-ipads-continued-charging- beyond-100-battery-level/
New iPad Takes Much Longer to Charge Than iPad 2
http://www.iphonehacks.com/2012/03/new-ipad-takes-much-longer-to-charge-than-ipa d-2.html
Apple Batteries - iPad http://www.apple.com/batteries/ipad.html
Extend iPad Battery Life (Look at pjl123 comment)
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3921324?tstart=30
New iPad Slow to Recharge, Barely Charges During Use
http://www.pcworld.com/article/252326/new_ipad_slow_to_recharge_barely_charges_d uring_use.html
Tips About Charging for New iPad 3
http://goodscool-electronics.blogspot.com/2012/04/tips-about-charging-for-new-ip ad-3.html
How to Save and Prolong the battery life of your new ipad
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4480944?tstart=0
Prolong battery lifespan for iPad / iPad 2 / iPad 3: charging tips
http://thehowto.wikidot.com/prolong-battery-lifespan-for-ipad
iPhone, iPod, Using the iPad Charger
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4327
Install and use Battery Doctor HD
http://itunes.apple.com/tw/app/battery-doctor-hd/id459702901?mt=8
To Extend a Device’s Battery Life, Get to Know It Better
http://tinyurl.com/b67c7xz
iPad Battery Replacement
http://www.apple.com/batteries/replacements.html
In rare instances when using the Camera Connection Kit, you may notice that iPad does not charge after using the Camera Connection Kit. Disconnecting and reconnecting the iPad from the charger will resolve this issue.
 Cheers, Tom

Zen Micro erratic charging behavi

My brand new Zen Micro shows erratic behaviour when charging. It will automatically shut off when a fully charged state is reached only if you are recharging the battery from a heavily discharged state. If you are recharging the battery from a lesser discharged state eg. after say -2 hours of use, then the unit will not automatically shut off when full charge is reached...you have to manually disconnect it from the mains charger and when you attempt to recharge it again immediately the fully charged plug icon appears as you would expect.
The other strange anomaly is that if you use the unit for 30-40 minutes after a full charge and then attempt to top up the charge, it will not allow you to do so since it thinks that the unit is still fully charged.
I upgraded to latest firmware (.0.02) from .0.03 but this has had no effect. I was wondering if anyone else has had similar problems. I also have a Zen Touch 20GB which does not show this strange charging behaviour.

Firstly the .0.02 firmware has a discharge bug in it, at least for some people. I would recommend going back to the .02.05 firmware which you can get at (the .0.02 version was pulled).
Secondly, I have exactly the same problem. There is definitely a charging bug (that I've seen in several earlier Creative players also) where the player gets to a certain charge state and then locks up or freezes in the charging. For my Micro it gets to close to a full charge and then the flashing charge just sticks permanently on. I can disconnect the player and turn it on (if I remember correctly) so it isn't locked up, and then continue charging.

Iphone 4 erratic sync behavior

I've got a new iPhone 4. I was able to register and sync it. But now I'm getting erratic behavior--phone keeps buzzing, image capture flashes, and I get an error: "iTunes could not connect...unkown error 0xE8000001."
I tried unplugging and replugging the USB cable--no luck. Any suggestions?
OS X 10.6.3, and iOS 4.3.3.

Hmm, I restarted iTunes and sync was fine...maybe the USB cable wasn't seated all the way? Problem solved for now, but if anyone has any thoughts on why this happened it would be good to know to avoid the issue in the future.

GS60 Pro - Erratic battery behavior

My GS60 Ghost Pro has a strange battery behavior since I got it earlier this week.
As an example, I did a powercfg -batteryreport and got something like this:
16:23:34   Active    AC    98 %    53,291 mWh
16:32:36   Active    Battery    98 %    53,280 mWh
16:34:44   Active    AC    98 %    53,280 mWh
17:05:58   Active    Battery    98 %    53,280 mWh
17:06:04   Active    AC    98 %    53,280 mWh
17:09:11   Active    Battery    98 %    53,280 mWh
17:09:17   Active    AC    98 %    53,280 mWh
17:18:27   Active    Battery    98 %    53,280 mWh
17:18:33   Active    AC    98 %    53,280 mWh
As you can see, it switches between AC and Battery by itself while being plugged in. It happens randomly. Other times charge goes to -1 mWh:
20:52:40   Active    AC    100 %    53,860 mWh
21:19:44   Active    Battery    -   -1 mWh
21:19:47   Active    AC    100 %    53,860 mWh
21:34:49   Active    Battery    -   -1 mWh
21:34:52   Active    AC    100 %    53,860 mWh
I have also managed to get a "Battery not detected" message while the laptop was not even plugged. Powercfg reported:
Installed batteries
Information about each currently installed battery
No batteries are currently installed
Again, the laptop was running from the battery when getting this message.
I have tried to do an EC reset and to run the MSI battery calibration tool, but this has not fixed the issue.
Is there anything else I can try? Or is the battery defective and I should contact MSI already?

No, it`s really simple, hold your finger on an icon for a few seconds before they start to wriggle, and hit Delete, or "X" i`m not sure.

Erratic charger Behavior

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