Whwerbook?

May 14, 2005 1:54 PM

More Hot Powerbook Action! My Powerbook G4 seems to run especially hot since I got a new battery, a generic-ish 3rd party dealie I bought off eBay. And the power adapter just failed. Could the battery cause these troubles? If so, where should I look for proper battery replacements?

I suppose it could be that the adapter was actually the cause. Since my adapter failed, I have borrowed another one, but I've mostly used it with the OEM battery, being afraid that if it is was the battery, then I'd fry my borrowed adapter.

Here's the auction I bought from. And here are pictures of the inside and outside faces of the battery. Note that the blurring on the pyramid logo-ish like thing is not an artifact of scanning -- the ink is actually blured. I suppose my worries are bit heightened by the fact that the battery just feels a little cheap, including touches like this blurry-ink quasi-logo.

What seems possible, or more likely -- that the battery can make the computer run hot and adapter fail? That the adapter was just on its way out? And where should I look for quality battery replacements for a PB G4 667 DVI?

posted by weston to computers & internet (7 comments total)

Check the label on the borrowed adapter. If it says 45W, it's not really powerful enough to run your PowerBook (which probably came with a 65W one). That seems a more likely cause than the battery.

Have you not been able to get hold of an official Apple battery?
posted by cillit bang at 3:07 PM on May 14, 2005

Searching by part number (M8511) gives no results at the Apple store, and the 667 DVI is a TiBook, so I don't know if the batteries offered there for the more recent Aluminum Powerbooks would fit. I've had similar results asking around the local Apple Dealers.

Neither the adaptor that came with the machine nor the adapter that I've borrowed have a wattage listed directly on them, but the output is listed at 24V and 1.875 amps, which yields 45 Watts. To be clear, it's the adaptor that came with the machine that has failed, not the borrowed one. I did buy the machine used, however, and so it is possible that the failed adaptor was not the one that came with the machine from the factory.
posted by weston at 4:30 PM on May 14, 2005

try Other World Computing for batteries (link goes straight to TiBook batteries) or WeLoveMacs for OEM service parts. FWIW, the power adapter is (largely) the same from the orig. TiBooks/iBooks on up to today's 17"ers - the wattage may be higher but that shouldn't make a difference, so you should be able to just get one from Apple (the stores do carry them if you have one nearby).

I'd consider it possible that your generic battery could be causing the heat/PSU problems.. if there's something wrong with the circuitry in it, it may be trying to pull more power than it's actually supposed to and thus making your battery chargy circuit run hotter/overstressing the PSU. I could have sworn I've heard of that actually happening before but I can't remember where.
posted by mrg at 4:58 PM on May 14, 2005

oh, FWIW, if you poke around a bit more you can get power adapters for around $35 from OWC too.
posted by mrg at 5:00 PM on May 14, 2005

I recently changed the battery in my 800mhz Powerbook with one from Other World Computing and have had no problems so far (knock on wood:-)

on preview : d'oh! mrg beat me to it.
posted by invisible ink at 5:03 PM on May 14, 2005

ink -- no worries. The more data points, the better. :)
posted by weston at 5:09 PM on May 14, 2005

OK, the appropriate Apple support document says yours works fine with the 45W adapter, so we can forget that theory.

Aluminum batteries aren't compatible, but titanium ones are completely interchangeable between models, they only vary in capacity. The part number for the last (and largest) is M8244G/B, if that helps, but Apple do seem to have stopped selling them.

I wouldn't be surprised if a poorly designed generic battery caused overheating, since the charging circuits can generate a lot of heat). On the other hand, I wouldn't blame the adapter failing on the battery, since they can trip off temporarily when overloaded (disconnecting both ends for a few minutes will reset them).
posted by cillit bang at 5:17 PM on May 14, 2005