Filed under: Portables, Bugs/Recalls, Troubleshooting, Macbook Pro
Battle of the (battery) bulge
TUAW reader Evan Hindra went to sleep one night with his MacBook Pro playing music. The next morning, it wouldn't sit properly on the kitchen counter top. When he flipped over the laptop, he found that his battery had begun to bulge. He called up AppleCare and they're sending him a battery. (He continues to wonder whether the battery problems date back before the bulge to a series of unexpected shut downs.) On the bright side, his MacBook Pro didn't explode, burst into flames or start playing random Barry Manilow tracks, all of which could cause permanent and irreversible harm. If your MacBook Pro starts displaying odd symptoms, you might want to take a good look at your battery and make sure it's not going all Alien on you, as in the original version with the icky chest bursting scene.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
meatmcguffin said 11:15PM on 12-25-2006
Be thankful it only swelled a little; mine kept on swelling for three weeks and is now three times thicker it used to be.
Thank gawd for living in a city with an apple dealer.
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Bert Goethals said 6:55PM on 12-25-2006
Old news.
This is a Macbook PRO related issue, and a recall program by Apple (https://support.apple.com/macbookpro15/batteryexchange/index.html) is in order. I blogged about this months ago (http://bertg.be/blog/?p=32).
is it me, or is TUAW running behind lately on Mac news?
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James said 6:47PM on 12-25-2006
I had this happen to my battery too!
The way I found out - the mouse button on my Macbook Pro wouldn't work!!! The battery actually provides the "backing" needed to click on the button.
Doing a google search on the non-clicking issue led me to realize it could be the battery. Turned it over and BULGE everywhere!
The battery life was getting shorter (say 1hr max run time?) as well. but I totally missed out on my battery bulging!!!
I returned it to the store. That is an adventure to explore another time. Why is it that I can walk RIGHT IN with an ipod and get help but a laptop and they want me to come back FOUR HOURS later?!?!
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Ruben Santiago said 6:52PM on 12-25-2006
Thats a MacBook Pro Battery. silver.
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Ross said 7:05PM on 12-25-2006
Exact same thing happened to me a few months ago. The local Apple retailer just handed me a battery as soon as he saw mine - didn't ask for Apple Care info or anything. The replacement is doing well so far.
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BarryPhan said 7:39PM on 12-25-2006
Man, you people are so funny and smart! Making fun of Barry Manilow songs! Hahahahaha!
Please, stop trying to be funny (when you're not) and just report the news.
Some of us like Barry Manilow. (To each, his/her own.)
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Ruben Santiago said 9:09PM on 12-25-2006
They did not check AppleCare info because the MacBook Pro model line itself is not a year old, therefore, no MacBook Pro is out of warranty unless you voided it. This would be considered an out of warranty repair, that would be taken care of by Apple, if the case were that you were out of warranty.
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kyle Harr said 11:13PM on 12-25-2006
I had this happen back in May. Apple seemed to be aware of this back then and very promptly replaced my battery. Pics at http://flickr.com/photos/kylos/149418002/
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Dave said 11:28PM on 12-25-2006
WOW! I cringe when ever I see pictures of these horror stories. I hope nothing like this ever happens to my MBP. This story is making me think that mine could be bad. My MBP has a lot of freezing up type behavior along with other odd happenings. This is my first laptop and my first mac. Everyone always talks of stability so I'm not really sure what i should be worried about.
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Evan Hindra said 11:50PM on 12-25-2006
It's just getting worse now. It's larger than it was a few nights ago!
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TriangleJuice said 7:28AM on 12-26-2006
"I cringe when ever I see pictures of these horror stories."
Nothing to worry about. I had this with my MBP too. Indeed, first you get some random shutdowns (as if power management fails to do its task), then the mouse button starts to feel abnormal, and finally, your battery gets bulged.
The coolest thing is that unless all these misbehaviours, the MBP still worked for me!
Just return the battery to an Apple Store/Reseller and they'll get you a new one for free. Good service for a good company!
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Carl said 4:45AM on 12-26-2006
This is not just an MBP issue. Same thing happened to my MB battery! I took it to an Apple service centre where it got replaced immediately.
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Bob Curry said 5:50AM on 12-26-2006
For SAFETY, swelling lithium batteries should be removed to an area that is safe, should they decide to ignite, and catch on FIRE! Swelling can sometimes be caused by running down TOO FAR, or failing to promptly recharge a discharged battery, or by overcharge, if the charger malfunctions, or improper battery/charger mix is used. Be CAREFUL!
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LittleJoe said 8:18AM on 12-26-2006
I took my 17" MacBook Pro to Apple last week because my battery was doing the same thing. They politely ordered me a new one. I hope its in today... because running a portable mac using just a MagSafe adapter is living hell!
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Rich said 8:19AM on 12-26-2006
Do NOT pick on Barry Manilow, man. That's just wrong.
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LittleJoe said 10:00AM on 12-26-2006
Oh and BERT its not OLD NEWS.
The recall was for 15" MBP.
This is happening to people with 17" MBPs, like myself.
The battery starts to bulge by the power indicator button.
The trackpad button stops working well.
The battery life plummets.
The random shutdowns begin until the battery no longer works.
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Ray said 2:38PM on 12-26-2006
Yup, this happened to me too. The trackpad button got all squishy and stopped "clicking".
Apple gave me a brand new battery that solved the problem - there was no damage done to any other part of my MBP.
About a month ago that same battery just died on me. They replaced that one too within 24 hours.
So I can't really complain, as long as they are willing to take responsibility, it's all good.
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Schmenkee said 4:17PM on 12-26-2006
This happened to me TWICE in the span of 5 months.
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Ryan said 7:01PM on 12-27-2006
I sent my unit into AppleCare last week because of this and another issue. This is such an odd problem...
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Michael roberts said 4:54PM on 12-26-2006
Poor poor Apple. They're always plauged with problems like this.
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