WallStreet Battery Problem

My Wallstreet (300Mhz, 14.1" display) does literally the exact same thing with my two batteries. I don't think it would have to do with the install because i isntalled 9.2.2 off a retail 9.2.2 install cd with the big "9" on it.

which you can find here.

dan k

I don't know about Davintosh, but i've tried that numerous times to no avail.

... while it's good to know that I'm not the only one in this boat, the Battery Reset Utility didn't help. Running the util and resetting a battery is kinda like ejecting it & popping it back in; when done the system recognizes it again, but forgets it after a few minutes. Also, the one battery that did show it had a charge (but would not power the computer) shows no charge after the reset.

The link on Apple's support site brings up another question; why the hey is it so tough to find answers there? I poked & searched for a good 90 minutes this afternoon and didn't come up with the article on Battery Reset Utility. Are there tricks to using Apple's support search? Or is it just blind luck?

I just tried my batteries in another wallstreet, and it did not do the same thing. They began to charge up to about 50% until I took them out.

Did the problematic machine recognize the batteries after they were partially charged in the other machine?

Did both machines have the same OS installed?

Heh, yeah. I knew to search on the terms battery reset which found the page, but Apple Support searches seem a little denser than one would hope.

You might try the ol' nvram reset thing (with the battery(s) installed):

on a Wallstreet-
hold cmd-opt-O-F while at the startup chime (hard to do this on WS for some reason, keep trying)
once yer at OF prompt type init-vram

hit return

type reset-all

hit return

'Book will restart

Worth a try anyhow.

dan k

I just took a dumb (yep) leap of faith and bought a couple
of used Wallstreet batteries off Ebay. They are both acting
as you describe. I put one in, the Wallstreet shows that it's
in the bay, after a few minutes, it disappears from the bay icon
indicator on the control strip, and it will not charge.
I tried it in a second Wallstreet and it does exactly the same thing.
The other 2 batteries I have for these do NOT exhibit this
behavior. They charge correctly, so it probably is not the bays
or the machines. My guess is, the batteries are so far gone
that after a certain period of time trying to charge them, the
Wallstreet gives up. If a rechargable battery is really dead
and won't take a charge anymore, it will draw too much current, and the charger needs to disconnect itself to protect itself.
I assume the Powerbook's charging circuit is designed to do this,
just like any charger. And it probably decides the battery is
unusable at that point, and changes the icon to "no battery in the bay."

When you remove and reinsert it, it tries again.

Sometimes with rechargeables, if you can get a small charge on them,
their current draw really drops off and they will charge, so I'm hoping that after a bunch of times "trying" to charge, and having it disappear, the battery will work.

Here's an update; I was assuming the battery that came with my Wallstreet was good, because the former owner said it was. And I had no way to test it, so I assumed the problem was with the charging system and not the battery.

You know what you get when you assume....

On a whim, I picked up a cheap battery from someone on the LEM Swap List, popped it in, and it works fine. Go figure.

Here's an update; I was assuming the battery that came with my Wallstreet was good, because the former owner said it was. And I had no way to test it, so I assumed the problem was with the charging system and not the battery.

You know what you get when you assume....

On a whim, I picked up a cheap battery from someone on the LEM Swap List, popped it in, and it works fine. Go figure.