May 02, '11 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: Anonymous
As of April 30, 2011, Apple is selling MacBook battery model A1185, which has a known but correctable flaw that affects the battery's ability to maintain a charge when the Mac is turned off, as new in Apple Retail Stores with the following specs:
Model Information:
- Manufacturer: DP
- Device name: ASMB016
- Pack Lot Code: 0002
- PCB Lot Code: 0000
- Firmware Version: 0110
- Hardware Revision: 0500
- Cell Revision: 0102
Battery Update 1.4 is designed to only run under OS X 10.5.5 or later EXCLUDING 10.6+. This means if you are running Snow Leopard and you buy a new battery from the Apple Store, your battery will not perform properly and will suffer the defects that Battery Update 1.4 is designed to resolve due to inability to update the battery firmware.
It would be great if Apple would release Battery Update 1.4.1 to make it compatible with 10.6, 10.7, etc.
To resolve the issue, manually install and run Battery Update 1.4 via use of a third party utility like Pacifist. Repair permissions, reboot, and voila! Your battery firmware is now updated to Pack Lot Code 0003.
[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one, nor have I verified that the defective model is still being sold. I have a different battery lot in my MacBook than the affected model. The Apple KB article referenced above describes how to check this.]
