R.I.P. MacBook battery
The golden week ended today so in the morning I popped the MacBook open to update the Documents folder via Dropbox. There was no reaction to the on switch so I plugged the laptop in thinking that I managed to deplete the battery completely. However instead of the usual orange charging light the charger lit up in a happy green and the menu bar icon reported: not charging. The problem persisted...
OS X acknowledges the presence of the battery but reports its full charge capacity at 0 mAh and refuses to charge. Reseating the battery or resetting the PMU didn't help either. In addition the laptop now often boots with a flashing white light similar to the PMU reset indication. All this after only 67 cycles.
I spent most of the breaks today hunting for power outlets in classrooms. Of course the newer ones have desks with outlets for each seat but I never seem to be able to have classes there. The newer auditoriums have a few along the walls, but in one of the old buildings I had to sit in the very first row and nick an extension cable from the professor's pulpit.
Hopefully I can visit the Apple Store in Osaka on Wednesday. I bought Snowflake in June 2008 after the ominous grapefruit juice incident so it's still under warranty (I hope).
I still shudder at the thought of such things happening when I'm in Hungary with no Apple Stores around.