Reports have surfaced about a power problem on some new Titanium PowerBooks. Now that I’ve received my new Ti PB, I can (unfortunately) verify that the reports are accurate.
Here’s the deal: if you carry or use the portable at a slight angle, it may suddenly shut off and often reset the system date to January 1, 1904.
The culprit isn’t a power circuitry problem, but battery contact failure. The Ti PB’s battery contacts have been changed from the PowerBook G3 design and don’t work when the PowerBook is at an angle. Purportedly, Apple is considering a fix that will improve battery contact. Meanwhile, as reported by MacFixIt, a clever Mac user, Richard Chang, has found a workaround and posted it online. The good news is that the solution is simple, inexpensive, and easy to implement.
According to reports, not all the Ti PBs suffers from this problem. Several users and retailers with whom we’ve spoken haven’t run across the situation. For instance, Thomas Armes, president & CEO of Elite Computers & Software in Cupertino, CA, said they hadn’t noticed the problem.
“So far, I’ve received about six positive responses to my fix and no negative responses,” Chang, associate professor, CSEE Department, University of Maryland Baltimore County, told MacCentral.