A new issue has come to light with Apple’s just-announced Lombard PowerBook. The PowerPage has learned, from personal experience and numerous complaints from readers, that Lombard’s new 50 watt-hour Lithium Ion batteries do not always charge properly when connected to AC power. Not a lot is known about the issue, but it appears that the battery will not charge inside the computer when it has been run down to less than 10% of capacity, or after the first (“you are now running on reserve power”) battery warning.

We have found three workarounds: the first is to swap the battery from the left bay, to the right bay, then back to the left bay, which works about 50% of the time. The second option is to reset the Parameter RAM by holding down command-option-P-R during a restart. The third is to reset the Power Manager by removing the battery, AC power, and holding down the power button for 30 seconds.