crwdns2936637:0crwdne2936637:0 crwdns2853008:0crwdne2853008:0 crwdns2918746:0crwdne2918746:0

2.26 or 2.4 GHz / White plastic unibody enclosure

crwdns2934591:020crwdne2934591:0 crwdns2934593:0crwdne2934593:0 | crwdns2947278:045crwdne2947278:0 crwdns2947270:0crwdne2947270:0

crwdns2933897:0crwdne2933897:0

MacBook 6.1 very slow after battery removal.

Hello, I tried to revive my macbook 6.1 lately but I did notice a bump in battery that prevented touchpad from clicking, so I removed it to work it from the wall.

But while I was trying to update to the latest OSX, I did noticed the performance was horrible, I found out the kernel_task was going like 700% CPU usage in activity monitor and after some digging around that means the laptop is throttling.

I checked my temps they are fine (used ol good istat pro) so I couldn't figure out the problem, and then someone on reddit suggested to check the thermal sensor in the battery, which honestly didn;t even knew existed.

I will try to check once I'm back at office although the system is so slow that it is a pain to do that.

In the meantime I wanted to ask, if let's say the removed with the battery sensor indeed is giving some crazy readings, is there a way to stop the system from trying to read from it?

THank you!

Update (10/09/24)

@danj Hey so as I love fire hazards I decided to go MacGyver and open up the old battery, and removed the module that was getting a bit fat.

Soldered the 2 ends to close the circuit and installed it again on the macbook.

So far it is working, the system reports weird numbers on capacity but the temp is good (sensor working), no burning smell, no hot spots on hand. Well I guess it somehow works.

Given the way I'm planing to use this system I don't expect it to have any trouble and not catch it immediately. I will monitor it for sure but this is just an old system that I play around with, I will probably try to hack sonoma on it and then again reinstall OSX 10.6 to keep as vintage system around (the last OSX to have rosseta).

Thanks for your input!

edit: not that the mac performs normally I was able to look a bit more around with the opencore legacy patcher, to my surprise there is an option to disable through the installer the firmware check for the battery!

So if everything went ok and I'm able to install a newer macOS I could also have the battery removed again to be safe from my tampering.

crwdns2934089:0crwdne2934089:0 crwdns2934093:0crwdne2934093:0

crwdns2934109:0crwdne2934109:0

crwdns2853045:0crwdne2853045:0 crwdns2853046:0crwdne2853046:0
crwdns2889612:0crwdne2889612:0 0
crwdns2947414:01crwdne2947414:0

@nitro912gr - While it’s not what I would do, if it works then that’s all that matters!

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

crwdns2934285:0crwdne2934285:0

crwdns2933313:01crwdne2933313:0

crwdns2934221:0crwdne2934221:0
crwdns2931211:0crwdne2931211:0 crwdns2931215:0crwdne2931215:0 crwdns2934225:0crwdne2934225:0
crwdns2934057:0crwdne2934057:0

crwdns2933897:0crwdne2933897:0

The system was designed to have the battery present, when you removed it you disconnected the batteries sensor from SMC, at which point SMC placed the system in CPU safe mode to protect the system from overheating, first was to lower the CPU’s clock cycles which is what you are seeing within kernel_task running with quite a few cycles. I’m suspecting the fan is also running harder as well.

Time for a new battery

Also note you should stick with macOS High Sierra (10.13.x) as the highest this system can support. While there are ways to go beyond this version, the limitation of RAM (8GB) and a slow drive SATA III (3.0Gbps) won’t offer the performance one would like.

crwdns2934105:0crwdne2934105:0

crwdns2853045:0crwdne2853045:0 crwdns2853046:0crwdne2853046:0
crwdns2889612:0crwdne2889612:0 1

crwdns2944067:05crwdne2944067:0:

hello thanks for your answer.

replacing the battery is out of the question because pf the extremely limited functionality a system that old can provide.

isnt there any way to disable this check through the terminal? I have seen it is possible for other functions.

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

@nitro912gr - It’s been years since I worked on this system, at the time there was a bloke who sold the cells so you could rebuild the battery. It wasn’t that expensive.


Here’s another option MacBook 13" Battery - 55Wh - White while a bit more it might help you gage the cost if you look elsewhere. I’m sure if you look for the part by its P/N you might find it locally.


As to MacGyvering the system sorry I don’t know if that’s possible via Terminal as this is a function of SMC not the OS.

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

thank you for the answer, I see some cheaper options like 30 euros in the local "amazon style" site here. Still not sure if I want to go waste those money, I mean if I don't manage to hack my way to the latest the only use of that macbook will be to reinstall OSX 10.6 and keep it around as a retro machine.

Maybe I will try to hack the battery, I have already opened it and I see only one module is problematic, if I remove it and close the circuit again, it may work with the other cells that can't hold a charge but at least are not getting fat.

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

@danj maybe there is hope, I found this and I will try it sometime during the week to see if it works.

https://hackaday.com/2023/02/17/hack-let...

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

@nitro912gr - Sorry, the older MacBooks use a different setup.


Think of it this way… your old house thread-in fuse burnt out and you don’t have a spare, but a small coin fits in completing the circuit. Is this a wise thing to do? Many homes burnt down as people failed to deal with the root cause issue overloading the circuit.


I won’t alter the CPU or any of the electrical circuits, even altering the OS won’t change things. Is 50 or less USD that much to keep this system running with zero risk, or are you a betting man willing to put all you chips on the line only to loose?

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

crwdns2934285:0crwdne2934285:0

crwdns2934229:0crwdne2934229:0

Nikolas Karampelas crwdns2934231:0crwdne2934231:0
crwdns2936625:0crwdne2936625:0:

crwdns2936751:024crwdne2936751:0 0

crwdns2936753:07crwdne2936753:0 0

crwdns2936753:030crwdne2936753:0 3

crwdns2942667:0crwdne2942667:0 88