T61; Blinking battery light; No longer works off battery

[BradS]

Came home to my T61 on Sunday night noticed the battery light was blinking orange. I opened the lid and everything started fine. When I took the laptop off of batter, the computer shut down and all the lights shut off. Its acting like there isn't a fully charged battery pluged in, yet vista is showing a 100% fully charged battery.

Anyone one have any ideas on this one?

[lighthammer]

Unplug the power cord from the laptop. Take out the battery and hold the power button for around 5 seconds to discharge anything in the laptop. Put the battery back in and plug the power cord back into the laptop.

See if that makes any difference and let us know what the progress is.

[richk]

Start it plugged in and check the status by starting the power application (the plug icon in the tray) of see what the battery symbol says when you hover the mouse pointer over it.

[BradS]

Unplug the power cord from the laptop. Take out the battery and hold the power button for around 5 seconds to discharge anything in the laptop. Put the battery back in and plug the power cord back into the laptop.

See if that makes any difference and let us know what the progress is.

Nothing changed. Still runs off the power chord, but trying to get it to run off battery causes the laptop to shut off, the indicator lights are also lost after disconnecting the battery

Start it plugged in and check the status by starting the power application (the plug icon in the tray) of see what the battery symbol says when you hover the mouse pointer over it.

It says its 100% charged.

[gator]

Double click on the battery meter and go to the battery information tab. Look at the battery details panel and see what the program reports for full charge capacity (as compared to design capacity). See if the battery condition is listed as 'good' with a green + symbol on the left panel.

I am guessing that one of the cells in your battery pack is dead .. if that is true you will see a reduced full charge capacity and a yellow or red battery condition icon.

[syedj]

If your T61 is less than a year old than the battery is still in warranty. If that's the case, I would suggest giving Lenovo a call and get a replacement battery under warranty.

[BradS]

Double click on the battery meter and go to the battery information tab. Look at the battery details panel and see what the program reports for full charge capacity (as compared to design capacity). See if the battery condition is listed as 'good' with a green + symbol on the left panel.

I am guessing that one of the cells in your battery pack is dead .. if that is true you will see a reduced full charge capacity and a yellow or red battery condition icon.

I see. I no longer have any of the lenovo software installed on this computer, and that includes the battery meter. I'll try reinstalling that tomorrow to see what it can tell me.

Thanks for your help.

[Mark@Lenovo]

BradS,

If you find that after re-installing the Lenovo power management applications that you get an irrepairable battery message, you might try visiting this site http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-67765

This could potentially provide coverage beyond the 1 year if your battery were affected.

Mark

[gator]

This could potentially provide coverage beyond the 1 year if your battery were affected.

Mark, the FAQ (#9) in that link has this to say:

The age of the battery must be no more than 6 months past the expiration date of the battery warranty.

I lost my battery with the same error message in Jan '08 (T60 bought in Aug 06) and had to get a battery elsewhere since it was not under recall. The program in the link you mention did not recognize my battery as being eligible for replacement. Thankfully, I was able to get a slightly used battery from a very helpful forum member at an affordable price, and I took it up.

I am not complaining; batteries do die out occasionally. Just trying to point out that not all battery failures are covered by the replacement program ...