Thinkpads Forum

Just this morning I ran my R51 with the usual battery attached while plugged in AC as I regularly do for the past 6 months. It was working fine for a while then suddenly I noticed in the Battery MaxiMiser Gauge that my battery is 0% charged.

I tried unplugging the AC and my TP still runs although the battery indicator is flashing orange and a beeping tune is sounding (indications that something is wrong). I tried rebooting and did a system restore just to check if it is a software problem but the same problem is still there. I checked the battery status and I saw two words "charging, critical".

When I removed the battery and plugged it into AC, it works perfectly fine. I'm wondering if anybody has the same experience and if anyone can give me an idea whats wrong with it. Is is the battery or something else?

The last thing I did with my TP is flash my BIOS to the latest version. I don't know if that caused the problem as the flashing was done properly and successfully.

I am a graphic artist and I use my TP everyday. I can't afford to lose it more than a day as my job depends on it and this is the only computer I have. If it is a battery problem I could just have it replaced since I think it is still under warranty. The problem is, the store where I bought it might request my TP to be taken for further testing.

Too bad that I don't have the same IBM support in my country as you guys enjoy in the west.

Uh-oh
Was the embedded controller updated first?
Has the battery already been replaced?

Yes the embedded controller was updated first. I brought it to the shop where I had it purchased and thank god they confirmed that it was a battery problem. The only problem is that don't have any immediate replacement.

They had to take my battery and told me they'll give me a call when a replacement will be available. Even worse is that none of them could even give me an estimate in days, weeks or months as to how long before I can get the replacement.

I asked if the bios update from IBM, or should I say Lenovo, had anything to do with it but they were not sure at the moment.

How I wish I could get the same IBM service as with other countries where such relacements are a lot more faster and more convenient.

Shouldn't take that long--- you're a lot closer to the battery makers than we are in the states

Question though- if they don't have another battery to swap, how did they determine the issue is just the battery? I'm not saying their diagnosis isn't correct, just curious.

I take back my previous post about IBM service here in my country. Just yesterday I tried calling them up and to my surprise the support guy asked for my address and said they're gonna deliver the battery directly to me.

I do have a battery. Its just that I took it to the shop where I bought my TP hoping they will immediately cover the warranty. They swapped my battery with that of another R51 and confirmed that it was indeed a battery problem.

Out of desperation I tried calling up IBM for alternatives after I was told of the indefinite date for the replacement. I narrated the story about how the shop, which wasn't even a certified direct reseller, diagnosed it to be a battery problem. The support guy just asked for some serial numbers and verfiied the warranty and presto... he said he's gonna send me the replacement right to my doorstep. But he gave the condition that I have to surrender the non-functional one.

By the way, I live in a quite remote province far away from the IBM office and it is way beyond my expectation when they offered to deliver the replacement.

Although it is true that the parts manufacturers are quite near my country, and some of them are even manufactured here, for some reason it is very hard to directly purchase parts or replacements without going through resellers and without shedding cash not even citizens of above average economic status would consider.

I had a very bad experience before with my Compaq laptop where the hard drive crashed and I was told to cash out roughly $800 to send the thing to Singapore for repairs. I guess that experience left a trauma in my mind about getting service for my laptops.

My R51 is my very first TP, I am very happy with it and the legendary service I have encountered many times in this forum. Now I can attest not only to its quality but also of its service.

Great to hear another service story with happy ending.

In US, the IBM support is usually excellent. Whenever I have a faulty part, they next day air a new part to me. But there are repair depots that contract with IBM. Support service from these non-genuine IBM centers can be hit and miss.