Thinkpads Forum

I know this has been discussed before, but i couldn't find a solution to my problem.
i had a nice and healthy nine cell battery less than two year old, in good condition.
one day i turn on the computer and the batt maximizer tool says "critical batt error..." and then in the next line it says "Batt in good condition". and of course the computer wont power without the AC

this prompted me to think that it is a chip/software prob rather than a batt fail.
also it still told me how much the battery was charged and in fact over the two weeks that have passes i notice the percentage go down two points which is what would happen to an idle healthy battery.

i updated the various drivers (though not the bios because i think i need a battery for that) and not the new maximizer says that "the batt has failed due to normal wear and cannot be replaced" i still refuse to believe that.

any ideas would be very welcome,
thanks a bunch

Batteries can die in a week, a month, a year, anytime they choose.
Get a new (original IBM or Lenovo) battery.

That doesn't sound right, lithium ion batteries (Or polymer if you're talking about the Ultrabay and T4x0s) should have a 3 year life to 50% (Average*, 25-75% depending on external conditons and cycles). Unless one (*Or more) of the cells decided to just die one day, you'll generally see it slowly go down in condition for capacity.

Perhaps you can try rebuilding the pack and finding which cells are dead? It'd save you money because some of the cells in there are still quite healthy.

what i was thinking is that since there is definitely a charge capacity still (even the power gauge agrees on that) then there must be a different hardware malfunction along the way, either a chip in the battery or a chip in the computer

How about removing the battery and putting in another Thinkpad to see what happens?

hoping to do that as soon as i can get my hands on one...