T41p battery issue - voltage, no charge

[pmradio]

Last year I bought a second-hand T41p and have been very happy with it up 'til now. In early December, I noticed the battery was down to 5 percent and would not go up. I assumed it was a battery issue from things I was reading and after being concerned about cheap batteries on ebay, sent mine off to be "rebuilt" by Batteryrefill.com. I'm assuming they did a fine job, but the battery will not charge.

Maximizer reports 98-99% full when I first put it in, but it refuses to run on battery. I double-checked and it says it has a solid voltage coming through but NO charge. If I pull out the charger while running, it instantly goes dead, so I know that 98% is incorrect.

I'm guessing from previous posts, it could be the charger (my boss has a T41 so I'll see if I can borrow his charger), but I'm afraid it could be an expensive repair...motherboard? Are their inexpensive reliable services available to check this out? Is it better just to find a used MB on ebay and try to do a swap myself? I've built my desktop with a friend from ground up so have some knowledge, but I'm no expert and this is my first laptop, so I've not worked on one before.

One other thing, I've seen several references to a recondition battery option, but I don't see that on my T41p (I have updated to the latest drivers/etc using Thinkpad's utilities to do so.

To add insult to injury, tonight it started to make a small rattling noise while running. I blew some canned air up there but it's still making the noise.

[Dimitri_P]

If it doesn't charge - motherboard, sorry.

[pmradio]

If it doesn't charge - motherboard, sorry.

So, what's the best and least-expensive option at this point?

[Dimitri_P]

still under warranty?

If not I can sell you a t41p motherboard, and I'll buy yours back for parts.

PM me.

[pmradio]

PM sent. Thanks.

Paul

[kchung]

Try this:

Remove AC power and battery. Push power button 10 times (1 second on, one second off). Hold power button in for 30 seconds or more. Re-install battery and AC power.

Try to see if battery will charge or be seen. I've seen this technique work to resolve funky mother board issues including power on and battery charging issues.

Definately try the battery in another T40/1/2/3 laptop as well.

Is the BIOS current on your laptop? I think the T41 series has a bios update that addressed a battery issue.

[pmradio]

kchung,

Thanks for the tips. I've been searching the board for a week or so and ran across this suggestion. I did try it, but did not do it 1 sec for the 10 pushes. I'll retry it. The first attempt was a no-go. Appreciate it!

Paul