T40p (2373-G1U), battery won't charge, fan runs all the time

[dc_slim]

Do these symptoms indicate that the motherboard is bad? Any easy fixes?

Here's the weird thing: the battery charges at a very slow rate when the system is on, but it doesn't when it's off (or in standby). Somehow it's getting a little bit of a charge, which I guess blows my theory that the charging circuit had been fried.

I've tried several different batteries and chargers, and it does the same thing with all of them. It's the system, not a battery or charger issue.

Any thoughts?

[agarza]

Some ideas pops to my mind:
1. Have you tried using isopropyl alcohol and clean the contacts of the battery to the laptop?
2. Check the status of the battery you're trying to charge with Battery MaxiMiser.

Maybe also an internal dust-off will help the fan to stay off more time

[richk]

Look at the battery maximizer settings. The settings to prolong battery life, only charge the battery when the power level is below a certain amount.

[dc_slim]

I finally figured it out. It turns out to have been a software problem. The software for my Maxtor back-up drive was causing the cpu to run at max, thus sucking lots of power and draining the battery. Killing the background process fixed the problem.

Once I figured out that the batter was getting a very slight charge, I realized that it probably wasn't a hardware issue.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'm glad that I figured out what was going on before I bought a new motherboard.