Battery does not receive any charge voltage fromT41 Thinkpad

[garyandbeth202]

All of a sudden even though all indications show that the battery is charging - ie. solid yellow/orange light, battery information states charging (however with no current or wattage indication), and battery health is good. The battery % still never increases on the maximiser gauge. Suspecting that the battery was at fault I got a new one but the same story. Therefore took the keyboard off and checked if the battery was actually receiving any voltage from the motherboard to charge it and No it wasn't. Input jack is in good condition and 16V is supplied to both pins and 0v to two pins. Anyone had this problem before? Anyone hazzard a guess whether it is a software fault or a Hardware fault? Any help would be appreciated.

[richk]

It is hard to diagnose from here, but it probably is not software. I have seen the same symptoms twice. In one case, I was using the wrong A/C adapter (3.5 amps instead of 4.5 amps). In the other case, I replaced a blown fuse with one from a bad board. If you have another A/C adapter, try that first. Otherwise, if it is a fuse, unless you can find someone who does that kind of board repair, you need a motherboard.

[garyandbeth202]

where is the fuse likely to be?

[garyandbeth202]

AHA found the fuses - unfortunetely no go - they are both good. Charger is also a 4.5 A 16V jobbie and voltage tested at input when power applied as 16.2V so all is good there.

[bill bolton]

Anyone hazzard a guess whether it is a software fault or a Hardware fault?

Sounds like it a planar (motherboard) fault.

If possible check to see if the batteries will charge on another T4x ThinkPad as a crosscheck.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[Padhead]

I had a related problem. I bought a non oem battery on ebay. I installed it, it worked for a day, but then it wouldn't charge again. I had the same problem with solid yellow battery light blinking, etc. The gauge was all over the place saying it 100% charged or 0% charged, etc.

I put the original (OEM) battery back in, and everything was fine. They ebay vendor finally sent me another battery after having to call them a few times. Same thing happened AGAIN.

Everything cleared-up when I realized that you get what you pay for, and I bought a real battery.

Maybe it's the battery itself?

[garyandbeth202]

Thanks for your replies but the replacement battery I got direct from IBM and is tested on a good thinkpad and charges fine, gives the correct charge % to the thinkpad but does not get charge voltage from this particular thinkpad.

[rkawakami]

Look around the motherboard near where the battery terminals are and you should probably see something like what is at map location G6 in these images:

http://www.kawakami-ca.com/ibm_t2x/t22_ ... legend.jpg (T22 motherboard)
http://www.kawakami-ca.com/ibm_t2x/mobo ... legend.jpg (T23 motherboard)

The dark, squarish-looking component with a circular ring on the top is an inductor. Check to make sure that both tabs at the bottom of the part is firmly attached to the motherboard. I have seen problems with T2x systems that fail to charge batteries and it was because these parts were disconnected.