T41p unable to charge, motherboard problem?

[hermandr]

Hi,

My T41p is past warranty period.
It has been unable to charge the battery.
If the battery is fully charged, it will drain.
If power adapter is on, it will take power from adapter but will not charge the battery.
I sent it in the IBM repair shop and they say it is the motherboard problem.

Anyone can help me how to fix this?

Herman

[rkawakami]

There are several things that can go wrong on the motherboard which will prevent the battery from charging:

- blown fuse; probably a 10 amp close to the main battery terminals
- loose inductor in the charging circuit
- damaged component such as a transistor or power conditioning IC

Generally it's difficult to perform a detailed circuit diagnostic without any schematics so about the only thing you can do is look for obvious damage to the parts/board. You then have to figure out what the component is and replace it with an identical unit.

That's basically why it is easier to replace the entire motherboard.

[GACrabill]

Here's the text from a very interesting document from HP / Compaq :

" Understanding battery charging issues :
If the notebook battery is not charging or the notebook does not indicate that the battery is charging, the most likely scenario is that the battery itself is operating correctly, but its power management software may have become corrupt. In order to correct the problem, you will need to uninstall and reinstall the power management software by using the Device Manager. This document will explain how to uninstall and reinstall the ACPI Battery listings in Windows XP.

Uninstalling and reinstalling power management software in Windows XP :
In order to correct problems with the battery's power management software, follow the steps below.
1. Click Start, then right-click My Computer , and click Properties .
2. Select the Hardware tab, and then click the Device Manager .
3. Expand the Batteries category.
4. Under the Batteries category, right-click the Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery listing, and select Uninstall .
WARNING: Do not remove the Microsoft AC Adapter driver or any other ACPI compliant driver.
5. On the Device Manager taskbar, click Scan for hardware changes .
Alternately, select the Batteries category, then select Action > Scan for hardware changes .
Windows will scan your computer for hardware that doesn't have drivers installed, and will install the drivers needed to manage your battery's power. The notebook should now indicate that the battery is charging."

This solution seems simple to try with very little risk.
This solution fixed a friend's non-charging Compaq laptop when he was sure that it needed a motherboard repair.