Orange battery light flashing - Does it matter?

[The Cheek]

Hey guys, the battery light on my T42 has been flashing orange since this morning.

I knew whan I bought it that the battery was on it's last legs so I always have the thinkpad plugged into AC, I don't mind this at all as I never leave the house with the thinkpad.

So, I ask you, does it matter that the battery light is flashing orange as long as I leave it plugged in to the AC? Can I just not worry about it since I never run it on battery power?

Cheers,

Gareth

[killer]

Welcome to the forum.

Just remove the battery and run the machine from the mains.

I have seen replacement batteries on Ebay. How good they are is a question I can't answer. The benefit of having a battery, if you never move the machine, is that it acts as an uninterrupted power supply. So when the gales come in from the Atlantic and the electricity in your area suddenly fails you can still do a controlled shut down.

[The Cheek]

Great, thanks v much for your answer!

[ajkula66]

If you keep the machine running with the battery that's blinking orange, you'll eventually damage the charging circuit on the motherboard.

And, if you run the machine on AC adapter only with no battery installed, your CPU most likely won't be able to run at full speed.

[Ralf Hutter]

And, if you run the machine on AC adapter only with no battery installed, your CPU most likely won't be able to run at full speed.

Isn't this just an issue with T6x's and later?

His sig says he's running a T42 which should run at full speed on AC only. I have 4 T42's and all run at full speed with no battery in place.

[ajkula66]

@RalfHutter:

What software are you using to determine whether the CPU is running at top speed?

Linux can get around this, but XP can't, at least in my experience.

[richk]

I believe that your CPU will always run at full speed on T42, but sometimes, there is a power "blip" on A/C. Your machine will die abruptly. (not good for it or what you are doing) A crummy battery is better than no battery, but no battery is better than a dead battery.

[Ralf Hutter]

@RalfHutter:

What software are you using to determine whether the CPU is running at top speed?

Linux can get around this, but XP can't, at least in my experience.

Whatever I've used over the years has worked just fine. These days I'm using Notebook Hardware Control and Mobilmeter, in the past I've used RMClock, cpuZ and something else that I can't remember right now.