Thinkpads Forum

My laptop keeps coming up with a black screen with an error message in the old school computer font and saying that:

there was a hardware malfunction and it had to shutdown to prevent something. It also mentioned something about BIOS and to press f8 and to change or remove something.

this is all alien to me; whats this all mean and what do I gotta do to fix the issue?

Could it have anything to do with the new battery I go months ago?

If you post the complete error message we may be able to decipher it.

I'd also add that you need to give us a better description then "your laptop". Unless you want a lot of useless guesses as to the problem, you should post everyting you know about it, and the error.

Well I'll have to wait until it happens again now

Does the background screen is blue? If so it's probably a windows error...

Vonfeffer wrote:Does the background screen is blue? If so it's probably a windows error...

not that i know of. I think once or twice it went blue - however more recently it the error message has been against a black screen

Perhaps a picture would help your cause.

I'll also add that you've made three posts so far, gotten several requests for more information and you have yet to even tell us what kind of laptop you have. Unless you're a lot more forthcoming with information, you're not going to find any solutions.

To be a little more specific... Your response should contain the following:

- Full seven character MODEL TYPE of your laptop, found on a black and white bar code label on the bottom. Assuming that you have a Thinkpad T6x system, then that would be something like 195x-yyy or 766x-yyy ('x' can be any number, while 'yyy' can be any three letters and numbers). An example is here:

We don't need the serial number (S/N).
- Operating system, if known (i.e., Windows XP, Windows Vista, etc.)
- Complete error message. This might be hard to get if the message only appears for a few seconds and then the system re-boots. A photo would be ideal if you can manage to get one and post it to an image sharing web site.
- Any recent software or hardware changes that has been made to the system. You mentioned a new battery that was installed "months" ago. How long exactly and is it a genuine IBM/Lenovo battery (does it have an IBM or Lenovo logo somewhere on it)?

I'll go out on a limb and say that the message you got was probably from a Windows crash. Something like:

"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to be sure you have adequate disk space. If a driver is identified in the Stop message, disable the driver or check with the manufacturer for driver updates. Try chaging video adapters.

Check with your hardware vendor for any BIOS updates. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode."

This is probably followed by a line with "STOP" and a bunch of letters and numbers. If so, the first string after the STOP: is an important clue.

With this additional information, you'll have a better chance of getting assistance.

rkawakami wrote:To be a little more specific... Your response should contain the following:

- Full seven character MODEL TYPE of your laptop, found on a black and white bar code label on the bottom. Assuming that you have a Thinkpad T6x system, then that would be something like 195x-yyy or 766x-yyy ('x' can be any number, while 'yyy' can be any three letters and numbers). An example is here:

We don't need the serial number (S/N).
- Operating system, if known (i.e., Windows XP, Windows Vista, etc.)
- Complete error message. This might be hard to get if the message only appears for a few seconds and then the system re-boots. A photo would be ideal if you can manage to get one and post it to an image sharing web site.
- Any recent software or hardware changes that has been made to the system. You mentioned a new battery that was installed "months" ago. How long exactly and is it a genuine IBM/Lenovo battery (does it have an IBM or Lenovo logo somewhere on it)?

I'll go out on a limb and say that the message you got was probably from a Windows crash. Something like:

"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

- I got the ibm thinkpad t60
- Model: TYPE2007-CTO S/N
- Using Windows XP

- When i got the battery i just took the old one out and simply put the new one in

- As for the error message; i think it was similar to the one you said about the ..."windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer"

Admin edit: Removed serial number for owner's protection

Also - in my defense, I thought you didnt need all that info about the laptop since I posted my question in the correct series forum i.e t60 etc.

Most often those BSOD stop errors are caused by:
Faulty RAM - run Memtest86+ on each module, one at a time.
HDD can develop bad sectors - deep scan the disk for bad sectors
Windows system files can become corrupt for whatever reason (or no reason)
Non OEM batteries can do all sorts of weird things - run machine for a while without the battery to see if that makes any difference.

ggg wrote:Also - in my defense, I thought you didnt need all that info about the laptop since I posted my question in the correct series forum i.e t60 etc.

There were a lot of different T60-s in different sizes, different hardware inside them and different operating systems. The machine type numbers lets us go to lenovo.com and find out which T60 exactly you have.

Btw, rkawakami said we don't need your serial number (the number after S/N on the sticker). It gives even more information than the machine type alone, some of which might be considered sensitive.

hi

yeah - i looked at the battery and its not a bmi one but it seems to work in my laptop ok. also when i look at the battery info in the battery manager it says its in good condition and theres no error message. So is it still fine to continue using it - or will it do something bad to my computer?

ok so tell me this, if it says it has a 52oomAh on the actual battery, but when you look at the the full-charge-capacity (Wh) value and its less then that - is this definately a fake then?

I edited out the serial number. In most cases we don't need it for any hardware assistance because the model type is usually good enough. In this case since you have a "configure-to-order" (CTO) version, the serial could be used in a parts lookup to determine what options were shipped with the system when it left the factory. I just tried entering it into the Parts Lookup page at Lenovo.com and it came back as unknown. Either the posted S/N is wrong, or mostly likely, the system is too old to still be in the database.

The previous advice that Neil gave is best course of action. My suggestions would be to run memtest86+ first and if it runs without uncovering any memory errors, then remove the battery (run the laptop from the mains only) and see if that helps.

Since the battery manager is NOT saying you're using a non-approved battery, you should probably be okay with it. About the only "bad" thing it could do would be to not charge. The "worst" it could do is catch fire and destroy your laptop, but that can happen with any battery, even a factory one. As far as it being a "fake", I'm not sure in what context you mean. Does it have an actual IBM or Lenovo logo on it?

rkawakami wrote:
Since the battery manager is NOT saying you're using a non-approved battery, you should probably be okay with it. About the only "bad" thing it could do would be to not charge. The "worst" it could do is catch fire and destroy your laptop, but that can happen with any battery, even a factory one. As far as it being a "fake", I'm not sure in what context you mean. Does it have an actual IBM or Lenovo logo on it?

No - thats what i meant by it may be a fake; since my previous one had the ibm/lenovo logo but this new one doesnt

Well, in my opinion, it would be a "fake" if it HAD an IBM or Lenovo logo on it or it was sold to you as being a genuine factory part, when it really wasn't / isn't. What you have is basically an after-market version that is intended to be used in place of the original battery.

Also, if you are trying to compare the 5200mAH rating that's printed on the battery with the information being reported by the battery manager, then you need to look at the design capacity and NOT the full charge capacity. The design capacity assumes brand new cells. The full charge capacity is what the battery can store right now if fully charged. As it ages and endures repeated discharge-charge cycles, the full charge capacity will decrease.

rkawakami wrote:Well, in my opinion, it would be a "fake" if it HAD an IBM or Lenovo logo on it or it was sold to you as being a genuine factory part, when it really wasn't / isn't. What you have is basically an after-market version that is intended to be used in place of the original battery.

Also, if you are trying to compare the 5200mAH rating that's printed on the battery with the information being reported by the battery manager, then you need to look at the design capacity and NOT the full charge capacity. The design capacity assumes brand new cells. The full charge capacity is what the battery can store right now if fully charged. As it ages and endures repeated discharge-charge cycles, the full charge capacity will decrease.

Ok, thats very informative.

1) Is it ok to have this after-market version?

2) The design capacity says that it is 47.52 wh, is that any good, since it sayson the battery its 5200mAH?

Thank you

Legitimate aftermarket batteries aren't usually a problem, but these generic parts sometimes are low quality, and sometimes ok. There are also fake generics that are never submitted for proper testing by international safety organizations. These are usually smuggled into countries when the buyers get them shipped as a personal shipment direct from china. When this type of battery is legally imported and the customs dept is doing their job, they will be confiscated and destroyed, but most personal shipments (person to person) don't require documentation to prove they are genuine manufactured parts, not fakes, so customs has no choice but let them pass.

Getting back on topic... if you are getting the same errors without the battery installed, then it's not likely related. One thing you can do is boot your system up from a Linux LiveCD which you can get from ubuntu.com. Use the option to not make any changes to your computer and after you're up and running if you get no errors or crashes, then it's likely the problem is software, in which case it wouldn't require any part replacement to fix, reloading the operating system is the preferred solution, but someone with a lot of experience could fix your current installation, but perhaps not in a forum post.

If you get the same (or similar) problem using Linux, then you probably have some bad hardware. Things like memory testers are a good tool, but substitution of known good parts is usually faster and more conclusive.