Thinkpads Forum

About a month and a half ago a vase of water was dropped on my T61. When this happened the laptop was off, not plugged in and the lid was closed. There was noticeable moisture in the battery area so I removed the battery and let the laptop sit near a register to dry for about three weeks before I attempted anything. At the three week mark I turned it on and the battery was completely toast but the laptop would run on AC power. The wifi card was also fried. I ordered a replacement wifi card and that went smooth and it works great. My new battery however is another story. When I plug in the new battery my battery light on the screen flashes orange. The power manager tells me that the battery is plugged in and charging, but it remains at 0%. I have ordered an additional new 3rd party battery just to see if the battery is the problem. I have also ordered a new AC jack to replace in the laptop. Is there anything else I may be missing or should try? Thanks for taking the time to help.

The power connector is a "dumb" component and if you are getting steady power to your notebook isn't part of the problem.

If new battery doesn't solve the problem then I'd hunt a replacment system board, or what I prefer, a working board still in the chassis. Those tend to be cheaper on Ebay since folks wo remove a board completely tend to want more money for them. I apply fresh thermal paste to the CPU since I have 'em apart anyway.

I ensure I get Intel graphics boards for reliability and if there's any doubt I don't buy the donor.

There are plenty of cheep running T61s without hard drives on Ebay. You might get one of those and use yours for a drive and RAM and (if you have a better screen) display donor.