Thinkpads Forum

This is too weird not to comment on . . . I've had my T61 for about 3 weeks now, using it almost every day, battery is 100% though I'm most often plugged in to AC. From time to time (so far at unpredictable times), while plugged in, the screen will dim to my 'battery' settings, the battery icon will appear in the task bar, and about five seconds later it will disappear, the screen will return to AC settings and things carry on as normal. Except it's not . . . The power has not gone out (i.e., the very sensitive digital clocks in my house are not flashing), I can wiggle the AC plug and cannot reproduce the power glitch. I just don't know what's going on. It's as if there's a 'lease' on a timer that needs to test the battery from time to time. Am I the only one this happens to?

Just did it again . . . What was that-- 54 minutes (judging by time b/t posts)?

Maybe check the part that plugs into the power brick? Sometimes I don't plug it all the way in, and my T61p tells me about it the same way.

Thanks. It seemed to be snug, but I'll see what happens after giving it an extra push.

Ive never heard of this problem before. It could be a serious problem.

Or might be a bad AC charger. Or wall outlet.

You wouldn't happen to have a UPS that you could plug your AC adapter in?

I might be able to find one at school. Why? What's your suspicion? Is there a test I can do w/ a UPS? When you say "serious" you're thinking . . . ? You kind of left me hanging here, Padhead!

Paul Unger wrote:I might be able to find one at school. Why? What's your suspicion? Is there a test I can do w/ a UPS? When you say "serious" you're thinking . . . ? You kind of left me hanging here, Padhead!

Don't worry -- these AC adapters do not have a failure mode which can hurt your notebook. At most, you'll have replace the AC cord, the AC adapter, or the DC jack. The suggestion about the UPS was so that you eliminate intermittent line voltage as a variable.

EOMtp wrote:

Paul Unger wrote:I might be able to find one at school. Why? What's your suspicion? Is there a test I can do w/ a UPS? When you say "serious" you're thinking . . . ? You kind of left me hanging here, Padhead!

Don't worry -- these AC adapters do not have a failure mode which can hurt your notebook. At most, you'll have replace the AC cord, the AC adapter, or the DC jack. The suggestion about the UPS was so that you eliminate intermittent line voltage as a variable.

Correct using an UPS would narrow it down to the machine, but then still leave open a host of other possibilities, some of which go beyond the AC adapter and any of it's components.

If you were ever thinking of getting another AC adapter or a docking station which often comes with another adapter, now is the time to get it.

Do you know your warranty status?

Padhead wrote:Do you know your warranty status?

It's a brand new machine.

There's still different warranty situations depending on how you bought it, or where you bought it or if it was new or refurbed etc.

Some warranties start from when they were made, not sold.

Some are one or three or five year, etc

Some are onsite or some you have to ship the machine.

Do you know what you have? If not, go to the lenovo site , and punch in your type and serial number in the warranty finder.

If it is onsite, Id have them come out take a look.

Paul, I once had a T23 with the exact same problem. I didn't know how to fix the problem but found that it could be suppressed by choosing the "Maximum performance" power scheme in the BIOS.

Well, that would be less than ideal. Starting to wonder about this T61 . . . a low-powered USB port, a power problem. Maybe I had it too good with my T42s! Glad I still have them. That said, it hasn't happened to me today. Maybe it was a less-than-fully-inserted AC power cord? I sure hope so.

Paul Unger wrote:Maybe it was a less-than-fully-inserted AC power cord? I sure hope so.

You mentioned that you tightened up the connection earlier, so that very well could be it.