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SOLVED: T60 Freezes (Because of bad battery)

T60/T61 Series
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rossmosis
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SOLVED: T60 Freezes (Because of bad battery)

#1 Post by rossmosis » Sat Jul 09, 2011 3:35 pm

EDIT: Thanks to everybody in the posts below, I am certain that the issue I was having was caused by the bad battery. I was able to browse the internet for about an hour without the battery and having both RAM sticks in using an Ubuntu live CD (I don't have a hard drive yet). Laptop ran cool, everything was fine. After that hour I put the battery back in and about a minute later it froze up. So I figure I'd update this whole post with what the problem was so when others search it they will find this thread and maybe a solution to their problem. I had never heard of a bad battery causing a whole computer to become crippled and I doubt many others have either. Thanks again everybody!



I bought a T60 today for pretty cheap without a hard drive, it is a 2007-4du with ATI graphics and 1.5GB of ram. BIOS works fine for any amount of time and I can go through the menus for as long as I want, but when I boot with a live CD of Ubuntu it freezes after using the cursor for about 20 seconds and wont do anything until I shut it off with the power button. So how much trouble is it in? It is such a clean machine, has a finger print reader and the keyboard has absolutely no shine so this problem is really bugging me. Is it because I don't have a hard drive in it yet? That's the only part that is missing from it currently.
Last edited by rossmosis on Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
main desktop: PowerMac G5 2ghz Late 2005. 4gb RAM, 400&160gb HDD. NEC 2490wuxi touchscreen. IBM Model M keyboard.
main laptop: ThinkPad L512 i5.
mobile laptop: ThinkPad x61t.
classic gaming laptops: iBook Lime 466mhz. PowerBook Lombard 400mhz.
hackintosh: ThinkPad T60. Snow Leopard.

Harryc
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Re: T60 Freezes

#2 Post by Harryc » Sat Jul 09, 2011 3:44 pm

I would boot up a PC-Doctor CD and run all diagnostics. Concentrate on memory and Video/GPU tests.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 56222.html
... as an alternative memory test -
http://www.memtest86.com/

rossmosis
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Re: T60 Freezes

#3 Post by rossmosis » Sat Jul 09, 2011 4:00 pm

Thanks Harry! Doing that completely slipped my mind, I'll post the results once it's finished.
main desktop: PowerMac G5 2ghz Late 2005. 4gb RAM, 400&160gb HDD. NEC 2490wuxi touchscreen. IBM Model M keyboard.
main laptop: ThinkPad L512 i5.
mobile laptop: ThinkPad x61t.
classic gaming laptops: iBook Lime 466mhz. PowerBook Lombard 400mhz.
hackintosh: ThinkPad T60. Snow Leopard.

Harryc
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Re: T60 Freezes

#4 Post by Harryc » Sat Jul 09, 2011 4:08 pm

You're welcome.
different: iBook G4/1.33Ghz
I just worked on an iBook G4 yesterday. Amazing machine. it was 7 years old and worked and looked like new. A DC-In power module had gone bad. It even had the original battery that still charged and held a charge. $35 later and a part from iFixit and it was out the door.

rossmosis
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Re: T60 Freezes

#5 Post by rossmosis » Sat Jul 09, 2011 4:19 pm

Yeah! Those are pretty nice machines, I actually sold that one in my signature for $250, $150 more than I paid for it! I buy one every time I see one for cheap because they can sell for a lot more than it's worth. I put it on craigslist with no price just to see what people would offer, and after getting that high of one I had to let it go. I'm currently working on an iBook G3 500mhz with the infamous graphics issue, but I think it's going to have to end up as parts.

I'm currently running that hardware test, so far everything has passed, but during a few tests the screen completely freaked out showing all sorts of colors flickering and at one point showed what looked like a inner-tube I'd pull behind a boat!
main desktop: PowerMac G5 2ghz Late 2005. 4gb RAM, 400&160gb HDD. NEC 2490wuxi touchscreen. IBM Model M keyboard.
main laptop: ThinkPad L512 i5.
mobile laptop: ThinkPad x61t.
classic gaming laptops: iBook Lime 466mhz. PowerBook Lombard 400mhz.
hackintosh: ThinkPad T60. Snow Leopard.

Harryc
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Re: T60 Freezes

#6 Post by Harryc » Sat Jul 09, 2011 4:41 pm

rossmosis wrote:... but during a few tests the screen completely freaked out showing all sorts of colors flickering and at one point showed what looked like a inner-tube I'd pull behind a boat!
LOL...yeah that is normal. Let us know if it finds anything.

rossmosis
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Re: T60 Freezes

#7 Post by rossmosis » Sat Jul 09, 2011 4:46 pm

Phew! It looked pretty gnarly, at first I thought the whole program was screwing up but then I figured it was testing the graphics or something.
main desktop: PowerMac G5 2ghz Late 2005. 4gb RAM, 400&160gb HDD. NEC 2490wuxi touchscreen. IBM Model M keyboard.
main laptop: ThinkPad L512 i5.
mobile laptop: ThinkPad x61t.
classic gaming laptops: iBook Lime 466mhz. PowerBook Lombard 400mhz.
hackintosh: ThinkPad T60. Snow Leopard.

rossmosis
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Re: T60 Freezes

#8 Post by rossmosis » Sat Jul 09, 2011 10:10 pm

The memory test finished fine, but it still freezes during one of the graphics tests. I noticed that it gets extremely hot when it's on too, could that be the problem?

edit-
I took the 1GB stick out, leaving it with only 512mb, and it seems a lot cooler and is actually getting through the complete test. Bad memory stick or socket?
main desktop: PowerMac G5 2ghz Late 2005. 4gb RAM, 400&160gb HDD. NEC 2490wuxi touchscreen. IBM Model M keyboard.
main laptop: ThinkPad L512 i5.
mobile laptop: ThinkPad x61t.
classic gaming laptops: iBook Lime 466mhz. PowerBook Lombard 400mhz.
hackintosh: ThinkPad T60. Snow Leopard.

ajkula66
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Re: T60 Freezes

#9 Post by ajkula66 » Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:20 pm

Likely a bad stick.

Try running the same 512MB DIMM in the other slot and see what happens.

How's the battery, BTW? These machines are known to randomly freeze when the battery is bad...
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

rossmosis
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Re: T60 Freezes

#10 Post by rossmosis » Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:34 pm

That battery thing might be true! I'm pretty sure the battery is shot. I tried booting a live disc of Ubuntu and it still didn't work after the tests working and coming back okay. I'll try it without the battery now

edit - I'm pretty sure the battery was the problem, as Ubuntu is working fine without any freezes yet! I guess I'm on the hunt now for a T60 battery as well as a SATA hard drive for it.
main desktop: PowerMac G5 2ghz Late 2005. 4gb RAM, 400&160gb HDD. NEC 2490wuxi touchscreen. IBM Model M keyboard.
main laptop: ThinkPad L512 i5.
mobile laptop: ThinkPad x61t.
classic gaming laptops: iBook Lime 466mhz. PowerBook Lombard 400mhz.
hackintosh: ThinkPad T60. Snow Leopard.

Harryc
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Re: T60 Freezes

#11 Post by Harryc » Sun Jul 10, 2011 5:15 am

Just out of curiosity, I believe one of the PC-Doctor tests is for the battery. Does it pass that test?

rossmosis
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Re: T60 Freezes

#12 Post by rossmosis » Sun Jul 10, 2011 9:59 am

Ah yes, it did fail the test, but I didn't think anything of it at the time as I just thought a dead battery didn't do anything--I had never heard of a dead battery in a laptop causing overheating and freezing! I bought it from the University of Wisconsin surplus that always has complete IBMs that are way overpriced, and then "for parts or repair" thinkpads/thinkcentres that are usually just missing their hard drives. I'm pretty sure the people testing it didn't know about the battery thing and just assumed that it was broken and just marked it down dirt cheap.

I'm thinking of buying this battery and hope it can actually hold a charge for a few hours--
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:IT
main desktop: PowerMac G5 2ghz Late 2005. 4gb RAM, 400&160gb HDD. NEC 2490wuxi touchscreen. IBM Model M keyboard.
main laptop: ThinkPad L512 i5.
mobile laptop: ThinkPad x61t.
classic gaming laptops: iBook Lime 466mhz. PowerBook Lombard 400mhz.
hackintosh: ThinkPad T60. Snow Leopard.

rewease
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Re: SOLVED: T60 Freezes (Because of bad battery)

#13 Post by rewease » Sun Mar 31, 2019 9:58 am

I can confirm that under certain circumstances a dead battery (flashing battery indicator) in the T60 can cause random freezing and also lockups while booting. Remove the dead battery to test against this problem.

Old thread, I know. But after swapping system boards for 3 hours I just want to share my insight and save some other fella the trouble.

Shredder11
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Re: SOLVED: T60 Freezes (Because of bad battery)

#14 Post by Shredder11 » Sun Mar 31, 2019 10:42 am

rewease wrote:
Sun Mar 31, 2019 9:58 am
I can confirm that under certain circumstances a dead battery (flashing battery indicator) in the T60 can cause random freezing and also lockups while booting. Remove the dead battery to test against this problem.

Old thread, I know. But after swapping system boards for 3 hours I just want to share my insight and save some other fella the trouble.
Thanks :)
Z61p x3 (C2D T7600, 3GB, 500GB SSD, BCM70015, Advanced Dock x1, Mini Dock x2)
W520 (C2Q i7-2720QM, 8GB, 60GB SSD)
X61 (C2D T7500, 3GB, 250GB SSD, BCM70015)
X61s (2GB, 120GB SSD)
T43p (P M 760, 2GB, IBM Port Replicator II, 128GB SSD)
G41 (P4 3.46GHz, 2GB, 128GB SSD)

singbad
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Re: SOLVED: T60 Freezes (Because of bad battery)

#15 Post by singbad » Fri Jun 21, 2019 3:19 am

I came here because it just happened to me. Old thread, old Thinkpad. Old battery, maybe "original first equipment" (what's the term for it?).

I have no problem running my T60 w/o battery but it looks weird and maybe the RTC/CMOS battery is getting discharged more quickly. Original spare batteries have got rare and expensive. So why not try to repair my battery?

I've salvaged so many good lithium cells from dead laptop batteries (I used a vice to crack the plastic cases) - why not replace them instead? I'm aware of the risks and implications, trust me.

First of all, how do I open the plastic case without damaging anything? Anybody there to share their experience with me?

TIA
singbad

ps
I found a reasonably priced battery on Aliexpress but as I want to order it says:

Shipping: € 944.32 (USD 1067.27) to Germany via PostNL
Estimated Delivery Time: 34 days

Apparently this is the same for all Laptop batteries on Aliexpress.
Last edited by singbad on Fri Jun 21, 2019 4:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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wujstefan
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Re: SOLVED: T60 Freezes (Because of bad battery)

#16 Post by wujstefan » Fri Jun 21, 2019 4:13 am

singbad wrote:
Fri Jun 21, 2019 3:19 am
Original spare batteries have got rare and expensive. So why not try to repair my battery?
Or you can post a PM to me and get a cheap, genuine battery for this one?

Those in Poland are still available (and definitely inexpensive).

Other than that, if looking for some batts to salvage I have a big box of damaged / worn batteries I have no heart to recycle and would love to give them out for a good word.
Too many thinkpads not enough time!
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singbad
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Re: SOLVED: T60 Freezes (Because of bad battery)

#17 Post by singbad » Fri Jun 21, 2019 6:50 am

Thank you @wujstefan for pointing me to Ebay. I had searched there earlier but must have missed the real bargains. I saw some in "sold items" today so I saved my search query on Ebay hoping they'll re-appear.

I guess the bizarre shipping costs I saw on Aliexpress might be just other words for "currently out of stock"
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wujstefan
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Re: SOLVED: T60 Freezes (Because of bad battery)

#18 Post by wujstefan » Fri Jun 21, 2019 7:32 am

I was rather thinking of hitting marketplace here rather than ebay :) Some of forum users still have some spare / used / new-old stock (NOS) genuine batteries that would fit your system.

Note that T60 accepts R61 (non-14,1") and T500 batteries, and these are easier to source.
Too many thinkpads not enough time!
(stable under reduction)

rewease
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Re: SOLVED: T60 Freezes (Because of bad battery)

#19 Post by rewease » Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:30 am

T60 (and all of the newer) batteries are somewhat 'tamper proof'. They are hard to open without destroying them and as soon as the µC notices no voltage on any of the cell pairs it locks the battery pack - for good.

I have soldered new cells into one of my Thinkpad 600 batteries maybe 5 times over the years (15 years or so). But with the newer stuff it's just not worth it. I'd go compatible off ebay or amazon. 20€ shipped, no hassle.

sebastek
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Re: SOLVED: T60 Freezes (Because of bad battery)

#20 Post by sebastek » Mon Feb 22, 2021 5:08 pm

Hello, greetings from Colombia. I confirm the issue. I bought a T60 for cheap a year ago, I intended to use it only for retro gaming on WinXP, now i have dual boot WinXP/Win10 and now is my PC to office work, lol!, a 15 years old laptop still running and useful, Crazy stuff... Now the issue: the battery is the original OEM one and was holding about 5 minutes of charge, but was recognized by the PC as a working battery, now after a power out the battery fully discharged and now is dead, blinking battery indicator on the T60. After that, Win10 started to freeze, even in safe mode and also booting from USB to repair Win10 it froze. I thought that the OS was damaged because winXP runs fine with the dead battery, but i removed the dead battery and now Win10 works fine. maybe the power management drivers for Win10 are buggy? I don't now...
My thinkpads: 760XL MMX 166, T42 (looking for a main board), 770X: PII 400, 1280x1024. T400: P8700, 6GB, T60: T7200, 3GB, 1400x1050, X1300 with dual winXP/win10 running fine.

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