Thinkpads Forum

I ebayed an aftermarket non-Lenovo battery. My machine recognizes that this is an "alien" and displays an alert in the tray (triangle with question mark). How do I get rid of this?

I'm OK with the alien battery

Uninstalling Power Manager would probably do it, I think those pop ups usually come from that

Shame to hear you bought non-Lenovo. The Lenovo batteries last a lot longer (lifetime-wise) than non-OEM.

Also, I wouldn't mess with a good thing. If that battery causes you problems (from undervolting to overvolting to catching fire) Lenovo has its hands clean and the damage will be yours alone to bare.

Uninstalling the power manager will probably make the prompts go away. GL.

iamdmc wrote:Shame to hear you bought non-Lenovo. The Lenovo batteries last a lot longer (lifetime-wise) than non-OEM.

Actually, Lenovo uses a couple of different brands of batteries. The companies that Lenovo buys their batteries from is the same company Dell and Acer by from as well.

That's pretty cool that the Power Manager recognizes "alien" batteries. Rock on!

Let me rephrase: In my experience, the non-OEM batteries are horrible. They have better life at first, then it drops off around 6 months and around 1 year you have a heavy paperweight.

While I realize that Lenovo doesn't "make" their own batteries, and that this is true of most Lenovo products, they still have a "Lenovo quality" reputation - one they wholeheartedly live up to, IMHO

kennyschiff wrote:I ebayed an aftermarket non-Lenovo battery. My machine recognizes that this is an "alien" and displays an alert in the tray (triangle with question mark). How do I get rid of this?

I'm OK with the alien battery

I am very interested if you can give a short review on this battery you bought. I have myself looked at some non-oem batteries on eBay for the X61. Can you provide a link to the auction?

not that i want to create bad feelings,
but could someone please contribute to the main topic of this thread, namely " how to get rid off the bubble?" (whilst keeping the power manager!)
greetz

iamdmc wrote:Let me rephrase: In my experience, the non-OEM batteries are horrible. They have better life at first, then it drops off around 6 months and around 1 year you have a heavy paperweight.

I had this same experience with the Lenovo/Panasonic battery that initially came with my T60 so I don't really have any expectations for laptop battery longevity anymore. Naturally the warranty is only good for 1 year too.

thormdac: try disabling some of the alerts within Power Manager that have to do with battery health.

What model ThinkPad are you using?

I'm surprised at the territorial nature of this thread. I needed an extra battery to be used on an overseas flight. I didn't want to spend $180 for an 8-cell battery. The battery I bought cost me $81.53 (w/shipping).

Here's a link to the auction I won.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0219919847

Their feedback ratings are impeccable (99.6% positive against over 13k interactions).

I bet you someone knows how to shut off the alert

P.S. I have an X61 7675CTO

It would be nice if someone would answer the question rather than try to sell you on the merits of buying genuine.

I have a similar problem with a GENUINE lenovo battery. Its a little black icon telling me to buy a new battery because mine is only running at 95% of original capacity. Clicking on the icon doesnt work because the server link is broken.

I also don't appreciate Lenovo advertising stuff on my screen with no ability to turn it off!

Try asking the eBay supplier of the battery...they may have the answer. I see you have an X6x series...that inforamtion is helpful. As stated above...Lenovo does have a nag to buy from them. Is that the issue? Other than that...does that battery work well?

Bill

I did a complete recharge cycle and so far so good. The battery appears well made and I suspect there will be no issues with it.

Good idea about contacting the folks I bought it from.

billp117 wrote:Try asking the eBay supplier of the battery...they may have the answer. I see you have an X6x series...that inforamtion is helpful. As stated above...Lenovo does have a nag to buy from them. Is that the issue? Other than that...does that battery work well?

Bill

Do you know how to get rid of the "nag", as thats what is bugging me.

A tip in terms of pricing: Don't buy direct from Lenovo unless they are somehow cheaper or you have to.

If my 8-cell wasn't $90 after shipping and tax from Lenovo direct, I wouldn't have purchased it through them. Perusing eBay, I found a number of Lenovo OEM 8-cell batteries for $80-100. Why risk it with a non-OEM battery that costs the same, has a 6 month warranty, and may/will likely cause you more headache than you need?

As far as the getting rid of the annoying "battery not genuine" prompt, the seller would probably be the person to ask.
GL

My nag went away...Bill

[quote="iamdmc"]A tip in terms of pricing: Don't buy direct from Lenovo unless they are somehow cheaper or you have to.

If my 8-cell wasn't $90 after shipping and tax from Lenovo direct, I wouldn't have purchased it through them. Perusing eBay, I found a number of Lenovo OEM 8-cell batteries for $80-100. Why risk it with a non-OEM battery that costs the same, has a 6 month warranty, and may/will likely cause you more headache than you need?

As far as the getting rid of the annoying "battery not genuine" prompt, the seller would probably be the person to ask.
GL[/quote

This in no way answers the original posters question and seems a bit sanctimonious. As I have highlighted you can get a nag with a genuine battery]

krypto: my nag about declining capacity with the T60 original battery went away after a couple days. However it came up again and again as it rapidly went from 70% to 30% to 15% within a week. Has yours gone away yet?

I've now come into possession of a generic battery (involutarily) so I'll see if this non-genuine nag message goes away as well.

krypto wrote:It would be nice if someone would answer the question rather than try to sell you on the merits of buying genuine.

I have a similar problem with a GENUINE lenovo battery. Its a little black icon telling me to buy a new battery because mine is only running at 95% of original capacity. Clicking on the icon doesnt work because the server link is broken.

I also don't appreciate Lenovo advertising stuff on my screen with no ability to turn it off!

In the Power Manager, look for the Options button in the lower left. Click that. Turn off the checkbox for "period messages about battery charge capacity".

iamdmc wrote:Shame to hear you bought non-Lenovo. The Lenovo batteries last a lot longer (lifetime-wise) than non-OEM.

This is hilarious. I bought this T60 for 90 euro and didn't consider it very expedient to invest 180 in a branded battery which is basically needed only in the unlikely case of power cuts. I had to do this because the Lenovo one only runs for ten minutes, even though the Lenovo battery is reported to be healthy and in good capacity.

Who is growing all those morons...?

Welcome to thinkpads.com.

Not sure why you are dragging up a 7 year old thread just to call some people "morons", but if it's directed at any of the members here, you'd best stop that behavior now (re: read the forum's Rules of the Road).

As far as your battery only running 10 minutes, while reported to be in good health, there could be a couple of reasons why this may be happening. What program/utility exactly is telling you that the battery is "healthy" and in "good capacity"? If it's Power Manager, you should also be able to see when the battery was first put to use, how many charge cycles it has endured, the manufacturer of the cells, the Wh (watt-hour) design rating when it was new, and the current capacity. Give us that information and we might be able to enlighten you.

rkawakami wrote:As far as your battery only running 10 minutes, while reported to be in good health, there could be a couple of reasons why this may be happening. What program/utility exactly is telling you that the battery is "healthy" and in "good capacity"? If it's Power Manager, you should also be able to see when the battery was first put to use, how many charge cycles it has endured, the manufacturer of the cells, the Wh (watt-hour) design rating when it was new, and the current capacity. Give us that information and we might be able to enlighten you.

I retired the Lenovo battery and cannot put it back right now, but if memory serves, according to Power Manager it was made / put to use in 2008, the charge cycles reported is about 50-60, the manufacturer is Sony. Clearly the software fails to recognize and report correctly the actual condition of the battery. Never mind.

My message which I put forth in an impolite manner perhaps (sorry for that) is that before proclaiming the bliss of using exclusively Lenovo-certified non-durables please consider that it just may not be feasible in every situation, and that the right to choose the brand of the battery is the customer's.

I then noticed that the same remark has been made in other threads on this same topic.

By the way, one could patch the Power Manager in order to not show the nag (or alternatively to show a message that cheers the customer for selecting a non-Lenovo brand), but it seems that it can also be disabled by hiding the battery gauge and the messages.

The main reason why Lenovo has implemented the battery check has to do with safety (according to them anyway). Non-certified batteries could be of inferior quality which could lead to damage of the laptop or of the surrounding area; think: fire. Of course that hasn't prevented Lenovo from issuing several battery recalls from "quality" vendors (Sony, Panasonic, et al). Yes, as a consumer you should have the right to use whatever you want. Yes, factory batteries are usually fairly expensive. Yes, there is a Power Manager "hack" that can be done to suppress the annoying pop-ups.

A seven year old battery, even with a small number of charge cycles (if your figure is correct), could have a very small runtime. The recommended procedure to verify the battery's condition is to run it down until the laptop shuts off and then fully charge it. Do this two or three times and see if that improves the life. A "good" battery is normally needed in order to do BIOS updates; there's a hack for that too. In some cases, you need a "good" battery in order to run the CPU at full speed. So a working battery is not just for the occasional mains power loss.

rkawakami wrote:Non-certified batteries could be of inferior quality which could lead to damage

This which I bought is Sanyo.

of the laptop or of the surrounding area; think: fire.

I have insurance.

Of course that hasn't prevented Lenovo from issuing several battery recalls from "quality" vendors (Sony, Panasonic, et al).

You see.

A seven year old battery, even with a small number of charge cycles (if your figure is correct), could have a very small runtime. The recommended procedure to verify the battery's condition is to run it down until the laptop shuts off and then fully charge it. Do this two or three times and see if that improves the life.

And then what. Why to bother.

A "good" battery is normally needed in order to do BIOS updates; there's a hack for that too.

Do you think that there is a lot of such updates available for T60?

In some cases, you need a "good" battery in order to run the CPU at full speed. So a working battery is not just for the occasional mains power loss.

Exactly the reason why I purchased one.

1. Reviving dead topic threads is generally frowned upon especially when the new post does not add anything constructive on the subject matter. Name-calling does not help.

2. The people on this forum can only recommend, not coerce, that you buy a genuine battery. Whether you do so or not is entirely in your discretion.

3. IMO non-original batteries are like cheap, generic PC power supplies: while some can be good, others are plain garbage. The problem is how to determine which is which before purchasing. One non-original battery I bought didn't even rescpect/follow the charge start/stop setting in Power Manager-- as a result, it had less than half capacity by the end of the year. Now it's steady-- at 4% capacity.

drharri wrote:

A seven year old battery, even with a small number of charge cycles (if your figure is correct), could have a very small runtime. The recommended procedure to verify the battery's condition is to run it down until the laptop shuts off and then fully charge it. Do this two or three times and see if that improves the life.

And then what. Why to bother.

As I just said, this "reconditioning" of the battery may allow for a better charge (longer run time) and more accurate information from Power Manager. Surely that is worth doing as it doesn't take too much of your time and effort.

drharri wrote:

A "good" battery is normally needed in order to do BIOS updates; there's a hack for that too.

Do you think that there is a lot of such updates available for T60?

Well, depending upon the previous history of your T60, you could be several updates back. The last BIOS update was around 2010/2011 on T60 systems (different versions of BIOS for non-wide and widescreen models). I do have to say that I usually don't update my own systems unless I have a known problem with the way it is currently running. In other words, I don't fix it if it ain't broken.

rkawakami wrote:

drharri wrote:And then what. Why to bother.

As I just said, this "reconditioning" of the battery may allow for a better charge (longer run time) and more accurate information from Power Manager. Surely that is worth doing as it doesn't take too much of your time and effort.

Possibly the battery might then run 15 minutes? And PM might report that I should replace it. But I already did that.

In other words, I don't fix it if it ain't broken.

Neither I.

axur-delmeria wrote:2. The people on this forum can only recommend, not coerce, that you buy a genuine battery. Whether you do so or not is entirely in your discretion.

Why should they recommend anyone to buy a Lenovo battery in the first place? Especially when this thread never was about buying Lenovo batteries. Or do they get provision?

(Naturally any battery is genuine, except some sort of a mock battery perhaps.)

3. IMO non-original batteries are like cheap, generic PC power supplies: while some can be good, others are plain garbage. The problem is how to determine which is which before purchasing.

My country is different from yours in the respect that here the merchant is responsible for the quality of the goods he is selling. So if the merchandise is plain garbage, the seller will be forced to refund the paid amount, and if they don't do this or continue the fraud, they will be fined and blacklisted and go soon out of business.

One non-original battery I bought didn't even rescpect/follow the charge start/stop setting in Power Manager-- as a result, it had less than half capacity by the end of the year. Now it's steady-- at 4% capacity.

I'm sorry to read about that and wish that your next acquisitions are more successful.

I once more took the "genuine" (Lenovo) battery out of trashcan. After a couple of reconditioning cycles, PM shows:

Condition: Good
Full charge capacity: 27.52 Wh
Cycle count: 44
Design capacity: 56.16 Wh

And it runs for about ten minutes. At about 9 minutes the charge level appears to drop suddenly from more than 90 % to 4 %. Pretty soon after that, the machine is out of power and hibernates, unless connected to mains.

Perhaps I return this one to trash and stick with the "non-genuine". Even though it is reported to be "good".