T430s Battery not supported

[BobA]

I have a T430s that I received with a T420s battery (FRU 42T4846 and 42T4844). At boot time, I get the error:

The battery installed is not supported by this system and will not charge. Please replace the battery with the correct Lenovo battery for this system.

If I just need a BIOS upgrade, well .. BIOS upgrades require a charged battery. I'm running BIOS 2.52 .. and the latest is 2.58.

Anyone know what's going on? Any thoughts? I guess it's possible that someone replaced the cells but it doesn't have any evidence of that.

Bob

[ajkula66]

No.

You can use the battery from the *30 generation in a *20 machine, but not the other way around.

Don't get me started...

[Cigarguy]

Really? First I've heard of this and is good to know. Another reason not to ever get any Thinkpad newer than a x20 gen. Really love the fact that my T60, T61 and T500 all takes the same battery and docking station.

[BobA]

No.

You can use the battery from the *30 generation in a *20 machine, but not the other way around.

Don't get me started...

Thanks, George .. Now to find the T430s FRUs.

[RealBlackStuff]

Check if you have an unwanted interposer card (39T0482/41W1055) from a 15" (4:3) T60.
Cut of the (narrowest, 1/2" wide) part that connects batteries, then cut halfway through between the battery connectors.
Alternatively, cut off the battery connector from any unwanted T6x/R6x/Z61/T4x0/T5x0 motherboard.
Pry open any old battery from a T6x/R6x/Z61T4x0/T5x0 and cut its connector out.
Get a piece (7 wires, ca. 5" long) of e.g. an old IDE cable from a floppy or HD, and solder that 1:1 between those 2 halves.
Make sure you have the connections correct (group-of-2 to group-of-2 and group-of-5 to group-of-5)!
Insulate with electrician's tape or a piece of wide enough shrink tubing.
Voila, your battery extension cable!
Now you can use ANY SHAPE T6x/R6x/Z61/T4x0/T5x0 working battery.

[bluefruit]

No.

You can use the battery from the *30 generation in a *20 machine, but not the other way around.

Don't get me started...

Wow I also did not know that, no wonder the X220/230 tablet series have 2 different battery models (52 and 67) even though they are physically the same. What were they thinking?