Thinkpads Forum

Hi,

I'm trying to salvage my T500 but am struggling.

It ceases to charge and the current battery life is practically zero so I can't get it to run to start up. So keeping this is mind, I guess that the battery is not ruined but the adapter is?...

Basically, I purchased the t500 from the US and am using it in the UK so I'm guessing the power differences may have caused the adapter to malfunction. So, should I purchase a US adapter and use a universal plug with it to get it working again?

Thanks

loveasusnow wrote:Hi,

I'm trying to salvage my T500 but am struggling.

It ceases to charge and the current battery life is practically zero so I can't get it to run to start up. So keeping this is mind, I guess that the battery is not ruined but the adapter is?...

Basically, I purchased the t500 from the US and am using it in the UK so I'm guessing the power differences may have caused the adapter to malfunction. So, should I purchase a US adapter and use a universal plug with it to get it working again?

Thanks

Adapters are designed with that power differences in mind, so everything should be fine, unless there was some surge in your electrical network.
Does the "power" icon on the laptop lid (it looks like an electric plug, it is to the left from the "sleep" crescent-like icon) fires up when you're connecting the power adapter to laptop?

What's the cycle count and what's the remaining charge capacity of your battery? You can find those two things in power manager.

Adapters are designed with that power differences in mind, so everything should be fine, unless there was some surge in your electrical network.
Does the "power" icon on the laptop lid (it looks like an electric plug, it is to the left from the "sleep" crescent-like icon) fires up when you're connecting the power adapter to laptop?

Thank you so much for your input.

Yes, the crescent light does come on- so it does power on when I switch it on- it's just that the battery power is at 0% so switches off a couple of seconds later!

Ironically enough, I am using a power surge tower adapter to connect my laptop to the mains, so I'm not sure if a power surge is the problem... unless these power surge towers are all one big scam...

Any more suggestions?...

Thanks!

FredGarvin wrote:What's the cycle count and what's the remaining charge capacity of your battery? You can find those two things in power manager.

Hi Fred,

My laptop is not able to power onto the start screen, so I can't find the cycle count. The remaining charge is about 0%- and that's no joke...


Regards,

Your machine should start regardless of whether the battery is in or not. Do you have another adapter and/or battery you can try? The machine may be under warranty. You can look it up here. It may have international warranty service as well, meaning you could get it fixed in the UK. You can look up the IWS Warranty Status here.

take out the ram and start the laptop without it.

lead_org wrote:take out the ram and start the laptop without it.

Hi,

I think you've misunderstood me.

The battery is not charged- it is at 0% charge- so cannot stay on for more than a few seconds.

FredGarvin wrote:Your machine should start regardless of whether the battery is in or not. Do you have another adapter and/or battery you can try? The machine may be under warranty. You can look it up here. It may have international warranty service as well, meaning you could get it fixed in the UK. You can look up the IWS Warranty Status here.

I'm pretty sure it is not under warranty- about a year out and Lenovo won't allow me to put anything on it. They have been very unhelpful and have given me numerous disinformation, hence me moving over to Asus.

When I remove the battery the laptop won't power on at all, which makes me think the charger is damaged. I have temporary ownership of a friends IBM Thinkpad X31 (which is having its own drama) whose charger pin is a different size from my T500.

I really am at a loss. Should I just buy a new charger?

See if you can source a multimeter and measure 20vDC from the center pin to the outer shell of the adapter cord end.

Take out the battery, plug in the AC adapter, and try to start it.

loveasusnow wrote:Hi,

I think you've misunderstood me.

The battery is not charged- it is at 0% charge- so cannot stay on for more than a few seconds.

No, he wants you to remove the RAM, which is equivalent to saying memory sticks.

loveasusnow wrote:I'm pretty sure it is not under warranty

You won't know unless you look. I've bought Thinkpads where no warranty was indicated, but the machine had it. It just means the seller isn't very clued in.

loveasusnow wrote:Should I just buy a new charger?

I think it would be preferable if you could borrow one. You don't need it long.

Harryc wrote:See if you can source a multimeter and measure 20vDC from the center pin to the outer shell of the adapter cord end.

That won't work with the 20V power supplies. The "center pin" does not deliver any voltage; it's the metal wall inside the plug that has the +20V with respect to the metal shell on the outside of the plug. See this: http://www.kawakami-ca.com/images/20v_dc_plug.jpg

I understood. I've taken out the RAM now, and left the battery in, and still won't start up when I connect it to the charger...

(Sorry for the delay in response- it took me about an hour to unscrew the back as I couldn't find the right screwdrivers...)

FredGarvin wrote:I'm pretty sure it is not under warranty
You won't know unless you look. I've bought Thinkpads where no warranty was indicated, but the machine had it. It just means the seller isn't very clued in.

I think it would be preferable if you could borrow one. You don't need it long.[/quote]

I think I'm certain I know what the problem is: The charging port at the back is loose, and for a while I've had to place my laptop at an angle to get it to charge.

As for warranty, you can double check for me if you have time. My type number is '2081' and the product number is '2081CTO'.

The serial number is 'R8- *****'.

Regards,

Admin edit: Removed serial.

I would suggest not posting your serial number online, but you're right, the warranty has expired.

If you think the power jack is the culprit, it's easily replaced. You can buy one here. Hit the training and support site to see how to do it.

From the available data, it's still not clear where the problem lies. Try the following:

- with the RAM still removed, also remove the battery and try powering up the system with just the AC adapter (charger) plugged into the mains (not the surge protector)
- if still no luck and you don't have a voltmeter to measure the 20V that should be coming out of the DC plug, verify that the mains power is available at the wall socket you are using (plug in a lamp or other electrical equipment).
- if AC power is fine, then that means the problem could be in the AC adapter or the laptop. My recommendation would be to borrow a multimeter and test for the 20V at the end of the adapter. You could also try taking the adapter to a local electrical or hardware store and see if they can check it for you. Bring along a copy of the photo I posted earlier so that they know how to measure it.
- if you can't measure the output of the AC adapter, then it's your call whether or not you spend some ₤₤₤ or €€€ to buy another one. I would get a genuine Lenovo adapter if possible.

If you don't already have it, here's the Hardware Maintenance Manual for T500: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-70068

At this point I would not recommend that you plug the AC adapter into another 20V Thinkpad because if the adapter is defective (providing more voltage than what is normal), then you could damage whatever you plug the adapter into. There's an extremely small chance that this will occur but it's better safe than sorry.

The loose DC jack on the back of the system could be the problem. If there is a screw located just below it on the bottom of the laptop, then see if it's tight. It's also possible that the wiring in the plug has broken due to the "angle" you may have subjected the cord.

FredGarvin wrote:I would suggest not posting your serial number online, but you're right, the warranty has expired.

If you think the power jack is the culprit, it's easily replaced. You can buy one here. Hit the training and support site to see how to do it.

Sorry about the serial number posting and the links!

if moving the power adapter plug around causes the laptop to charge again, then that usually means the dc jack on the laptop is having a contact problem. This can be fixable by replacing the yellow dc jack.



this shouldn't cost more than 20 dollars on ebay.

You can do this yourself, by following the T500 hardware manual.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 70068.html

Alternatively, you could just get a port replicator, advanced mini dock or advanced dock, which supplies the power through the dock connector on the bottom of the laptop.

lead_org wrote:if moving the power adapter plug around causes the laptop to charge again, then that usually means the dc jack on the laptop is having a contact problem. This can be fixable by replacing the yellow dc jack.



this shouldn't cost more than 20 dollars on ebay.

You can do this yourself, by following the T500 hardware manual.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 70068.html

Alternatively, you could just get a port replicator, advanced mini dock or advanced dock, which supplies the power through the dock connector on the bottom of the laptop.

Thanks- I've now purchased the jack- but not from ebay. There are far too many people selling used parts which knowingly do not work- and so I preferred to save myself some drama and buy one new and unused.

rkawakami wrote:From the available data, it's still not clear where the problem lies. Try the following:

- with the RAM still removed, also remove the battery and try powering up the system with just the AC adapter (charger) plugged into the mains (not the surge protector)
- if still no luck and you don't have a voltmeter to measure the 20V that should be coming out of the DC plug, verify that the mains power is available at the wall socket you are using (plug in a lamp or other electrical equipment).
- if AC power is fine, then that means the problem could be in the AC adapter or the laptop. My recommendation would be to borrow a multimeter and test for the 20V at the end of the adapter. You could also try taking the adapter to a local electrical or hardware store and see if they can check it for you. Bring along a copy of the photo I posted earlier so that they know how to measure it.
- if you can't measure the output of the AC adapter, then it's your call whether or not you spend some ₤₤₤ or €€€ to buy another one. I would get a genuine Lenovo adapter if possible.

If you don't already have it, here's the Hardware Maintenance Manual for T500: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-70068

At this point I would not recommend that you plug the AC adapter into another 20V Thinkpad because if the adapter is defective (providing more voltage than what is normal), then you could damage whatever you plug the adapter into. There's an extremely small chance that this will occur but it's better safe than sorry.

The loose DC jack on the back of the system could be the problem. If there is a screw located just below it on the bottom of the laptop, then see if it's tight. It's also possible that the wiring in the plug has broken due to the "angle" you may have subjected the cord.

I think much of the above is unnecessary and that my laptop problem is simply due to the malfunctioning of the jack.

Hi,

I bought and changed the adapter jack...and still the same problem persists...

The worse thing being it took me hours to unscrew and screw the whole thing apart due to the numerous types of screws they've used to put the laptop together. God, I absolutely despise Lenovo and their cheap Chinese junk which they are passing off as IBM quality.

May I clarify something? Before you replaced the socket on the T500 did you try a different adapter?

If I lived in greater London I'd have taken the T500 to Tottenham Court Road and asked the many shops there to let me plug in my machine using one of their adapters.

BTW, when IBM owned their PC division many of their laptops were built by Lenovo in China.

killer wrote:May I clarify something? Before you replaced the socket on the T500 did you try a different adapter?

If I lived in greater London I'd have taken the T500 to Tottenham Court Road and asked the many shops there to let me plug in my machine using one of their adapters.

BTW, when IBM owned their PC division many of their laptops were built by Lenovo in China.

Yes, I have two adaptors, and still no difference when I try both of them.

I will however go to tottenham court road and see if any of the workers can figure out why my laptop won't charge.

PS- Its pretty much accepted that since Lenovos whole takeover of IBMs PC/ laptop division there has been a noticeable detoriation in quality.

@loveasusnow:

I'd love to know how you get on in Tottenham Court Road. The shops there have a reputation for being brilliant at fixing things.

In recent years I had a T43 and my wife had a T43p. Both were labelled IBM but were built in China by Lenovo.
Now she has an X201i and I have a T510i and we are delighted with the build quality. Both are built by Lenovo in China.
I can only speak from personal experience, however my brother-in-law works for IBM and he has an X200 and is delighted with it too.

Good luck.

loveasusnow wrote: PS- Its pretty much accepted that since Lenovos whole takeover of IBMs PC/ laptop division there has been a noticeable detoriation in quality.

It's not accepted here, and not by anyone who is familiar with Thinkpad history and has owned most models along the way. There are many threads here discussing this topic, but in many ways some of the newer Thinkpads are more reliable and better built than some of the older models.

killer wrote:@loveasusnow:

I'd love to know how you get on in Tottenham Court Road. The shops there have a reputation for being brilliant at fixing things.

In recent years I had a T43 and my wife had a T43p. Both were labelled IBM but were built in China by Lenovo.
Now she has an X201i and I have a T510i and we are delighted with the build quality. Both are built by Lenovo in China.
I can only speak from personal experience, however my brother-in-law works for IBM and he has an X200 and is delighted with it too.

Good luck.

Question: When it comes to Tottenham Court Road fixing things, will they charge me if no parts are purchased but some tinkering around occurs? And if so, how much roughly?

That's down to you and your negotiating skills.

Let's face it, if they fix the thing and it costs you £5 how happy would you be? If you want a professional to do the negotiating for you then I am happy to do it at £600 a day plus travel expenses to London. I hope you catch my drift.

I'm not sure if you fixed your problem yet, but I had to chime in on this thread, it seems like you could be experiencing a peculiar problem that pertains to battery charging and windows 7.

I have not quite fixed the problem myself yet, but there are hundreds of documented cases all over, HP users seem to be the most vocal(then again they sell the most PC's so it's likely that more people that have it will be an HP user, not by brand but by statistics).

Any how here's a google search of relevant cases:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sour ... 6433722ca6

People claim to have fixed with un-installing the "battery method compliant..." driver under device manager, then re-installing it, then doing several other things such as, pulling out the battery, to restarting(do all at your own risk and research).

I've done numerous solutions that I've found on the web to some change, but no avail. When reinstalling the driver the battery charged from 22-44%(relatively new 9-cell battery, manufacture date: January 2010), now it's stuck again at 44% and I've retried the method but it doesn't work anymore. Supposedly some people just went back to XP and their battery ended up recharging...Either way it does seem to be Windows 7 related, though very hard to explain or understand, Microsoft has been confronted with this a while back but they have denied any issues(it was even on the news before).

Reluctantly, I may end up doing a fresh install to see what happens, but for now I'm stuck to the A/C plug for using my laptop. Hope this helps a bit, or if anything points to a better direction. It's strange that no other T500 users have experienced this yet.