R51 Not Sensing AC (mains) connection.

[Eronous Monk]

My R51 does not report when I plug in the AC power or remove it.
The AC graphic at the bottom of the monitor frame is always lit green.
The machine never uses the battery saver setpoints for stopping the charge, nor for lowering the LCD intensity.
The bar graph on the battery information page, shows charge current of 1.4 amps when the AC is plugged in and 2.04 amps when the AC is unplugged. -- Battery at 80% for this test --
Battery will charge to 100%, and run time is still good.

What I want to know, is if the AC sensing and battery charging is controlled via a seperate piece of hardware from the mother board.
When I look at the documentation, I am not sure if there is a FRU for this or if I would have to send the machine back to IBM service.

The machine still has one month of waranty, but I would rather not
send it away, and possibly be without it for months.

Any clues? I reloaded all the drivers, and that made no difference.
It is a hardware problem only?

[underclocker]

First of all, I had IBM replace my R51 system board last month and it actually took only one business day, I was without it for three days total.

It does sound like a system board problem and I have no idea what chip controls this but would love to know. I have two A31 system boards with similar issues.

At least call IBM support to see if they can walk you through a solution.

[FRiC]

I had a similar problem on my R50e a few months ago and I dropped it off at IBM service on a Friday afternoon. On Monday morning I called to ask when they're gonna work on it. The technician who answered the phone told me they've already replaced the mainboard and I could pick it up anytime.

[Eronous Monk]

Boy were you guys lucky. It took over one month to get my computer back after sending it to NEXINNOVATIONS the IBM waranty repair depot in Vancouver BC, Canada.
There were hoopes to jump thru and many phone calls to make.
Then the dispute about wanting to refromat the hard drive before testing the mobo.
Then more dispute about being covered under waranty.
Then more hoops from the quality control person.
Then finaly getting the computer back COD shipping that was more than twice the price that was required to send it in.
Then there was the damage discovered.
They damaged the keyboard bezel. Looks melted and has a small circle pressed into it near the touch pad.
Worst decision I made was to get the thing fixed. Now it works, but looks like junk.