R40 Battery Charging Problem

[minehan]

My R40 will not charge the battery when connected to AC. In trying to diagnose the problem, I have the following symptoms/conditions:

1. The AC power connector works and the computer shows it is running off the AC adapter when plugged in.
2. I am using a new battery.
3. The Battery Maximizer aplet show no battery charging activity and no current or voltage readings with the AC adapter connected.
4. When running off the battery alone, Battery Maximizer shows the battery is discharging and gives me current and voltage readings.
5. I have installed the latest version of BM and the BIOS is current as well.

Can anyone offer any suggestions to help me resolve this?

Thanks,

John

[vlyne]

Let me ask a couple a few questions first:

1. What is the % discharge state set at before the battery recharges? (Check settings in battery maximiser).

2. What is the % discharge state when battery is not being charged by A/C? Have you tried discharging to below recharge level setting?l

Hopefully it is a simple software setting fix. If not, it's probably a blown fuse in the battery recharge circuit.
Cheers

[Terrahawk]

I don't think the R40 is able to have software configurable charge threshholds. Mine doesn't, although I wish it did.

[minehan]

Thanks for the replies.

I can't seem to change the battery charging threshold so I can't do anything about that.

Also, if I disconnect the AC power for a few moments and then plug it back in, Battery Maximizer shows that the battery is charging and does give me the current, voltage and wattage readings. However, after about a minute, those readings disappear and it then shows no activity at all. Since I get a brief reading from the battery, I assume that means that the fuse is okay, otherwise I would never get a reading.

I don't think this is a hardware issue, although I may be wrong.

John

[vlyne]

I had a quick check of the BMMWIZ file in the Thinkpad/Utiltilies folder to try and find where the charging thresholds are set. I'm afraid I couldn't find it. It must be set somewhere....?? Someone more knowledgeable may be able to advise?

If the battery is being charged then you're right the hardware is OK. When the A/C takes over, the battery is left idle so the fact it isn't being charged means that it's state of charge is within acceptable limits. Once you take off the A/C it may discharge enough to go outside the thresholds - and gets recharged once the A/C is plugged back in. I wouldn't worry about it unless the battery is being drained to low levels.

Cheers

[minehan]

I ran the battery down to 20% and it still won't charge.

I then tried to uninstall Battery Maximizer and the related power driver. For some reason I can't uninstall the driver although the application uninstalls. Could the driver be the problem and, if so, how do I get rid of it so I can reinstall a fresh version?

I also checked BIOS settings and can't find anything helpful there.

BTW, I'm using Battery Maximizer Ver 1.38 and the driver is ver. 1.4. Both appear to be the latest versions.

[Terrahawk]

The charge threshhold for my R40 (and also my X20) is 95%. When the battery drops below 95%, the charge circuit will start charging the battery until it reaches 100%.