A22m battery and fan issue

[StratLou]

Hi All,

First time visitor and hoping someone can help. I have an A22m 2826 1Ghz which has 2 issues:

First, the cpu fan only comes on (for about 5 secs) when the laptop is first booted up. And never comes on again. Have had to get a 2 fan cooling pad to prevent the thing from melting (although the screen frame bezel did melt a bit already!). Any idea what this could be.

Second, the Li-ion batt has a charge of approx 11 volts in it, but when the wall charger cord is pulled out of the laptop, the thing dies within a minute (the battery indicator said "87%-3 minutes). A recheck of the battery shows approx 11V remaining!? I tried a second known good battery with the same results. The wall charger puts out the proper 15-16V so it's not that (the laptop runs fine on wall power). The battery indicator symbol sometimes blinks amber and sometimes is steady green. Not sure what the indicator means since I never read up on it online anywhere. Also, the screen reads something like "battery low-error occured" then the screen shuts off but the green activity led shows activity and the network card stills blinks green but the laptop ceases to function until I disconnect the wall charger and then replug it in and hit the start button.

If anyone could please help diagnose/troubleshoot either of the problems, I would be most appreciative. I'm at a loss. Look forward to any responses. Thank you.

Lou

[RealBlackStuff]

Welcome to the Forum.
Sounds like you have an old battery that is as good as dead.
Run the Thinkvantage program and check the status of the battery, # of cycles, org. capacity, left-over capacity, etc.

As to the fan, it might be full of dust. Open the laptop and clean the fan of dust-bunnies, cat/dog hair, etc.
The thermal paste between CPU and fan could have dried out also. If you take out the fan, you MUST refresh the thermal paste.

Download the Hardware Maintenance Manual here:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4PER6S
Tells you how to take the thing apart.

And please tell us the full 7-character code of your A22m, 2628-xxx

[StratLou]

Thanks for the response. The unit is a 2628-TWU.
Well, here's what I found out when I poked around in the hardware manual about the battery:
"3. If the voltage is less than +11.0 V dc, the battery pack
has been discharged.
Note: Recharging will take at least 3 hours, even if the
indicator does not turn on.
If the voltage is still less than +11.0 V dc after
recharging, replace the battery.
4. If the voltage is more than +11.0 V dc, measure the
resistance between battery terminals 4 and 5. The
resistance must be 4 to 30 K .
If the resistance is not correct, replace the battery
pack. If the resistance is correct, replace the system
board."
It appears, then, that the board is the issue. Perhaps the same for the fan. The fan does work freely...but only for 5 secs at startup. Any other thoughts? Can I repair the board or does it need to be replaced? Thanks again.

[RealBlackStuff]

Download PC Doctor and see if you can run that.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4JRMNE
Remove all externals first such as wifi card, modem, networking card etc.

Don't pay too much attention to the battery-text.
Your battery is at least 5-6 years old, and well beyond it's sell-by date.
Probably need a new one.

There is also a very knowledgeable forum member in your (Boston) area, sparta.rising
Send him a PM, he might be able to help you.

[sparta.rising]

Thank you for the kind words RBS, I've learned 90% of what I know from researching on this forum and applying what I've learned to a large number of machines.

I gave a more elaborate response via PM, but archival purposes, I agree with RBS's assessment. Depending on use, Li-ion batteries will last 4-5 years. Battery capacity is measured in watt-hours, which is a measure of energy (3600 joules). The life of the battery depends on the voltage and current draw of the laptop.

The fan needs to be cleaned and most likely replaced. I'm surprised that the A22m doesn't give a "Fan Error" and refuse to boot. I would not recommend running the machine. Worse than melting the palmrest you are likely to fry the CPU, or more costly the motherboard.

But ultimately, faced with replacing the battery and the fan, you are starting to approach the value of the machine, and consider parting the machine out. Of course value is always subjective, and if you really love it, $30-40 might be a drop in the bucket to keep it alive. In the Boston area I've seen a few A21m and A22m machines broken for parts around $10. I've passed on them because I didn't have much interest in fixing that particular model, but maybe I should pick them up in the future to help forum members with parts.

[StratLou]

Run the Thinkvantage program and check the status of the battery, # of cycles, org. capacity, left-over capacity, etc.

I found the Thinkvantage page but there were a number of links and wasn't sure which to use to check out the battery. Can I get a link to the exact page for the program? Thanks for the help.