Thinkpads Forum

This is my predicament: got this TP 600X w/ errors 161 & 163 and a power up password icon - li'l PC next to a lock- on start up screen. Bought a new cmos battery (compatible) in eBay, but the error messages persist.

Am I missing anything? Shouldn't the new CMOS battery fix this? Is there a way I can test the battery's charge? If the CMOS battery is charged, what else? Does the main battery have to be fully charged to correct these errors? Or could that be a defective mobo? It sounds unlikely, but who knows...

I've read you can short a jumper and reset the power up password. The two tiny holes on the circuit board, under the memory module slot should do the trick, but nothing happens...

Can somebody confirm this or elaborate?

I looked in the Hardware Maintenance Manual for my 600E (which is a different manual than for the 600X, but the error codes are probably simular). The error codes you list point to a dead backup CMOS battery, Time and Date were not set, or your system board is bad. Below is the link to get to the Hardware Maintenance Manual for your laptop:

http://www-3.ibm.com/pc/support/site.ws ... date=false

Your backup battery voltage should be between 2.5 and 3.2 volts.

I found out there are 5 screws missing on the bottom cover: one (a big one) right next to the battery, near the edge, two from the hard drive bay and two more from the slim bay- on the top, inside the bays.

I was wondering if that causes some kind of error or shorts the mobo...

Holding F2 while powering up resulted in another error code message: 301 (keyboard)...

They show up in the following order:

161
301
163

I did some random trial and error procedures:
disconnected the CMOS battery;
took away the slimbay cd drive;
disconnected the mini pci modem;

the same error messages still come up...

Hi,

It's quite an old topic, but I have the same problem with my Thinkpad 600E.
I bought and installed already two new cmos battery, but they unload immediately. The manual says that it that case there is a problem with the mainboard.
Which problem is that exactly? And is it fixable, because my thinkpad works well except those error messages. It is just not very handy to go through these error messages every morning.

Any suggestion, someone?

If you're sure the batteries are good,and you are setting the time and date and it's still unloading the only other thing I can think of would be the CMOS bat. plug in on the motherboard.. Have you checked the plug? Are both connectors/prongs there? They tight? Can you see if the plug itself is attached firmly to the MB??

I know it's all simple stuff,but who know!!!

after new cmos battery is in.
get into bios.
reset time.
in bios got to "config" and "initialize".
then restart.
all should be gone..
if you dont have a voltmeter to test cmos battery find someone who does and make sure it's at least 2.5 volts (dc).

Thanks a lot roncoinc!

I thought always it was enough to set the time&date after the error messages, but it's necassery to go to bios and initialize there.

Thanks, everything works now back again.

Arrgh!

After three startups the errors came again and the new battery is again empty.
The plug itself is attached firmly, so that is not the problem.

What could it be?

sivocci wrote:Arrgh!

After three startups the errors came again and the new battery is again empty.
The plug itself is attached firmly, so that is not the problem.

What could it be?

The bios it's locked. you need the adm password. or you may find help around the forum.

have you checked the voltage on the "empty" batteries ?? did you check the voltage on the "new" batteries ??
as said,2.5 to 3 volts. should be..
suitable replacement batteries can be had at any drugstore.take yours apart,carefull of wires and pry off the metal tabs on the battery,take the battery to the drugstore and match one close in size at 3volts..
measure voltage for referance..
the quick and "dirty" way for replacement is to bend the metal tabs from old battery wiring to fit against new battery being carefull of polarity and wrap TIGHTLY with electrical tape..take a voltmeter with a couple small pins and measure voltage it the plug end to make sure everything is connected..and positive to red wire..may be a good idea to let battery hang out for awhile and try again for awhile and see what happens..if a good battery IS being drained,well,then you got a real problem..you already know how to reset the bios....good luck..

After I attached the wires to the new battery I measured the voltage and that was okay. I also insulated it with tape, so that is definetly not the problem.

I have now already install three new batteries, but they always unload after 2à3 restarts. Probably it is a problem with the motherboard, but apart of this small( but enoying) problem the laptop works fine.

PS: Bios is not locked, so that is also not the problem.

Saw this thread while looking for other information about CMOS batteries... Hope it's not too late.

The only explanation that makes sense to me is that there is a short somewhere on the motherboard causing the CMOS battery to discharge. If a new battery is tested before installation and it reads around 3 volts and after the two or three reboots it fails and the battery reads near 0 volts, then that would explain it.

If you can afford to damage another new battery, try this:

1) Measure the voltage on the battery before installing. Make a note it's voltage.
2) Plug the CMOS battery into the laptop but do not turn it on.
3) Wait about 30-45 minutes.
4) Remove CMOS battery and measure the voltage. If it is significantly different than what you measured in step 1, then you have a short on the motherboard.

If there is no difference between the voltages in steps 1 and 4, re-install the CMOS battery, turn the laptop on, wait another 30-45 minutes (no rebooting), turn the laptop off, remove the CMOS battery and measure its voltage again.

The reason I say this is that a standard CR2025 battery has a capacity of around 160mAh. The discharge current is around 200mA. So a dead short will drain the battery in about 45 minutes. If either one of these procedures kills the battery, then I'm afraid you have a problem with the motherboard. It is not very easy to find shorts like this since the problem can be 'hidden' inside one of the components on the board. It does take some skill in circuit tracing and a whole lot of luck if you don't have a schematic.

I've got an old 600x that is doing the same thing. At first I assumed it was a dead battery, so I ordered one on ebay, but while I was waiting I got bored and bought a CR2025 and wired it up by hand. In the end, my hand wired battery as well as the two real batteries that eventually arrived in the mail both had the same symptoms: after shutting off the power for a short period of time, powering on the laptop will give a 173/163 (bios config has gone partially or completely bad), and if you wait long enough before powering it on, you'll get a 161/163 (the bios config is bad, plus the laptop thinks the cmos battery is dead).

If I power it up, set the time/date, then shut it off and turn it back on again quick enough, then it boots up fine, no problems. It's just a pain in the butt in the meantime.

My thinkpad is one I got off a co-worker's fiance's ex-boyfriend, and I just wanted to put DOS on it to relive my youth, but if I can't fix this problem, then it's not really worth the aggravation.

Also note you can get the full repair manual on Lenovo's web page. It suggests replacing the system board, which feels like over kill, since everything else works great.