Thinkpads Forum

Hi, please bare with me as I'm not a techie My 600e begins start up and gets to the ThinkPad logo and the RAM check and the it gives me an error code 190 and shuts down. The battery has been dead for at least a year so I've been running it off the power cord. Tried a new power cord and that didn't help. Do I need to buy a new battery?

Thanks!
Beth

The Hardware Maintenance Manual says for error code 190: "A depleted battery pack was installed when the power was on". Will your 600E boot up without a battery? Can you enter the BIOS by pressing the F1 key at the beginning of the boot sequence? If so, run the system diagnostics in the BIOS and see if any errors show up.

Hi, no, it won't start at all with the battery out and just the cord. And I started it up while holding the F1 key and it just gets to the same error message and shuts down. Funny thing is I used it with just the power cord for over a year with no problem then one day it just started doing this.

Thanks,
Beth

If I had to 'guess', I would suspect that you need a new system board (mother board). Maybe someone else here on the forum that has had the same problem could post what they did to fix it.

This is the most common problem with the thinkpad 600s.
You kneed a new system board.

Thank you Laptop_Wizard. It's not what I really wanted to hear but at least I know what it is and where I should go from here. I'm glad I found this forum!

Beth

It's really true that you can't believe everything you read. While your HMM really does say that 190 means a depleted battery was used, the next step is NOT to replace the system board.

Get a new battery and try that. Lenovo is still making batteries for that model and selling them for $59, which is $100 less than IBM sold them for.

I used to own a 600E (it's my daughter's now). I know it will boot up and run without a battery, which is what you seemed to be doing in the past, as mentioned on your original post.

My 'guess' is that the charging circuitry has shorted out on the system board, making the board (BIOS) think that a shorted or dead battery has been installed, giving you the error 190 message.

Although I doubt if this will work, you could try and follow the procedure for clearing the power on password in the BIOS. You can read how to do this in the Hardware Maintenance Manual. I think this would clear the CMOS memory, in case there was something there preventing you from booting up.

GomJabbar wrote:I used to own a 600E (it's my daughter's now). I know it will boot up and run without a battery, which is what you seemed to be doing in the past, as mentioned on your original post.

Although I doubt if this will work, you could try and follow the procedure for clearing the power on password in the BIOS. You can read how to do this in the Hardware Maintenance Manual. I think this would clear the CMOS memory, in case there was something there preventing you from booting up.

Indeed it will, until it gets a 190 error, which you've guessed. That does set a flag, and clearing the CMOS is an EXCELLENT idea. I would try that first, then a new battery.

Looks like the BIOS expects a working battery in a laptop sometimes. Go figure!

I'll give it a try and see what happens. Will post what happens in case in can help someone else.

Thanks,
Beth

I put a brand new battery in my 600X a couple of nights ago, plugged it in and turned it on before the battery started charging. I got error 190.

I turned the machine off, let the battery start charging, waited a few seconds and tried again. It works fine now.

Ok, I took out the CMOS battery and waited then put it back in. I re-entered the date and time and then startup happened only to get to error code 190 and shut down. I would try a new battery but I don't really want to put any money into this laptop as I use my desktop 99% of the time anyways. Thank you to everyone who has tried to help me!!

Beth

One more option you have, Beth, is to borrow a battery. Find someone with a 600, a 600E or 600X and use the battery a few minutes. It should allow you to boot up. Try a local PC or Linux user group, and I bet they can hook you up.

Don't put the one you have in any machine. Any Radio Shack will take it for free for recycling.

And the $59 batteries that Lenovo is selling have a one year warranty, just in case.