Thinkpads Forum

So if you read my last topic, I had trouble booting to Windows. Well I got that fixed, with the help of users from another forum.

Now, I had it going. So I tried plugged-in the ethernet cable to my splitter so I could surf the net. Well I closed the notebook with it still on, so that I could get situated. Then I opened it back up and the screen was black. I tried turning it back on, but it just sends two little beeps to my fragile ears.

I've noticed that it refused to run unless plugged into the wall. But now, after being plugged-in for about five minutes, the 'chraging' light turns off.

So what do I do?

Hi uRabbit,

I assuming that you where running on battery power (Not AC) while adjusting to a new position (i.e. "gettin comfy"). You didn't mention what OS you are running but I am going to assume 95/98; under those systems (unless you change the power management settings) the system should go into "standby mode" when you close it, I am thinking that your battery might be almost dead (almost discharged & battery is worn out as well) .
Depending on the age of the battery (the 365x/xd series is almost a decade old) the cells are well beyond their life span. Before this problem occurred, what kind of run time did you get while operating purely on battery?

The following is something I came up with when my battery wore out (use at your own risk - I can't guaranty that this will help - it might make things worse ).
After the charging light goes off, lift up the keyboard tray and remove the battery, leave it out of the computer for a few minutes and then put it back in. Chances are the charge light will come back on and the battery will charge for a few minutes, keep repeating this process a bunch of times (10 - 15 times - yes it's very tedious, I know). It would be advisable to do this with the computer powered off, and after the last charge cycle, boot up and go into BIOS (this saves you from screwing up your OS if the battery dies), and unplug the AC adapter, see if your ThinkPad keeps running. Hopefully it will hum along for a while before the battery becomes discharged. When the system looses power, remove the battery, wait a few minutes, but it back in and plug the AC back in, repeat the first steps. This truly is a halve-assed way to try to recondition a battery but I was able to squeeze 10 minutes of run time out of a battery that was over 8 years old.

Thane