Thinkpads Forum

hi all,
i've just purchased a 600e laptop of ebay

2645-CBH 366mhz P11 with 128 meg of ram

i've got a problem with the battery which appears to be completely dead, if i leave the battery in the laptop i get the error message:

DEV 001
ERR 91
FRU 3610

the laptop runs fine with no errors without the battery in, with the battery in windows will not start, can a completely dead battery cause this or could this be some kind of other problem like the mother board or charging circuit.
also regarding replacement battery's, i'm in the uk and i can only seem to find none original battery's at a decent price is there anything i should be looking out for.

thanks in advance

sole

Welcome to the Forum!!

I had this problem with a working battery, on a 600E, and I was able to solve the problem by installing Battery Maximizer.

He's using a 600E, so Battery Maximiser will not work. Installing that will only install the power management drivers. Really don't know what to tell you. IBM does not list the error codes that you have specified on your website. What you should try to do is first leave the computer off and have it plugged in with the battery for 24 hours. Then boot without the battery into windows and then insert the battery. Now see if it will charge. If the problem persists, the battery will have to be replaced, or there may be something wrong with the motherboard. The system should boot with a dead battery without a problem.

ok i will try and leave it plugged in for 24hrs first and see what happens, i forgot to say when i got the laptop it was running widows 98 and it booted ok with the battery in although it was dead, it was only when it was installing windows xp that it refused to boot, if i start windows now without the battery and then insert it once it's running the charging light flashes for about 30sec's and then it just shuts down.

Stargate199 wrote:He's using a 600E, so Battery Maximiser will not work. Installing that will only install the power management drivers. Really don't know what to tell you. IBM does not list the error codes that you have specified on your website. What you should try to do is first leave the computer off and have it plugged in with the battery for 24 hours. Then boot without the battery into windows and then insert the battery. Now see if it will charge. If the problem persists, the battery will have to be replaced, or there may be something wrong with the motherboard. The system should boot with a dead battery without a problem.

I understand that the OP is using a 600E. The program itself is generically called Battery Maximizer. No, the OP will not have full use of the Battery Maximizer program, but the power management features will help it communicate with the battery.

i tried installing the battery maximizer but the problem is still there.

Did you install it completely? Just because you run the initial .exe file, doesn't mean that it is installed.

You have to go into the directory that it created and run the setup file from there.

tfflivemb2 wrote:Did you install it completely? Just because you run the initial .exe file, doesn't mean that it is installed.

You have to go into the directory that it created and run the setup file from there.

yes i ran it from the directory, it didn't seem to install anything onto the task bar like a battery gauge or anything, but it's defiantly installed as i can see it in the add or remove programs.

I had the same issue with a TP600 I bought of e-bay last month. The seller sent it to me with a film of plastic over the contacts of the bettery. So it booted up fine with the A/C. But when I removed the plastic, the computer would not boot with the battery in. It was almost like it was in a loop. It would start to boot, then shut down & start all over again.

I tried leaving the charger on it for a long time (not 24 hours though). But the amber light kept blinking. If it were charging, the amber light would be solid.

Bottom line is, I just replaced it with a refilled battery from www.batteryrefill.com. They take an OEM battery & fill it with new, higher capacity cells. I was not impressed with how the batter looked when I got it, but it works great. About 2 - 2 1/2 hours of useable time, depending on what you are doing.

yep that is exactly what mine was doing, i've updated the bios today and it loads ok with the battery in.
i like the sound of that battery fill place but unfortunately i live in the uk and we don't have anywhere like that so i'm going to have to take a chance and get one of ebay.