Thinkpads Forum

Hi All,

I inherited a 600x and plan to use it on the road for some auto service work that I do. I had my own 600e back in the day, and remember the battery issues that seem to come with these machines.

The machine came with an original battery that holds a charge for about 10 minutes before quickly dropping below 10%. Having experienced this in the past, I figured that a replacement was in order.

I ordered a "refurbished" IBM battery from a gentleman on ebay with a 100% positive feedback rating and about 5 positive feeback comments on the same 600 series batteries.

The new battery arrived today and upon installing it in the machine, the orange "charging" LED held steady for about 20 seconds and then began to flash. I tried this a few times with the same result.

When I return my old battery to the machine, the indicator goes back to solid orange, and my battery charges back up for it's 10 minute run cycle.

My assumption is that the new battery is faulty, especially based on the 20 or so related threads that I have read, but I have also seen some mention of the dc-dc daughter card.

Are there any other culprits that anyone can suggest? I would hate to return this battery for en exchange only to find out that there is some kind of damage to my machine.

Any wisdom on the subject would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Also... if I do need a dc-dc daugher card would that be FRU# 10L1193 or 10L1335? (Machine type 2645-8EU)

If you get a flashing orange light that doesn't go to constant orange within a minute or so, the battery is defective and can't be charged. No solution except "return to sender" and try again.

There is also no such thing as a "refurbished" Li-ion battery unless it has been (expensively) reworked in a professional workshop.

Pretty much what I had thought to be true, but I would still like to hear any of the opinions or possibilities out there. As for the "refurbished" battery, it has most certainly been opened and glued back together. I'm not sure, however, if they replaced cells, circuitry, both or none.

There is at least one company which does open up the battery pack, installs new cells and glues the case back together (not too efficiently sometimes): batteryrefill.com. There may be others. In addition, some members here have also done the same thing. The circuitry should stay intact as that provides the necessary charging function. I've used that company for 600-series batteries (and will probably again soon if I can't find a cheaper, local source) and have documented my experience before:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 975#207975
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=40545

Without having an alternate battery of known good status, you still may not be able to exclude your laptop's charging circuitry. However, if your existing pack does charge a little, then I'd say you're okay in that department. I've recently received two 600X systems with "untested" batteries and they do the same thing (blink orange all of the time).