X230 not recognizing genuine "44" 4-Cell Battery

[Jake.Werecat]

Hello everyone, just came across a hard nut to crack.
I wanted to change my old worn-out 44+ 6-cell battery in X230 to a smaller, thinner 44 4-cell one, as I do enjoy flat bottom, with no protruding elements. I bought one from a local computer store, but it didn't work, so I changed it for another one, but it wasn't working either. OK, fake cheap Chinese batteries I thought, returnd it to the store and ordered a third one, this time from a Lenovo dealer, more expensive, but certainly a genuine one. Yet again the same issue. It's not working. Power Manager says "The battery is not detected. Try reinstalling or recharging the battery to solve the problem".
I tried the battery in another X230, which belongs to my gf. Still same problem.
Machine: Lenovo X230 (type 2325-78G)
Battery: 44 4-cell battery, FRU: 45N1019
Screenshot attached:


Has anybody experienced similar issue before? Any hints of how to solve the issue? I must admit, I'm out of ideas.

[Thinkpad4by3]

I would try EC modding your X230 just to eliminate that pesky chip as a source of problem.

[Jake.Werecat]

Thank you for answer. I heard about modding the EC, it's way easier then flashing custom BIOS, but I could not find any information where to get custom firmware or how to flash it besides git-hub project, based on Debian, which is a bit too complicated for me.
I'm also wondering why the computer is not accepting the genuine lenovo battery...

[TPFanatic]

Possible all the batteries are dead?

[Thinkpad4by3]

Possible all the batteries are dead?

Could always test this up by using one of the Lenovo external chargers and then seeing if they charge. Likely those are dumber chargers and will supply a charging voltage in situations where the laptop would say otherwise.

[RealBlackStuff]

Try it in an X220.
If still not working, the battery is presumably dead (or was never charged, and takes a loooong time to do so the first time).

[Thinkpad4by3]

Also user BatteryInfoView(my preferred) or HWinfo to get a better view of what the computer sees. I don't totally trust the Lenovo app.

[Jake.Werecat]

I contacted the reseller and he informed me that lately Lenovo produced a big defective series of 44 batteries and they experienced similar problems with other batteries beofre.I returned the battery, and I'm now waiting for another one... that would be the fourth battery I try. Maybe it will work now. I'll let you know, once I receive it.

[Puppy]

Did you have success with the 4-Cell battery? I am looking for it as well for my X220. I can find 6 or 9 cell ones only.

[dr_st]

I have a 44 (4-cell) for my X220. Presumably a genuine one. Got it from some guy in Poland, I think. They are pretty rare and hard to come by. Battery life is abysmal. Only good for keeping your laptop slim. I use it during periods it spends most of its time docked and connected to AC.

This guy in Hong Kong claims to be selling genuine 29 batteries (4-cell for X220). If really genuine, this is probably very old stock, as they discontinued "29" after they released "44".

[Puppy]

Ok, thank you. It seems as it wouldn't make sense to buy it anyway.

[Jake.Werecat]

No, I failed. After 3 attempts from the genuine Lenovo reseller, all of which turned out to be not working they gave up, stated that the the whole series of batteries is defective, and they don't know where new ones will be accessibly, so they gave me my money back.
I'm still not happy with protruding part of 6-cell "44+" battery I have at the moment, besides it's capacity is less then 40% now, so I'd really like to change that one for a slim-line one.
dr_st : Any hint where to get one? I'm from Poland, so that should be best possible source of battery.

[dr_st]

dr_st : Any hint where to get one? I'm from Poland, so that should be best possible source of battery.

Unfortunately, no; it was a private seller on eBay which happened to have one open-box, practically unused battery. I looked again a few days ago and couldn't find anything other than that Hong Kong seller with X220 batteries (which would require an EC flash for your X230 to be able to charge them).

[Jake.Werecat]

dr_st : Any hint where to get one? I'm from Poland, so that should be best possible source of battery.

Unfortunately, no; it was a private seller on eBay which happened to have one open-box, practically unused battery. I looked again a few days ago and couldn't find anything other than that Hong Kong seller with X220 batteries (which would require an EC flash for your X230 to be able to charge them).

Thank you for the answer. Good luck vs bad luck. I once won an auction on eBay with 44 battery in very decent price from USA. And after I've won, he sent me an e-mail that he will not ship it to Europe. No because no. And that was it
I don't want to flush no EC, so I badly look for a 44, not 29 battery.

[dr_st]

Thank you for the answer. Good luck vs bad luck. I once won an auction on eBay with 44 battery in very decent price from USA. And after I've won, he sent me an e-mail that he will not ship it to Europe. No because no. And that was it

It may be a good idea for you to set up a freight forwarder in the US, this way you can give a US shipping address and the freight forwarder will take care of shipping it to you in Europe. Don't know how much they would charge; international shipping from US is generally quite expensive...

Batteries specifically have some crazy regulations to the point where it may be impossible to ship out of US using normal postal services.

Funnily, I recall I had a similar annoying experience with a battery for a different laptop - won on eBay for a rather good price, and the seller just cancelled the auction with 'out of stock or damaged'. Yeah, right. Probably just wasn't happy with the price and decided to keep it longer.

[Jake.Werecat]

Frankly speaking I do have my good friend, whose family live in US and could possibly forward the parcel for me, but the seller stopped answering my messages, so I just gave up.
Yep, I did have similar situation like you a few times, on both eBay or polish Allegro. Not very pleasant though.