Thinkpads Forum

I have been working with Lenovo on a warranty problem.

I logged a ticket online saying that my battery had run down and the P50 wouldn't run on AC without a charged battery.

The first thing that they did was send me a new battery that made no difference. In the meantime, I discovered that it will charge the battery if the pc is off, but when you start it, the battery runs down until the pc is shut down again.

I called the number provided for the problem not being resolved. The person that I talked to didn't read past the first sentence in what I had submitted and said that I hadn't said that the AC adapter might be bad. She didn't seem to know that you don't need a battery. I got her to read further and she sent a new adapter.

I got that the next day and it was for a three wire line cord and mine is two wire. She hadn't asked for the model number of the adapter. So, I called again and they sent the correct adapter, which didn't solve the problem.

I called again and the rep asked whether I had pressed the emergency reset button on the bottom. I looked and didn't find one. They are shipping a motherboard and on-site service will be here.

I looked at the user guide and the hardware maintenance manual and they both talk about the reset button and say to look at the bottom diagram. Not there.

The HMM also says that you should be able to check the adapter output by measuring 20 VDC on the pin. Of course, the diagram has three pins instead of the one on the adapter. Neither adapter had 20 VDC, which I imagine is because the adapter is a switching adapter.

Some of these documentation errors must be carryovers from some other manual that they edited to make the P50 manuals.

I'll see whether the motherboard fixes the problem.

You measure power on that rectangular yellow plug as follows:
- = outside metal
+ = inside metal (don't short against the pin)
o = pin in the middle inside, which tells the laptop what wattage your charger is

Just in case, have you tried another outlet?

I will check again, now that I know they aren't talking about actual pins, but two shells and one pin.

The AC outlet has been moved on the UPS, no difference.

Thanks

Turned out to be airplane mode, as noted here or elsewhere.

That turns off wireless, but also has a power plan that says not to draw from the power adapter while running.

So, I just disabled WIFI and Bluetooth and went back to balanced power plan.