General ThinkPad Battery Question

[emtee3511]

I gave an X61s to a young man in my church last year, and he has enjoyed using it in his high school studies. About a month or so ago, he mentioned to me that his battery was orange and held little charge. I was able to find a used Lenovo OEM battery with low cycles and almost full wh charge showing in battery manager. I kept the battery for about a week in an X61s of mine and was pleased it held a charge and ran on battery for awhile (although I didn't run on battery for more than 30 minutes or so.) In my not-expert opinion, the battery seemed almost as new.

I gave the battery to my young friend, and he installed it in his X61s. I only see him at church once a week, so the next week he mentioned to me that the battery was green when he installed it in his machine. But the first time he tried to use his machine on battery, after a couple of seconds the battery light turned orange, an alarm beep sounded, and the machine died. He took the battery out, put it back in and tried to charge it. (I can't remember if he said it was green already, or if it charged -- I can ask.) The battery showed green, I think -- but as soon as he tried to use his machine on battery, it again beeped and died.

I am going to google to see if I can figure out what the issue may be -- I'm guessing it may be his machine and not the battery since it worked in my machine. Any information or personal experience any of our resident-geeks may have for me would be greatly appreciated

[Radioguy]

I gave an X61s to a young man in my church last year, and he has enjoyed using it in his high school studies.

OT, but I wish there were more people like you.

[ajkula66]

I'm guessing it may be his machine and not the battery since it worked in my machine.

That would be my train of thoughts...

[emtee3511]

@Radioguy -- Thank you for the kind words Actually there are quite a few members on the Forum who work on older ThinkPads to pass along to someone who otherwise would not have access to a home computer; as well as several teachers who fix up ThinkPads for their students to use in the classroom. It's because of Forum members' generous and expert advice, as well as Marketplace bargains that many Forum ThinkPadders are able to give back to their communities


@ajkula66 -- "That would be my train of thoughts"
Now that you are on the train, would you have any 'stops' in mind that I could check on????
I've been googling, but I've not come up with anything yet. I'm thinking I will ask my young friend to let me have his machine for a few days, but I'm really not sure what I will be looking for.

I had a T60 I purchased on the Forum not want to boot when I received it -- When I started to remove the battery so I could open it up and look inside, I noticed the battery had a broken latch and it was very difficult to remove from the machine. I remembered reading something somewhere about a bad battery causing ThinkPad problems, but I couldn't remember what I had read. Lucky for me, when I substituted a good battery, the T60 booted right up with no issues at all. I still don't know what the battery had to do with booting, but it was an easy fix for this 'non-geek' -- I really am hoping I can find something simple with this X61s.

[Radioguy]

@Radioguy -- Thank you for the kind words Actually there are quite a few members on the Forum who work on older ThinkPads to pass along to someone who otherwise would not have access to a home computer; as well as several teachers who fix up ThinkPads for their students to use in the classroom. It's because of Forum members' generous and expert advice, as well as Marketplace bargains that many Forum ThinkPadders are able to give back to their communities

Indeed. I've built up and gave away some PCs, even a few TP's I built up from a barebones lot back some years ago (way back, they were 76x's), but such opportunities don't always fall into my lap.

You should always do what you can, when you can, in whatever circumstance, though.

[emtee3511]

"You should always do what you can, when you can"
That should be our Forum Motto

Still trying to figure out my X61s Battery issue

[ajkula66]

Still trying to figure out my X61s Battery issue

Under my bed is an A31p which works perfectly well for its age apart from having a rather weird tendency of discharging a full battery within minutes...I've given up on trying to figure it out. That's likely the closest comparison I've ever seen to what you're describing...not very encouraging, I'm sorry to say...

[emtee3511]

Thanks very much, George. It's not very encouraging, but at least it's solid information relating to a similar situation. I'll look at the kid's machine, and if that appears to be the case, I'll trade it for one of my machines that doesn't have the battery problem. Then I'll put an old battery in the defective machine and let my youngest son use it on his desk plugged in.

About your A31p -- when it drains a good battery, is the battery destroyed -- or can it be put in another machine and charged and used?

[ajkula66]

About your A31p -- when it drains a good battery, is the battery destroyed -- or can it be put in another machine and charged and used?

No, the battery remains usable. The machine and the battery both get *very* hot during the process, though.

[emtee3511]

Thanks George -- I know you've been working OVERTIME after the storm -- I reallly appreciate your input