X220 battery issues

X200, X201, X220 (including equivalent tablet models) and X300, X301 series specific matters only.
Post Reply
Message
Author
mikemex
Sophomore Member
Posts: 238
Joined: Mon Oct 04, 2010 8:54 pm
Location: Coyoacan, Mexico

X220 battery issues

#1 Post by mikemex » Mon Dec 10, 2012 3:45 pm

Hi guys. I'm experiencing an issue with my X220. When using the laptop and going over a certain level, the battery jumps to a low charge value (such as 6%) and Windows warns me about plugging it to power.

Normally, I would assume this is one of the cells inside the battery pack failing but I read this:
There is some problem with the Lenovo Battery/UEFI Firmware. The Battery Manager on Window or tp_sampi module under linux is usually configured to extend the batteries life by only charging it to 85%.

But discharging the battery from 85% (eventually somehow related to hibernate) can cause the batteries charge counter to drift off more and more over time. The result is a sudden drop of battery life at some point (in my case, at around 45% it suddenly drops tp 6%). The battery reports 85% way too early.

People reported that setting the thresholds to 100% mostly resolved the problem after a few full charge cycles.
It seems legit. My laptop is recent and the battery is almost new. When I purchased it it didn't have any special charging threshold (the normal 96-100%) and it worked fine. Then I manually set it to 50-80% and is when it started to show this issue.

One weird thing I noticed from the begining is that the design capacity is 62 WHr but after some calibration it says 66 WHr. That makes me to believe that there is actually a problem with the charging firmware on this model (or potentially, in all UEFI models).

I'm going to revert back to 100% to see if the problem gets fixed. If it does, I think it's time to report this to Lenovo.
Main: i5 3550, 16GB, Z68 Pro3 M, 64GB SLC, 320GB HD, GTX 650Ti, 21.5 FHD LED
T420: i5-2520m, 8GB, SSD: 64GB SLC (boot) | 128GB MLC (storage), HD3000, HD (1366x768), 6 Cell, BT, WebCam
X220: i5-2520m, 4GB, SSD: 64GB SLC (boot) | 128GB MLC (storage), HD3000, HD (1366x768), 6 Cell, BT, WebCam, FP

mikemex
Sophomore Member
Posts: 238
Joined: Mon Oct 04, 2010 8:54 pm
Location: Coyoacan, Mexico

Re: X220 battery issues

#2 Post by mikemex » Fri May 17, 2013 3:35 pm

It is a bug, confirmed. How do I report tis to Lenovo...?
Main: i5 3550, 16GB, Z68 Pro3 M, 64GB SLC, 320GB HD, GTX 650Ti, 21.5 FHD LED
T420: i5-2520m, 8GB, SSD: 64GB SLC (boot) | 128GB MLC (storage), HD3000, HD (1366x768), 6 Cell, BT, WebCam
X220: i5-2520m, 4GB, SSD: 64GB SLC (boot) | 128GB MLC (storage), HD3000, HD (1366x768), 6 Cell, BT, WebCam, FP

ajkula66
SuperUserGeorge
SuperUserGeorge
Posts: 15739
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:28 am
Location: Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania

Re: X220 battery issues

#3 Post by ajkula66 » Fri May 17, 2013 6:47 pm

Post it on their forum and drop me a PM here once you do so...
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

AARP club members:A31p, T43pSF

Abused daily: T61p

PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “ThinkPad X200/201/220 and X300/301 Series”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: nitrocaster and 5 guests