Battery Error

[rajm]

I had a never used battery in the box still that I got about 3 years ago. Today I plugged it into my X201 for the first time and I get a "battery error" response from the Power Manager tool. Has anyone seen this before? Could it be a DOA battery?

[rkawakami]

It's quite probable that the battery has self-discharged enough that the laptop is refusing to charge it. Are we talking about a factory battery or aftermarket? Also, what is the other information that Power Manager is reporting (date first used, full charge capacity, current, cycle count, manufacturer name)?

[rajm]

This is a Lenovo battery bought directly from Lenovo.

Power manager is not reading the battery data at all. In the box above the "Battery Maintenance" button, it says "There is an error." In the "Battery Details" section all of the fields are empty (only have a "-" mark in the data field).

[rkawakami]

Okay, seeing how it's a factory battery and that they're warrantied for 12 months, starting when it's sold if I'm not mistaken, means that you're out of the warranty period. You may be lucky and have a battery that is subject to a recent recall:

http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/hf004122

As the automated solution will not work for you (since the battery is undetectable to the system), you will have to use the "manual" solution:

https://lenovobattery2014.orderz.com/

If it's not covered under the recall, you could try calling Lenovo and explain the situation. Mind you, I've never tried doing this but all you have to lose is some time. It would help greatly if you still have the original invoice/sales order that has the battery's serial number on it (proof of age).

I'm assuming that your other batteries are recognized by the system and are able to be recharged (i.e, the problem does not lie within the laptop's charging system).

[rajm]

Yup, other battery is recognized; just doesn't last very long.

Thanks for your help!

[mpcook]

The other possibility is to try and charge it with an external charger like this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E2 ... e=UTF8&me=
You may find one cheap on eBay or one to borrow. This way you are not dependent on the circuitry in the laptop.

[rkawakami]

Yes that's an option. Another would be if the OP has a UltraBase. There's an external battery charging port on the left side.

[rajm]

I have an X230 ultrabase in the office. Can I charge the X201's battery on that?

[rkawakami]

I had to find the specs for the X230 Ultrabase and it looks like that it does not have the external battery charger feature as on the X200/X201 Ultrabase.

ref: http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/migr-70299 (X200/X201)
ref: http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/migr-76765 (X220/X230)

[rajm]

Thank you for checking. I appreciate your help.