T43 Battery Loose

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KrazieF00 · #1 Post by **KrazieF00** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:16 pm

I was wondering if anyone else out there has a T43 where the battery is loose and juggles around inside it's slot. I have the standard 6 cell and the 9 cell battery and they bopth rattle in the battery compartment. If this is what IBM would classify as "normal" I will be returning my machine since this is unacceptable. If the battery is moving, then the contacts are moving, and if the contacts are moving the system could shut off if the battery loses contact, and thus causing me to lose a lot of work that I have open on my computer. Thanks in advance for your replies

dtakias · #2 Post by **dtakias** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:41 pm

no problems at all here.
battery well touched.

cheers
nick

#3 Post by **GomJabbar** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 6:17 pm

Not ideal perhaps, but you could always shim the side of the battery or the battery slot with electical tape - friction tape should work good. Or you could use some thin adhesive rubber strips, which should be available at the local hardware store.

This hardly seems reason enough to return the laptop. However, I do agree with you that you shouldn't have the battery moving around and risking data corruption.

TimWang · #4 Post by **TimWang** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 7:53 pm

Yea, my battery sticks out about 1mm on the right side. I doesn't "shake" but just nudges out a bit. I can push it back into position with my finger but it will come back after a while. Doesn't bother me much and I don't think it warrants returning the machine.

KrazieF00 · #5 Post by **KrazieF00** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:59 pm

Got to play with a few others today, and mine is definately more loose/jiggly than any of the others I have played with. The worst part is that all the machines (6) i have played with now all exhibit this issue. This machine is going back...seems like the thinkpad brand is starting to go downhill

Greg Gebhardt · #6 Post by **Greg Gebhardt** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 2:39 pm

Not so tight batteries are not a new issue with ThinkPads. Been happening from the T42 series and on. Its not that big of a deal to put a single strip of electrical tape on the battery slot to tighten it up. I would not send mine back for the little play I have in mine. I am am enjoying it too much with with a screen that has no dead pixels and works perfectly, I would not take the chance.

#7 Post by **aamsel** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 3:27 pm

This has been going on a long time (loose battery) and there are some very easy fixes.
One of them involves heating up the little hook that sticks out, and bending it very slightly.
IIRC, Bill (our site host here) used to do this all the time to systems that he shipped out.
Why not PM him, and ask how to do it?

The other remedy involves the brand of the battey. Again, IIRC, the Sanyo's were the 6 cells that tended to be loose, where the SONY's were snug. Not sure about the other brands. There are several vendors who's batteries are used by IBM/Lenovo. Somewhere in the Battery Maximizer utility it tells you the brand of battery you have. Not sure about 9 cells issues.

Your loose battery is NOT an indication of slipping quality. IBM designed the entire T42/43 line that is being sold by Lenovo. The losse battery thing has been around at least since the T42 introduction. It is an issue based on who made the battery that winds up in your Thinkpad.

Also, having it move around will normally not make it lose electrical contact, or at least this has not been reported in the past.

Andrew
Austin, TX

Greg Gebhardt · #8 Post by **Greg Gebhardt** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 5:44 pm

How quick people are to trash their laptop and blame Lenova for "slipping quality".

#9 Post by **K. Eng** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 6:05 pm

It is 'normal' and as far as I can tell, has been for over 2 years. My T40 had the same problem - the battery rattled around in the back, though it did not loose contact with the system board. I used some thin foam to buffer the top of the battery, and have had no problems since.

Still, I can understand that you are irritated. It's not like this problem cropped up yesterday. Like so many other things with the T4x, IBM sat on its butt and did little or nothing to address the problem. Let's hope someone at Lenovo is paying attention.

KrazieF00 wrote:I was wondering if anyone else out there has a T43 where the battery is loose and juggles around inside it's slot. I have the standard 6 cell and the 9 cell battery and they bopth rattle in the battery compartment. If this is what IBM would classify as "normal" I will be returning my machine since this is unacceptable.

chotta · #10 Post by **chotta** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 3:16 am

Tell me about it, I have had 2 T43Ps (2668H2U) so far and both of them had loose batteries. I was amazed coz you dont expect this from a 3000 $ machine.

We ordered another Q2U recently and believe it or not, the battery again does not fit snuggly and shakes, it does not break connection though. We are talking about a 3500$ machine and Lenovo despite being aware of the problem does not want to even fix it in their top of the line unit. I finally had to stick a foam tape on top of the battery since you never take the battery out and now its a little better.

The Machine works perfect, but I guess when you spend that much amount of hard earned money and pay for the best, you want the best with out any issues not even trivial, none what so ever. This can be rather annoying.

aaronpropst · #11 Post by **aaronpropst** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 10:16 am

bah.. if they'd made the battery compartment tighter or the batteries larger you all would be complaining that you couldn't get them out when they warm up.. or some such...

ibm/lenovo should have just slapped some squishy tape on the inside of the t4x case.. since they didn't.. you should.

re: battery losing contact.. have you looked at the contacts?? no way it's gonna happen with the small amount of movement you're describing..

throw a couple layers of duct tape on your batts (you can even buy black) and chill out.

TimWang · #12 Post by **TimWang** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 8:27 pm

I've got some electrical tape but where exactly do I stick it? On the battery or on the notebook battery compartment?

bhtooefr · #13 Post by **bhtooefr** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 8:59 pm

My X21 has the same problem with the Sanyo battery in there.

That's four years old.

So, I'd say quality is most definitely NOT slipping at IBM or Lenovo, it's just slipped at Sanyo a long time ago.

(Very interestingly, when I was checking the brand to be sure, I saw that my battery serial number is 285. A three-digit serial number, on a battery made 2001-06-06.)

#14 Post by **K. Eng** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 9:07 am

Not true. I've used various other types of notebooks from IBM and other manufacturers, and I never had to worry about the battery rattling around. It's not a huge problem, but certainly I think it is a quality issue that should not be present on an expensive machine.

aaronpropst wrote:bah.. if they'd made the battery compartment tighter or the batteries larger you all would be complaining that you couldn't get them out when they warm up.. or some such...

ibm/lenovo should have just slapped some squishy tape on the inside of the t4x case.. since they didn't.. you should.

re: battery losing contact.. have you looked at the contacts?? no way it's gonna happen with the small amount of movement you're describing..

throw a couple layers of duct tape on your batts (you can even buy black) and chill out.

Greg Gebhardt · #15 Post by **Greg Gebhardt** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 9:32 am

K. Eng wrote:Not true. I've used various other types of notebooks from IBM and other manufacturers, and I never had to worry about the battery rattling around. It's not a huge problem, but certainly I think it is a quality issue that should not be present on an expensive machine.

aaronpropst wrote:bah.. if they'd made the battery compartment tighter or the batteries larger you all would be complaining that you couldn't get them out when they warm up.. or some such...

ibm/lenovo should have just slapped some squishy tape on the inside of the t4x case.. since they didn't.. you should.

re: battery losing contact.. have you looked at the contacts?? no way it's gonna happen with the small amount of movement you're describing..

throw a couple layers of duct tape on your batts (you can even buy black) and chill out.

I think you exagerate some as I doubt your battery is "rattling around" unless you are shaking the crap out of your notebook. If so, stop it and it will not rattle. A piece of tape will fix it. I noticed on my new T43p a spongy tape was applied to the notebbook where the battery fits. SO they know about them being loose and would rather have it that way than so tight you can insert your battery.

TimWang · #16 Post by **TimWang** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 11:09 pm

Where exactly do you stick this tape? Seems like everyone is recommending the tape but I just don't know where it's supposed to go.

#17 Post by **BillMorrow** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 1:07 am

IMO this issue is much ado about nearly nothing..

in the past with the T40's i would take my old heat shirink tubing heat gun and very carefully soften up the hook on the battery.. then i would re "form" it so as to make the battery fit tighter..
YMMV and you take full responsibility for any screw ups you make..
that said, the melting point seems to be low enough that it will get soft slowly..

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