my battery is going to explode!

Message

andy6387 · #1 Post by **andy6387** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 5:11 pm

i started up my computer today and i was met with these errors from the message center. Should i be concerned, and if so, will lenovo replace them under warranty?

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/6537/errormc7.jpg

now my battery has never gotten very hot and it is always well ventiliated. i don't know what to do

andy6387 · #2 Post by **andy6387** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 5:24 pm

i really have no idea how i posted this in off topic, i meant it for the t60 forum...oh well

#3 Post by **Kyocera** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 5:31 pm

I moved it originally because the title is a bit misrepresentative to the actual content of the post.

egibbs · #4 Post by **egibbs** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 6:19 pm

Quick - run to LAX and throw on the floor at a gate!

Sorry. Call EZ-Serv.

smek · #5 Post by **smek** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 7:44 pm

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=28299

Who makes your battery? Im wondering if all of these messages are from the same brand. Mine is made by sanyo and Ive got several of those.

Also anyone who knows some of the common problems of older TP, has this been seen in the past or is this something relatively new?

#6 Post by **GomJabbar** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 7:59 pm

smek wrote:Also anyone who knows some of the common problems of older TP, has this been seen in the past or is this something relatively new?

As I was reading these posts, I wondered if I was missing something on my T42. I just went to the driver pages and looked for anything that could create these messages on my T42. There is the IBM Message Center, but this apparently only sends you informational messages that are generated from time to time from by IBM or Lenovo via the internet. I do not see any drivers or software for the T42 for generating system error messages such as reported by andy6387.

christopher_wolf · #7 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 10:56 pm

GomJabbar wrote:
smek wrote:Also anyone who knows some of the common problems of older TP, has this been seen in the past or is this something relatively new?
As I was reading these posts, I wondered if I was missing something on my T42. I just went to the driver pages and looked for anything that could create these messages on my T42. There is the IBM Message Center, but this apparently only sends you informational messages that are generated from time to time from by IBM or Lenovo via the internet. I do not see any drivers or software for the T42 for generating system error messages such as reported by andy6387.

Isn't that the ThinkVantage Message Center as opposed to the older Access IBM Message Center?

Andy, I would use PowerManager to take a look at the parameters of that battery during normal operation. Voltage, Current, Temperature, Cycles, Charge Capacity vs. Design Capacity (look at this over a day or so to see if it changes suddenly) First-Used Data, etc. You can also link to a screenshot of it if you like as well.

Next, you should also feel your battery to see if, indeed, it is radiating heat in a significant way. If it feels much warmer than the rest of the bottom of the Thinkpad, or if the top of it (if it is an extended battery) is getting very warm, then it has a serious problem and should be sent in to IBM/Lenovo.

HTH

#8 Post by **GomJabbar** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 11:23 pm

christopher_wolf wrote:Isn't that the ThinkVantage Message Center as opposed to the older Access IBM Message Center?

Probably is on the newer model ThinkPads. However, on the driver matrix page for my T42, all they list is IBM Message Center. I uninstalled it awhile back because I kept getting error messages in Event Viewer. Software and Device Drivers - ThinkPad T42, T42p ||| Access IBM - Message Center

File details

Version: 2.102b
Release Date: 2005/08/02

File link File size File description

1xtc15us.exe 6,156,344 (English) Access IBM - IBM Message Center

christopher_wolf wrote:Next, you should also feel your battery to see if, indeed, it is radiating heat in a significant way.

In other words, if it burns your hand, call the bomb squad.

claudeo · #9 Post by **claudeo** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 1:34 am

The battery has its own built-in chip to monitor its condition. It seems that what you got was the chip detecting a problem. It may have been a false alrm, or it may have been real. Overheating inside a battery cell might not be immediately detectable by feeling the outside of the battery casing. At a minimum this is something that should be monitored carefully. I would not take the risk -- get on the phone or file an email ticket--and get it on record in case some follow-up is required later.

jjesusfreak01 · #10 Post by **jjesusfreak01** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 5:22 pm

Dont be silly, only Sont batteries spontaneously explode.

christopher_wolf · #11 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 5:40 pm

jjesusfreak01 wrote:Dont be silly, only Sont batteries spontaneously explode.

...What?

There have been other batteries, made by corpoations other than Sony, that have spontaneously exploded (and hopefully, not spontaneous in the thermodynamic sense of the word).

In regards to the on-board chip; it will do its best at regulating the current and voltage to and from the battery, but it can only do so much. It is unlikely that a single cell, given the chemistry of the reaction, could slowly overheat over an extended period of time without the user noticing something. The output will fall and the time you can operate on battery will be significantly reduced all of a sudden.

The thing is, such reactions are highly exothermic and, kinetically, proceed *very* rapidly. So it doesn't matter if one cell overheats for a minute or so, that is enough to get the reaction going, degrade the cell and possibly comprimise other cells in the area, and then rapidly accelerate producing large amounts of, noxious, gaseous by-products along with an extreme buildup of temperature and pressure. All of that has the potential to occur within the span of 30 seconds and can consume several cells at once. So having one cell overheat is the least of your worries.

JohnDrake · #12 Post by **JohnDrake** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 6:05 pm

I think this post is a practical joke...Message Center doesn't post messages like this.

christopher_wolf · #13 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 6:14 pm

JohnDrake wrote:I think this post is a practical joke...Message Center doesn't post messages like this.

I don't really know as I haven't used the ThinkVantage Message Center; but I *can* say that this had better not be a practical joke.

SlyD · #14 Post by **SlyD** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 3:52 am

... maybe someone hacked the message Center and is now writing nice messages to the users.

If

*Hey look! There's a three-headed monkey behind you!*

comes next ....

mmo · #15 Post by **mmo** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 5:33 am

This is strange! Out of curiosity I started the Message Center (which I had disabled considering it useless after it hadn't brought a single message in months) and to my surprise it also displays these two messages (dated today):

Battery error is detected : A battery error is detected.

Battery error is detected : Irreparable damage to the battery has been detected. Replace the battery with a new one.

Really puzzled! Where does the message center get its messages from?

Michael

#16 Post by **GomJabbar** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:21 am

JohnDrake wrote:I think this post is a practical joke...Message Center doesn't post messages like this.

The screenshot image linked in the OP's post seems to refute this theory. Additionally, the OP is not the only one to report this. There have been other threads started by other users where the same message was displayed. It doesn't seem likely that all these users are all involved in a hoax.

Anthony S · #17 Post by **Anthony S** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 8:41 am

This has to be a hoax. The Message Center simply receives, stores and displays messages from Lenovo. It does not monitor or report on the status of the machine on which it runs. Presumably something has been hacked, perhaps another ThinkVantage program, perhaps a Lenovo message server. Has nobody asked Lenovo about this?

#18 Post by **GomJabbar** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 8:53 am

Well, what I really meant was: it doesn't seem likely that all these users are all perpetrators in a hoax. They could be victims of a hoax through some hacking or virus.

I know that the IBM Message Center only generates messages as you describe. The ThinkPad Message Center I have not used.

andy6387 · #19 Post by **andy6387** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 2:01 pm

well, i called tech support and they had me do a couple things. In the end, i decided it probably is some sort of glitch, and i haven't received any more errors or anything like that. If something explodes in the future, i'll be sure to take pictures.

oh, and this isn't a hoax lol. and i highly doubt anyone would waste there time making a virus that targets the thinkpad message center. and if they did, i don't know how it would end up on my computer lol.

briansmith · #20 Post by **briansmith** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 10:54 am

Anthony, I would not be so sure that the message center only receives messages over the internet from Lenovo. When I was using Filemon to investigate why my system was doing a lot of disk I/O while "idle," I noticed that the message center was polling a set of files on the hard drive, about once every two minutes. So, it is possible that other Thinkvantage utilities are writing log files that then get picked up by Message Center.

smek · #21 Post by **smek** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 12:27 pm

http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/3962/msgdt1.jpg

tpribors · #22 Post by **tpribors** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 5:16 pm

I mentioned this in this post:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

It has since gone away.

Kamika007z · #23 Post by **Kamika007z** » Fri Sep 29, 2006 2:44 pm

This might be also worth mentioning:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/28/over ... -recalled/

Take a look.

pekka · #24 Post by **pekka** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 8:55 am

I called yesterday to IBM tech support because my battery is made by Sony. They are going to send me new battery which is very nice since I get another battery for free

I've used my current battery since April without any problem so I don't think it's gonna say *CABOOM*

The tech guy said that delivery time is between 4 to 6 weeks due to high demand.

stephan54 · #25 Post by **stephan54** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 2:42 pm

I too called Friday morning and was told the 4-6 weeks delivery time, but in the afternoon I got a call from MSO (battery company), that they will deliver mine on Monday. That is good service.
Stephan

#26 Post by **archer6** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 3:28 pm

stephan54 wrote:I too called Friday morning and was told the 4-6 weeks delivery time, but in the afternoon I got a call from MSO (battery company), that they will deliver mine on Monday. That is good service.

I believe they have trained their people to use a standard answer for nearly any parts required, "it will be 4-6 weeks". I say this because I have placed several orders for parts or accessories or warranty parts, over the last 3 months and they always say 4-6 weeks. Then I find the parts arriving within 3 - 5 days in almost every case.

wayner · #27 Post by **wayner** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 2:28 pm

I am getting this error in my message center on a regular basis now.

10/4/2006 - NEW - Battery error is detected.
Irreparable damage to the battery has been detected. Replace the battery with a new one.

Battery Information
full charge capacity 83.97Wh
Temp 31C
Cycle Count 11
Manufacturer Panasonic
Man. Date 2006-08-15
First used 2006-08
Serial # 8xx
P/N 92P1133

We just purchase several of these for our office. I have not noticed any problem with the battery with on exception. After 2 hours of use the Power Meeter Gauge states there is no battery installed, but in fact I am running off battery power.

We have also found the TP has a hard time waking up from Standby mode. I have had many TP since they were first released. This one seems to be quite quirky.

Is the battery acutally defective? I have Lenovo sending me a box to put my battery in, mail back, then they will send me a replacement battery.

Comments?

#28 Post by **gator** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 8:18 pm

My friend had the same issue - she got the battery replaced. Any attempts to repair the orig battery resulted in rebooting.

dem107 · #29 Post by **dem107** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 11:25 am

After not using Message Center for months, I started it up and got these messages:
4/17/2007 - Battery error is detected.
The battery is too hot. Remove it from the computer and cool it to room temperature.
4/17/2007 - Battery error is detected.
Irreparable damage to the battery has been detected. Replace the battery with a new one.
4/17/2007 - Battery error is detected.
Irreparable damage to the battery has been detected. Replace the battery with a new one.
4/17/2007 - Battery error is detected.
Irreparable damage to the battery has been detected. Replace the battery with a new one.

I imagine these are bogus messages, since the Power Manager shows the battery as "good."

spt60 · #30 Post by **spt60** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 3:08 pm

Hmm... I've just got my new 9-cell after the recent recall, which also has the P/N: 92P1133, Panasonic and running fine so far, but with the fact that I'm not using Message Center (uninstalled it since I didn't need it). Whose false is this: Message Center or the new battery ???

my battery is going to explode!

my battery is going to explode!

10/4/2006 - NEW - Battery error is detected.

Battery Error Messages

Hmm...

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