Cnet's Sony battery recall rumour: 500,000 laptops

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nelson · #1 Post by **nelson** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 12:13 pm

Can't say we didn't see this coming... Lenovo to recall 500,000 notebooks for battery woes.

egibbs · #2 Post by **egibbs** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 12:17 pm

Rumor no more... Offical Lenovo Battery Recall Page

IBM and Lenovo sold these Sony batteries in systems listed below between February 2005 and September 2006. Customers who bought one of the following systems may have a battery subject to this recall:

ThinkPad R Series (R51e, R52, R60, R60e)
ThinkPad T Series (T43, T43p, T60)
ThinkPad X Series (X60, X60s)

Ed Gibbs

FlexOink · #3 Post by **FlexOink** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 12:37 pm

I checked mine, apparently no problem. While production date is july 15th 2006, the website says mine is fine.

nick-m · #4 Post by **nick-m** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 12:49 pm

I feel lucky, my battery is a Sanyo.

Looks like Sony screwed up big time!

Ade · #5 Post by **Ade** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 1:03 pm

Just checked mine. Feeling lucky too.
My battery is an IBM, says my battery is not affected by the recall

frankausmtank · #6 Post by **frankausmtank** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 1:27 pm

Well.. I'm screwed! T60 bought in mid april.

I'll keep you guys posted about the exchange. Hopefully I'll get a free sony shirt or something like that

edit:
attention everyone:
be careful when entering the battery number manually on the website, not using the tool.

...61POAY <- end of the number as I first read it, gave me a "you're not affected" message
...61P0AY <- the 'real' number, as read with the lenovo tool. affected!

the 'O' is a zero!

rvacha · #7 Post by **rvacha** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 1:40 pm

It appears that the Lenovo auto-detection program only detects the main battery, not any ultrabay batteries that may be present. Has this been others' experience? Are ultrabay batteries totally unaffected?

dbertoni5000 · #8 Post by **dbertoni5000** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 2:38 pm

I was just quoted a 4-6 week replacement time for my battery. In the meantime, I'm not supposed to use the battery at all.

It's so useful to have a laptop that's tied to a power outlet. I may just order an extended battery to use while I'm waiting.

planetf1 · #9 Post by **planetf1** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 2:41 pm

I 've been having problems with my SONY ultrabay battery - in fact 2 of them. I strongly believe they are faulty... will try to persue.

renhui · #10 Post by **renhui** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 3:00 pm

I have a sony battery in my T60(manufactured 2006/04), however it doesn't qualify for the recall. So what's going on? I think all batteries made by Sony are to be recalled?

spotter · #11 Post by **spotter** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 3:08 pm

why do you feel bad about the recall? I wish my batteries on my 2 yo t42p were recalled. new batteries w/ full life would be great.

pianowizard · #12 Post by **pianowizard** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 3:09 pm

I haven't had a chance to check my T43's battery yet, but unlike you guys, I actually hope it's affected so that I can get a free new battery!

briansmith · #13 Post by **briansmith** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 3:11 pm

I recommend looking up the FRU/ASM on the list provided by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, in addition to using Lenovo's serial number lookup. The serial number as printed on the battery is hard to read and it is easy to make a mistake typing it in. The CPSC's page for this recall is:

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml06/06270.html

kimx · #14 Post by **kimx** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 3:41 pm

My battery is affected, so if you can use the program to check(only work with IE as default browser),
I also checked the barcode manually and I misread 0(zero) with O(capital letter o)

EDIT:

does work with firefox, I just didn't have any default browser

claudeo · #15 Post by **claudeo** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 3:55 pm

It is not obvious from looking at the outside of a laptop battery, but, regardless of the shape, inside there are metal cylinders that are the cells that hold the charge. In the affected battery, a cell can develop an internal short and catches fire. AFAIK, the affected batteries are apparently those that are using cells built using one particular production process at SONY, where the problem was caused when the cells were crimped closed. The production process sometimes caused the crimping to release metal debris that, in very unlucky circumstances, can in time move around and cause an internal short. All the cells that have caused fires were apparently built using that process. This apparently did not affect other SONY production lines and other manufacturers because the crimping there was not done the same way, or the materials used were prepared in a slightly different way. It is most likely that the smaller cells used in the UltraBay battery were also manufactured with a different process.

aragorn002 · #16 Post by **aragorn002** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 4:18 pm

briansmith,

My battery FRU/ASM numbers do match the list on the Consumer
Product Safety Commission notice (92P1141/92P1142), however
when I enter the serial number of my battery (manually and with the
program) on the Lenovo site, it tells me "not affected". So it looks
like the FRU/ASM list covers a larger scope than the really
defective batteries.

DenTP4rm · #17 Post by **DenTP4rm** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 4:43 pm

Does anybody know if both the 6 cell and 9 cell batteries for the T60p are affected? Also, I gather it is only Sony batteries not Panasonic or some other brand? I'm a few thousand miles away from my T60p and will be relying on a non-tech oriented person to verify if my battery needs replacing and take care of this process. Much thanks for any clarifications.
DenTP4rm

PreZ · #18 Post by **PreZ** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 4:57 pm

Both my batteries (9 cell) for my T60p are NOT affected

Mine are made by Sanyo, as displayed with:
cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/info

under Linux

I'm sure there is a way to find this information out under Windows too.

PreZ

jjesusfreak01 · #19 Post by **jjesusfreak01** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 5:25 pm

The program works under the new version of FF also, if not the old one.

dfumento · #20 Post by **dfumento** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 6:11 pm

DenTP4rm wrote:Does anybody know if both the 6 cell and 9 cell batteries for the T60p are affected? Also, I gather it is only Sony batteries not Panasonic or some other brand? I'm a few thousand miles away from my T60p and will be relying on a non-tech oriented person to verify if my battery needs replacing and take care of this process. Much thanks for any clarifications.
DenTP4rm

Sony only. They could look in Thinkpad configuration utility under power managment and under power meter tab click on the battery symbol and it tells you the battery manufacturer.

Cnet's Sony battery recall rumour: 500,000 laptops

Cnet's Sony battery recall rumour: 500,000 laptops

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