battery charging problems on a new t42

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hapzunglam · #1 Post by **hapzunglam** » Sun Sep 12, 2004 11:41 pm

i have a 9cell on a t42...

the charging is very unreliable. lots of times it just won't charge... in the battery information of battery maximizer, it would say no activity in the right pane. (the left pane would still display remaining percentrage, time)...

the icon underneath the lcd would light up GREEN (as if it's full charge)...

the only way i found to get the battery to charge is to remove the battery and re-insert it.

this happens quite a few times already and i have only had the laptop a couple of weeks. i have to constantly be vigilant about watching the battery light to make sure it's yellow so that i won't find myself without power when it's unplugged.

is this a defect that i need to send in to fix? or this there something i could do on my end to correct this? (i've already updated every ibm software on the matrix to the latest versions).

bad battery? bad motherboard? bad me?

planetf1 · #2 Post by **planetf1** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 2:29 am

I repeatedly found this with an older t40 running latest embedded controller v3.03. backing off to 3.02 normally allows the battery to charge fine. Seems like a bug.

hapzunglam · #3 Post by **hapzunglam** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 11:14 pm

anybody else want to chime in before i try to roll back the embedded controller? i would have to also roll back the bios since they go hand in hand.

any other insights/suggestions/what-not?

planetf1 · #4 Post by **planetf1** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 2:01 am

I ended up sticking with the latest bios - against the recommendations of the docs. Seems ok.....

planetf1 · #5 Post by **planetf1** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 6:24 am

planetf1 wrote:I ended up sticking with the latest bios - against the recommendations of the docs. Seems ok.....

Just downgraded - I got the battery not charging issue.
Now at
bios 3.06f
controller 3.02

yahoojames · #6 Post by **yahoojames** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 9:17 pm

Same problem here: T42P, only way to get the battery to charge is to remove it and reattach it. I have the extended battery, BIOS 3.06f, embedded controller 3.02, model # 2373-KTU

marsters · #7 Post by **marsters** » Thu Nov 25, 2004 3:55 pm

I have a T41 (only a few weeks old) and I have the same problem.

I have only noticed it when the battery is low (eg around 4%) although this may be coincidence - I just happen to be plugging in the power cord.

It's very frustrating - it just sits there blinking the orange "battery low" light and doesn't charge (doesn't discharge either - the battery maximiser utility shows "no activity" on the battery).

I have a T41 (type 2373268) BIOS 3.06f, embedded controller version 3.02. Per Control Panel, battery is Sanyo cell IBM-08K8193. It's the standard battery which came with the machine.

When it's exhibiting the problem the only way I have found to regain charging is to shut down, remove power cord and remove the battery. On putting it all back together it will start charging again.

tselling · #8 Post by **tselling** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 11:28 am

A new bios and embedded controller came out Nov 15. 3.04 for embedded controller and ver 3.13 for the bios. Embedded controller says it has a fix for sometimes the battery does not charge.

KillaByte · #9 Post by **KillaByte** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 4:30 am

Same thing here. Started battery reconditioning yesterday afternoon. When i got up today it just sat there at 5% showing 'no activity'. After shutting down and removing and re-inserting the battery it is now charging again. Well - seems like I'll have to check out the new ECP version

My Setup:
2373-HTG, BIOS v3.08a, ECP v3.03

marsters · #10 Post by **marsters** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 5:49 am

Thanks tselling!

I hadn't seen that update - indeed it does have a fix listed for battery not charging.

Have just upgraded Embedded controller and BIOS as follows:

****************************** BIOS INFORMATION ******************************
BIOS version: 3.13 (1RETDHWW)
BIOS date : 2004-10-29
Embedded controller version: 3.04
Machine type-Model: 2373268

OK so far... will see what happens to the charging issue...

marsters · #11 Post by **marsters** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 12:21 am

It's been a few days now and I've not had the not-charging problem again.

KillaByte · #12 Post by **KillaByte** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 2:34 am

Yeah - I didn't either. But since yesterday my Thinkpad's completely dead. Coincidence? Let's hope so

marsters · #13 Post by **marsters** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 12:14 am

It's now been a few weeks - the BIOS update definitely did the trick ... and my Thinkpad's not dead. Hope you got yours working again KillaByte.

KillaByte · #14 Post by **KillaByte** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 7:38 am

marsters wrote:It's now been a few weeks - the BIOS update definitely did the trick ... and my Thinkpad's not dead. Hope you got yours working again KillaByte.

Nope - it is and until at least 11th of January will be dead (as posted here).

But I don't think that it had something to do with the updates (or at least I hope so).

aaronpropst · #15 Post by **aaronpropst** » Mon May 23, 2005 4:32 pm

I've had my t41 for over a year.. my old 9cell batt just started to get below 2 hours of useage, so i ordered another one. It came today.. i put it in and i'm seeing this behavior.. only on the single new battery. all the others seem to operate normally.

I read the above.. and updated my Embedded controller to 3.04 and my bios to 3.15 (in that order)

I'm still seeing the same thing.. even after powering down the whole thing unplugging power and batt. and booting up again.

Anyone else seeing these symptoms even after the updates?

battery charging problems on a new t42

battery charging problems on a new t42

Same problem on T41

Upgrading T41...

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