Battery problems

Message

FREDZT40 · #1 Post by **FREDZT40** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:42 am

My T40 won't charge and I've looked in this forum, as well as IBM's FAQS, etc.
I have two batteries(IBM) and they will charge on a friends Thinkpad, but I put them in mine and they slowly lose power, while being on ac. The meter and management tell me it's charging, but it doesn't.
I upgraded the BIOS and downloaded some management files, but that doesn't help.
Am I missing something here? Have I developed a hardware problem?
It's been used almost 100% in ac mode and continues to work fine there. It never leaves the house and hasn't been dropped .
Basically, it's a second pc (wireless) in another part of the house.

Any suggestions? I'm not very advanced, but can do a few things!!!

toad · #2 Post by **toad** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 3:59 am

what happens when you unplug your TP? Will it continue running or just die a sudden, sad death?

FREDZT40 · #3 Post by **FREDZT40** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 9:44 pm

It doesn't die, but at 88% it drops way down in screen illumination. So, it will work. I only have this battery working now, the other one is about exhausted.
Thanks for your prompt response.
Fred

FREDZT40 · #4 Post by **FREDZT40** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 9:47 pm

As I mentioned, it does work fine on ac and I think I did do the bios update correctly. Any ideas?
If it's hardware, I'm going to forget it and just use it as a pc.

toad · #5 Post by **toad** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 3:03 am

I am in no way qualified to answer your problem, sorry about that. Your laptop's behaviour does not make any sense to me either. Had it gone down straight away, fine. Had it run until the battery went flat, fine - but this 88% business??? Weird.

Well, as long as it runs fine on AC you at least got a decent machine at home

FREDZT40 · #6 Post by **FREDZT40** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 2:04 pm

Thans for the try. No one else can figure out this strange problem.
I nave a friend that's an MIS person and they use Thinkpads and he doesn't have a solution, other than it might be a hardware conflict. I did a BIOS update and that's all IBM offers for the problem....unless I did the update wrong and I have a hard time believing that.

mitchellst · #7 Post by **mitchellst** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 9:12 pm

It's your motherboard. I'm not guessing.

FREDZT40 · #8 Post by **FREDZT40** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 4:43 pm

If it's the motherboard, I guess I'll be using it only on AC.
Thanks for the analysis, it's the first I've received.
What do you think happened?

mitchellst · #9 Post by **mitchellst** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 10:30 pm

Well... I couldn't tell you the exact nature of the failure, but I've dealt with it a good bit. I spend most of my work week working on t4x series thinkpads. Our store mostly handles toshibas, and they have this problem a good bit too. I work on all the IBMs, and I've seen this several times. Usually, it's the ac adapter that isn't recognized, but slightly less often, it's the battery.

Your ac adapter obviously isn't faulty, since it runs your thinkpad. Your battery obviously isn't faulty, since it charges fine on other units. The battery connects directly to the motherboard. That's the only option left, and it's always proven true (assuming that it isn't the ac atapter or the battery... which we've ruled out).

If it's under warranty, feel free to pm me, and I'll be more than happy to repair it for the cost of shipping. If it's not under warranty, then it probably isn't worth the money to fix it. You're looking at a few to several hundred dollars on a good day to find a store to put a motherboard in for you (parts included), and that doesn't sound like it would be cost effective for you.

FREDZT40 · #10 Post by **FREDZT40** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 8:29 am

Not being a tech, it would only make sense that's the best analysis.
No, it's not in warranty and I certainly can live with it as an ac unit, just not as handy.
Thank you very much for the responses.
Fred