R40 Battery Charging HELP (Please)

[darbyflier]

I recieved my R40 and it came with 90%+ charge. While updating I used the charger and it got to 100% and would drop to 95% and recharge up (as it is supposed to) . I then used the battery only down to about 28% and then plugged in. The indicaters showed plugged in, but all night and overnight plugged in it remained at 28% - no charging. I opened battery maximiser and looked at the status and the right graphs had no activity at all. With this program and window open, I unpluged and pluged the charger and all of a sudden it came up with yellow activity bars and is now charging. Is this a bug, fixable, defect, will it happen (no charge) again??

Thanks!

[darbyflier]

More symptoms....

The battery is charging (I am keeping the battery information screen up with status page - current = 2.20A voltage = raises as it charges wattage = 35.64W)

However, if I do anything else like click on start - control panel or basically use anything the charging bars all go dead and the status says no activity. If I go back to the battery info screen and unplug and plug the charger it clicks back to charging with activity indicators in about 5-10 seconds.

Software bug? I have XP pro and updated last with all the updates avail and then service pack 2 lastly.

[tfflivemb2]

What is the FRU on your AC adapter?

Is it a 72W power supply (ie. 16V 4.5A) or is it a 56W (ie. 16V x 3.6A)?

Also, to try and reset it...remove the battery and restart the Thinkpad without the battery installed, then shut it down....then reinsert the battery and restart it.

[darbyflier]

Thanks for the reply. The AC adapter is FRU P/N 02K6756 and on the bar code the long # is 11S02K6749Z1Z2UM22WYC4 REV A

Output is 16V 4.5A

I will try a reset as you described.

Another symptom - I can get charging going by unplugging and re plugging the adapter in - a couple secs and it pops back to charging with good indications on the Battery Information window. If there is any activity at all, it seems, (like going to a web page or opening an app.) I actually hear a hiss sound, from the battery or very near it under the computer and then 1-2 secs and the Battery Information window goes "Battery - No Activity" with the 3 meters dead. From there I can plug and unplug and reset until the next action.

[darbyflier]

Well pulling battery out - restart - shut down - install battery - restart

and no change. I am open to more help.... please? LOL

[darbyflier]

another symptom --

the problem goes away when the battery gets up to 80% plus or so

at that point it charges normally and doesn't go into "Battery - No Activity" on the Battery Information window

The problem seems load related - when at a lower % charge indicated , any load on battery while charging stops charging. At a higher % charge state (80%+) it seems the loads do not change or stop the charging. Battery problem???

sorry to keep adding to this post, but I am trying to systematically notice things that might help diagnose the problem.

Thanks if you can help!

[tomstarich]

I have an R51 computer for Work. I got my charger for my IBM A31p mixed up with the work charger because they looked essentially the same. We had a problem with charging the R51 until we swapped chargers. Now all is fine.

Thomas

[darbyflier]

Thanks Tom

I think I have the right charger. My R40 is 2682-K2U and I have charger p/n 02K6749 FRU p/n 02K6756.

I received a used second battery (IBM part, no 3rd party) and the problem is the same - motherboard??

I mentioned in a previous post that above 80% or so it keeps charging normally without stopping. I notice that on Battery Information this equates actually to ~ 2 amps current (right side yellow meters) if the charging is drawing more than 2 amps it stops on any activity with that funny hi buzz coming momentarily from the computer. If the charge is drawing less than 2 amps it will continue uninterrupted and normally with no buzzes on any load or activity.

[Vasa]

Hello,

I'm facing similar problem on my R31. IN my case there is problem with motherboard in charging circuit. Couple days ago I discovered "cold" connections in that particular area on mobo. In short time I'm going to fix (if it will be possible:) - otherwise change mobo...

Good luck in Your case, Vasek.