Battery problem on x61

[redsoc]

I have owned my x61 for a little under 2 years at this point. However, my battery life now with the 8 cell is a mere 30 minutes. I understand that battery life deteriorates with age, but this is a bit ridiculous. I was wondering what could have caused this.

Also, I remember reading that battery warranties are something on the order of 9 months. Does this mean I'm simply out of luck and have to shell out another 150+ for a new extended life battery to turn my portable laptop into an actual laptop?

[GatorHawk]

The battery warranty is usually 1 year. You mention that the unit is 2 years, does this also include the extended battery? If you bought the ext battery separately and it is less than 1 year old, try calling Lenovo.

[JohnTGWalker]

I have a very similar problem - my X61 is 15 months old, battery life with 8 cell is 1 hour. Only 110 cycles on the battery. Very frustrating.

My old T40 took about three years to reach the same deterioration in battery life.

I am having a bit of a whinge at Lenovo support; if I have any result I will post back here.

[dr_st]

Whose the manufacturer of the battery? What is the full charge capacity that is shown in the power manager? (Questions are for both redsoc and JohnTGWalker).

[JohnTGWalker]

Sony, 36% of original capacity, manufacture date March 3 2008. Ridiculous!

[dr_st]

Totally ridiculous. Have you ever calibrated the battery, i.e. let it run down to 0% and turn off, instead of hibernating at 3% or so?

[JohnTGWalker]

I have run the battery maintenance a couple of times recently. I have not just let it run down; I will try that and see how long it lasts.

[hart22]

If you do end up looking for a new one I wouldn't shell out $150 for it from the Lenovo store. I'll say right off the bat I have no commercial affiliations etc with him whatsoever (hope that's good for conflict of interest disclosure ), but I always go to forum member Brad for genuine Lenovo batteries at reasonable prices.

[Brad]

Thanks for the kind words. Who needs batteries?

Brad

[Thinkpad.Forever]

Hi redsoc,

Have you tried to perform a reset of your battery's smart chip to see if your battery can be re-calibrated to more accurately reflect its true capacity?

1. Bring up your Power Manager via:
... a. Double clicking on your battery gauge on your taskbar, or
... b. Pressing Fn+F3, then click "Manage Settings...", or
... c. Hitting your "ThinkVantage" blue button, click "ThinkVantage Technologies" > "Power Manager".

2. Click on the "Battery Information" tab.

3. Click on the "Battery Maintenance..." button.

4. Click on the "Perform Reset..." button.

Follow the on-screen instructions.

I hope that can help to reset your battery. Otherwise, you may need to get a new one.

[LittleBear]

Hi All,

My 8-cell battery also has a similar problem. Manufacture date: 02-2008, by Sony. Jumping down from 80% to 1% in a second, then going hibernating. Gauge reset does not help at all.

I am thinking to order a new one from Lenovo. Is it possible that we can ask for a Sanyo one? I noticed that many Sony batteries are facing the above problem.

LittleBear

[mmeyer4663]

I am in the same boat. Original battery is kaput! Power Manager indicated battery is bad. Will not even charge. System was purchased 7/07.
I tired to go with a replacement other than Lenovo and have been bitten.
The replacement (LIB201, battdepot.com $47.99 was worth a shot) originally lasted for about 2 hours on July 10. Today 20 minutes. Learned my lesson!

[pocketpenguin]

My battery died about a month ago. Very suddenly. It just didn't start one morning after a charge. Just a blinking orange battery light... It was made in July 2007.

Take a look at the URL below... it's a recall for x61 dead battery issues. Unfortunately for me my FRU is a 93P5032 not a 30. I may call for support anyway...

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... ATT-082009

I forgot to add that I bought a "replacement" on e-bay. It runs fine, many hours, but unfortunately the machine dies at 38% remaining charge. The battery gauge reset didn't work.