X61s battery dilemma, powder-like residue

[Philippe Laurichesse]

I took out my battery and this is what I found :

http://images49.fotki.com/v1502/photos/ ... 683-vi.jpg

Here is another photo :

http://images15.fotki.com/v265/photos/4 ... mod-vi.jpg

Can someone tell me, first of all, the functions of the areas circled in red (the larger circle seems to be a vent, but it becomes completely obstructed when the battery is attached) ?

I also noticed a crack on my battery :

http://images56.fotki.com/v168/photos/4 ... 710-vi.jpg

Having established the above facts, the purpose of my post is to figure what caused what. I believe that the 2 things pictured above were caused by one or both of the following events :

1. About 2 months ago, I flew on American Airlines and was made to put my laptop in the area underneath the seat in front of me. (I was not allowed to keep my laptop on my lap during take off and landing.) A little more than halfway through the 3.5-hr flight I reached down for my laptop and noticed that it was ice cold, as though I'd left it in a refrigerator. In fact there was a vent right next to where the laptop lay (I had a window seat), a vent blasting cold air. I wasn't pleased with this, but the laptop seemed all right when I got home. (I could have sworn the HD seemed a little bit sluggish but there were so many other factors that there was no way to know if the temporary "refrigeration" was responsible.)

2. Yesterday on a United Airlines flight I was leaving the plane and another passenger taking down her suitcase from the overhead compartment put it down onto my seat that I had just vacated. I had (unwisely, perhaps) left my laptop and a library book leaning vertically against the backrest of my seat before I went to get my own suitcase from the overhead compartment behind my seat. I turned in time to see the passenger's suitcase come down on the library book (hard enough to bend one of the covers) - she had put down her suitcase on my seat without looking to see if there was anything there - but it did not seem like there was a direct hit on my laptop (leaning vertically, like I said - so it was not lying flat on the seat). I looked the laptop over and everything seemed fine, but I asked the passenger if I could have her name. She refused, and I went to one of the flight attendants about the matter but she said that I did not have the right to get the woman's contact information. By then everyone was walking out, I had 15 or so minutes for a connecting flight, so I let the matter drop. It was only today (the day after) that I noticed a crack on one end of the battery - an extended battery, as the photo above shows. The rest of the laptop doesn't have a scratch on it (the laptop was inside a SF Bags sleeve).

My questions :

Could the powder-like residue have leaked out after the battery was (I can only deduce) cracked by that woman's suitcase on the UA flight ? (I don't mean leaked out of the crack but the crack caused the battery to leave the powder-like residue pictured, somehow.) or was the powder-like residue (I'm not talking about the crack here, just the powder) a result of the "refrigeration" the laptop went through on the AA flight ?

Since the laptop was not used, or turned on, since yesterday when the UA suitcase incident occurred, would I be safe in assuming the powder-like residue occurred before that ?

I also don't understand how the battery was cracked but not the rest of the laptop (if indeed the suitcase incident caused the battery crack) since the battery - if you lean the laptop vertically with the lid facing outwards - would be set more "inward" than the laptop lid - ie. the laptop lid would be the top floor and the battery would be on a lower floor if you think of the laptop's orientation as a multi-story building. I'm just not sure how the damage to the battery occurred in that context.

At this point, I'm debating about complaining to AA (if the refrigeration could have damaged my laptop) or UA. In any case, whoever is responsible for my laptop's condition.

I would also like to know if the powder-like residue - at least - is something that happens in general to laptop batteries - please let me know if that is the case.

One last note : I treat my Thinkpads like fragile antiques so I am fairly certain that I didn't crack the battery myself on some other occasion.

I apologize for my lengthy post and thank anyone for reading all of it.

[Harryc]

On an X61/s the fan is located in the red circled area, so I'd say the vent is an air intake for the fan..therefore the residue is dust. I don't think there is anything harmful about the battery case crack as long as the cells inside are intact.

[Philippe Laurichesse]

Thanks for replying. I'm beginning to think that the powder near the vent is dust, but the area of the smaller red circle (it's difficult to see in the 2nd photo) has corroded the screw there. This leads me to believe that the powder might not be dust. Also, the other Thinkpads I have access to (of which several are X61s that are used regularly) do not have any similar dust residue. It's all very puzzling.

As for the battery crack, I did notice that the battery loses charge (when the laptop is turned off) much faster than the other X61s I have access to. Could this be a sign that one or more of the cells are damaged ?

Any more thoughts on the matter are appreciated.

[dmdsoftware]

The battery is fine -- the casings can crack a bit. I've had 4 batteries and a few cracked along the edges, but none leaked.

Regarding battery depletion, it's probably one of the power settings on one of your device components on the X60 that is set to stay juiced up while off (look at the power settings for your audio,WLAN, ethernet, etc).