I just need to get this off my chest --- I'm sure I'll find answers eventually

I bought a used Thinkpad 600x last week for £125. I knew it had a dead battery but I calculated that a £45 investment in a clone battery would still mean my purchase was a good one.

I installed Debian Testing before the new battery arrived but all went well. DVD playback wasn't as good as with Windows XP but that's probably down to my set up and anyway--- XP was gone!! mplayer worked well using sudo.

My new battery arrived. KLaptop (apm) worked perfectly. It was a dream!! I couldn't believe that I'd got a "new" laptop *and* power management worked.

Now the confusion --- the 600x already had 192mb RAM installed. I added another 256mb. My laptop seemed to be rocking. I swapped the original 12gb HDD for a spare 40gb one I had. I reinstalled --- seemingly successfully. The battery charged and I put it into what I thought was suspend mode for the night. The next day, I had a flashing amber light on the laptop AND a battery that would not recharge. Ho hum!! I reinstalled --- the laptop is not mission critical yet

Right now I have a laptop that fails to be able to recharge its own innards and I feel that I need advice --- what are your thoughts on the following?

1 The replacement battery is a dud. Send it back!

2 The original IBM HDD contained secret information that is necessary for successful battery recharging (even though I wiped it good, mama!)

3 My new memory is affecting the install or battery recharging facility.

4 I should reinstall with the original IBM battery (though dead) in place --- that is what I did for my first install ---- and then change the battery. This "worked" the first time. I didn't try to use apm until the new battery was in place.

5 I should just buy a very long extension cable and be satisfied that I have a working computer. I should become adept at plugging in when using wifi in coffee shops etc.

I hope this hasn't been too long and rambling -- these are just the thoughts swirling around inside my head at the moment.

My guess is that your battery isn't the right one, or there is a hardware problem with the laptop and the original battery was OK to begin with. You should be able to let the new battery charge up even though the computer is turned off.

The idea about the memory may be a possibility. Could the replacement components be drawing too much power? Maybe you could replace the old components to test the new battery? My guess is this isn't the problem, but trying it would answer one of your questions.

First I would remove the battery and see if the machine boots off of the AC adapter only. If it does I would then replace the battery and see if it starts charging. It seems that sometimes the machine will not recognize a battery or even an AC adapter if the battery connections are touching correctly or have debris between them. Also ThinkPads in general don't work very well with 3rd party batteries. The other problem could be a bad AC adapter or bad systemboard. If you need to know how to replace any HW on the machine go to this link and download the hardware maintenance manual. It will have everything you need.

Edit: I also noticed that you installed an extra 256MB worth of RAM in the machine. Did you remove the original 192MB or did you leave it in? The reason I ask is because the most RAM a 600X can take is 320MB. That is counting the 64MB already sitting on the systemboard.

I would probably say that ither you have a bad battery or your power inverter inside your laptop has gone bad. Witch would explain the old dead battery.


the power inverters on the new laptops are just well Shit. Manufatures screw up these little things it seams on purpose to make you pay for service agreements.

A {no} progress update

1 The laptop boots from the AC. When I then plug in the battery, it recognises that it is there and tells me that there are 7077min (or some such figure )left of charging time. The counter stays at 0% forever.

2 Taking the battery out and reinserting it from point 1 takes the readout back to "charging 0%" but no time is given.

3 The battery holds something of a charge - I can boot the laptop. If I close the lid and then open it (how we spend our free time !!! ) the laptop is dead.

4 I am currently reinstalling, following the same procedure as the first time ie with the original dead IBM battery inserted. I will then replace it once my laptop is set up. I am vainly hoping that the God of Laptop Batteries will see this offering and understand and appreciate my honest commitment. Well. It worked the first time around.

5 I have just purchased a 65 metre electricity extension cable. I have worked out that most places where I work and need a wireless facility have plug sockets available. I calculate that I can have, in effect, the same benefits of using a battery by plugging in somewhere. We are a two site organisation and the two sites are 42 metres apart. If I use the plug socket near the front door of site one, I can guarantee that I will still have 23 free metres of roaming facility on site two. Unfortunately, site two is across a very busy road. Well. Let's see what happens. I don't think car tyres will damage the cable and, if questioned by the police, I will just show them my dead battery. The police can be very understanding. Incidentally, the cable only cost £35. Much cheaper than an IBM battery.

I will report my progress later.

Hmmmm! After discharging the battery -- it lasted about 5 minutes --- I now have an orange light on displayed which indicates the battery is charging. KLaptop says "plugged in - 0% charged" --- which do you think is correct? If the orange indicator light is fully on, this tells me that somewhere, somehow, the battery has been found and is charging. KLaptop is spitefully remaining at 0% --- is this the real information? Could apm be failing to give true readings? Have I missed a download?

I'll leave the laptop plugged in tonight and see what happens tomorrow.

I forgot about this thread --- yup! it was the battery. I got a replacement and all is well.
Thanks

well. I didn't think I would be back here but here I am. The replacement battery is acting wierd all of a sudden. It's been fine since my last post ---- but now it is charging "very very" quickly (if I believe the KLaptop popup) but, once charged, I get a full 4 minutes before I am warned that the battery is 10 minutes from being fully discharged. Once I plug in the power, it seems to charge super-rapidly. I don't get it. And sadly, nothing I need to do cable free takes less than 4 minutes

I would definately suggest updating the BIOS on this machine. If the BIOS is too old I have seen where it will cause similar issues. Like I stated earlier there could be an issue with the Systemboard or even possibly dc/dc card on the board.

One question I have is are you running the machine with the AC adapter constantly plugged in? If so I would recommend getting a new battery, discharging it completely, charging it completely and then discharging it again. Then I would also suggest either running the machine under battery power or AC power not both. So if you are running it on battery power to make sure it is discharged completely before using the AC adapter.

I hope this helps.

Thanks Glas. I am starting to suspect that it's not the battery at all --- but the BIOS or the hardware. The battery "seems" to discharge from 100% to 10% in about 5 minutes or so and then I have 5 minutes or so left. But ---- I saw something on the net about covering the middle two battery terminal points with paper and trying the battery then. There are four terminal points on the battery. I did this and my Thinkpad rebooted and stayed rebooted. It's booted now on a boot disk and seems to be quite happy. I am hoping that somehow the charge is being misread somehow and a full discharge (ie the Thinkpad can't misread the battery if these points are covered) may allow me to recharge (without the paper!!)......I will certainly consider a BIOS upgrade aswell. My BIOS is from 30/11/1999 ---- there must be updates.
Note --- 20 minutes later and all is fine. Rebooting (on the same battery charge) back in to Debian (points still covered). I shall use it for a bit and let it "die".
Thanks again --- I am going BIOS hunting.

edit : 20 minutes later and my kids are watching Shrek 2 on the Thinkpad. Battery still seems okay.

Esteeven,

If you are still looking for the BIOS update, here is a link:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/si...id=MIGR-4FYS2U
You can verify your version and update as necessary.

As far as your battery issue goes. If this is a rebuilt battery that you are using, it will need to be completely discharged three or more times in order for the battery electronics to "see" the new capacity. This has to do with new cells and old electronics in the battery. If the battery is "factory" new there may be an issue in the thinkpad (BIOS or other issues). Here is the link to the maintenance manual:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/si...id=MIGR-4FYS2U

Hope you find this helpful.