R500 Battery Problem -- 66%, plugged in, not charging

[ecluett]

I have a ThinkPad R500 from May 2009, and I recently put a new hard drive and new install of Windows 7 on it.  Today, my battery ran completely out of power, and the computer turned off suddenly.  When I plugged it in and turned it back on, my battery light started flashing orange (as if there were no power left in the battery), but my battery indicator says "66% available (plugged in, not charging)."

Any time I unplug the computer from the AC adapter, it immediately shuts off.

I'm not really sure what's going on here.  I don't have any of the Lenovo utilities installed, since this was a fresh install of Windows 7.  I've tried going to the device manager and uninstalling the ACPI Compliant Control battery, then scanning for hardware changes.

I would prefer not to update the BIOS unless absolutely necessary -- I've had enough issues with this computer as is, I don't want to make more!

Any help is appreciated.

[ajkula66 Guru]

Welcome to the forum!

I'd suspect that the battery has gone bad. Can you borrow another one somewhere to test the charging system?

[ecluett]

I don't think I can get a hold of another battery anywhere -- no one I know owns a Lenovo.  That being said, I suspect that what you said is correct.  I'm just taken aback because it happened so suddenly and because the battery is only 3 years old.  Do you have any tips on what to look for when buying new batteries?

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

so what does thinkvantage power manager show for the Battery information.

Is there any reported battery error.

[ecluett]

I'd actually forgotten about Thinkvantage Power Manager, since, again, my install of Windows 7 was just off the DVD and not from Lenovo.

That being said, sure enough, Power Manager is saying the battery has failed due to normal wear and that I need to get a new one.  What should I know about buying a new one, and more importantly, is it normal for a laptop battery to fail after three years?

[chuckk48]

Before you run out and get a new battery, try going into Power Manager and perform a battery RESET.  About 6 months ago I purchased a used R500 for my son, and after turning it on, I noticed that the battery indicator was yellow. I had the same 'recommendation' message to go out and replace my battery.  I figured I had nothing to lose , so I started the battery RESET process.

The RESET function drains the battery to 0% (while being plugged in), then does a recharge. If successful, it reconditions the battery.

Start up Power Manager. Select the 'BATTERY'  tab. Then select the 'Battery Maintenance...' tab.  At this point select the 'Perform Reset...' tab. Now be very patient. It could take many hours. Even if the machine looks like it has hung and is doing nothing, leave it alone. I think my first reset ran for 5 hours. At that point, the battery was now green but only showing 80% or so, so I ran it again. This time it took only a few hours and ended up at 100% capacity.  

Good luck!

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

it depends on the number of cycle you run on the battery.