Battery Light Blinking Orange Despite Being Charged

[Boston1717]

Last night I came home to find that the battery was blinking orange really really fast.  Normally it will blink orange slowly if it is running out of battery, but this was much faster.  Besides, the computer had been charging the whole time I was out.  In fact, it says my battery power is 100%.  I unplugged the AC/DC adapter to see if another outlet would help, but the computer instantly shut down without the power source.  I looked this up on the Lenovo website, but was unable to ascertain exactly what the problem was.  One possiblity was that the battery had overheated, so I shut the computer off for the whole day and then tried again, but still no luck. 

And I don't know if its related or not, but my computer was also running EXTREMELY slow all of a sudden.  And my web browser, when I opened it, only opened up into a tiny box in the corner of my screen.  I had to right click "maximize" to get it to be visible, and it still took 10 minutes to do that.  Now it seems to be running a lot faster, but the light is still blinking and the computer still shuts down instantly if unplugged.

A virus scan didn't fix the problem either.

Is there anything I can do to fix this problem??

[ajkula66 Guru]

Welcome to the forum!

Your battery is dead, and keeping it plugged for an extended period of time will eventually damage the charging circuit on the motherboard, so it's time to replace it.

Could you please post the 7-character model number of your ThinkPad to help us assist you better with the rest of the issues that you're referring to? 

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

Boston your problem is typical for thinkpads running without a functioning battery pack....

You should get a new battery pack, otherwise your machine would be speed restricted as the 65 W adapter can't provide the peak power draw necessary for 100% CPU load.... 90 W adapter may also remedy your problem, but given that you need a battery.. you should just get a battery instead of wasting money on a possible remedy with the 90 w adapter...  

[Boston1717]

Hey Guys,

Thanks a lot for the advice.  First of all, I'm not sure what the 7 digit model number is, but the computer is a T60p.

Also, I believe its already functioning on a 90 W adapter....at least that's what the AC/DC adapter says.

I guess I'm just curious how the battery could be dead if it was working fine just earlier in the day....Usually there is a slow loss of power over the course of months, not an instant drop off.  Also, the computer seems to work fine when the battery isn't plugged in, which seems odd.  I've also never received any messages about the battery failing or anything like that.  Nevertheless, it may be that I need a new battery. 

Thanks for the help.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

Some of the battery produced by Sanyo and Sony shows instantaneous failure without warnings, not the gradual drop off that we come to expect in other Li - ion devices... 

[Boston1717]

This battery is actually the Lenovo battery that came with the computer.  I bought it in May of 2007.  There's not any way this is covered under the basic warranty or anything is there?

I'm just concerned because since I posted this, I've found some other people complaining of this problem and some of them reported that new batteries didn't fix the problem.  But I guess there's only one way to find out...

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

Lenovo actually don't produce batteries.... these batteries are produced by any one of these manufacturers (Sanyo, Sony and Panasonic).... Sanyo and Sony have fair share of faulty batteries over these recent years from Apple Ipod to Dell Laptops... battery is only covered by one year warranty, so you are well over that, the best course of action is to just get a new battery...

[jdonyun]

Hi Boston, Happy Holidays!  Did you ever get an satisfactory response to your warranty question?  I bought T61 last year.  I had a green battery light for 2 months, then ever since, a orange blinking light.  I have it on 90W AC/DC adapter during the day.  Cursor over the plug icon indicate laptop is fully charged, but also get a message "Battery 2: error detected", and occasionally a message that battery is fully discharged.  When I use battery power...it still gets up to 5 hours of power.  Don't know what battery 2 is, nor what battery is discharged.  It is annoying though.  I originally got blinking when I checked my battery for FRU# to determine whether I had a 4 or 6 cell battery.   I have a T61, Model CTO8897.