T61 - Battery blinking all the time, not charging.

[thebigg]

Hello all,

I have Lenovo T 61 which I bought 13 months back.

Today morning the laptop got off suddenly while on battery power. When I restarted, it only restarts on AC power. Battery is not giving any power. Moreover, battery light is just blinking(orange).

The laptop works as usual on AC power.

Any idea what has gone wrong? Does that mean the battery has gone dead and need to be totally replaced?

Please advise.

Thanks,

Gupta

[jasondarla]

try running battery maintenance through the power manager

[wjli2]

try the above suggestion, but most likely your battery have died on you. what is the FRU of your battery, only the T60 and T60p in the new T6x series are affected by the battery recall.

[thebigg]

Hi,

The battery maintenance didnt work.

Well, the warranty is over. How do I know which battery is compatible with my laptop (type 7658-CTO)?

FRU 42T5225

thanks.

[stprobst]

I experienced a very similar problem with my Levovo T61.  I got my laptop in November 2007.  On May 22, 2009, I was working on battery power, I heard a sizzling sound, and my computer shut off immediately.  I was able to start up again on the battery, but I plugged in the AC adapter immediately.  The battery was at 76% power at the time of the shut down and it has stayed at 76% for hours even though I have had it plugged in for hours.  My battery light is continually orange and flashing.  I will run the diagnostic as was suggested.  -- Scott

[stprobst]

I went to the battery maintenance utility and it told me my main battery was OK but my second battery, installed in my CD/DVD slot, was bad.  When I took out my second battery, the battery light stopped flashing and turned green.  Thanks for the tip! -- Scott

[mannee]

Guys, I know this isn't gonna make sense but I've had battery issues in the past with Thinkpads and the following has worked for me: 

Take the battery out and disconnect from AC power. Hit hit the power button a total of 11 times. The first ten times, press the power down at a rate of about 1 per second. The eleventh time, hold it down for about 30 seconds then pop the battery back in & try powering up then.

[thinkpadpro]

you must have gotten lucky because it has never worked with any of my previous thinkpads. Just for future reference, here are the definitions of the battery lights:

Solid Green: Fully Charged

Blinking Green: Almost done charging

Solid Orange: Charging

Blinking Orange: Your battery is completly and hopelessly dead. Buy a new one. 

To double check, download battery maximiser from lenovo, and check the battery health. If in red, you will have to buy a new battery. 

[amitverma]

I have a peculiar problem with my t61 battery - the battery indication is orange/blinking for a few days and then it turns to green  - again after a few hours it turns to orange/blinking - all the while being on AC power.

Can someone advise what can be done to correct this?

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

check in your thinkvantage power manager that the battery has no error or anything. This sort of blinking means your battery cell is dead and would require replacement.