x61 battery light blinks

[jwb]

Exact same problem here with the 93P5032 battery FRU with only 150 cycles.  One day I was getting 5+ hours of battery life, next day my battery was "irreparable."  My battery was manufactured 2007-12-22 and purchased March 2008.  The FRU is not covered by the current recall.

[Japong]

Exact same situation here. I have an 8-cell battery that was giving me a few hours of life, but now it just blinks orange and gives me a dignostic message telling me I need to change the battery.

It seems like these battery control chips are failing and locking people out of perfectly functional batteries.  Not only that, but my battery is just out of warranty, and for some reason not covered under the recall.  I'd really like to see a response from Lenovo about this topic.

[aliencam]

I run Linux, and the same thing just happened to my battery two days ago.  Called customer support 4 or 5 times and they have no clue about anything battery related, they can only tell me " your battery is not under warranty"  and " run the program to see if your battery is covered"   otherwise they say that battery related things are not their department...

I spent all day finding a spare hard drive, and installing windows just to run the battery utility, and now it says I am not covered. 

Machine Type: 7764-CTO

Battery FRU: 93P5032

Battery ASM: 42T5209

The Power Manager says the current is 0.00A, but the voltage is 16.11V!!! The design voltage is 14.4V!!! How it got up that high is OBVIOUSLY a controller error.  (the battery was charging overnight with the laptop turned off)

My battery is a Sanyo 8 cell manufactured in "2007-11-03"

The battery is " stuck"  at 77% charge, but it doesn't work at all, and I get "A battery error has occurred. The battery cannot be charged. Replace the battery." 

all of this happened suddenly, the day before this problem I got at least 4 or 5 hours of battery life. 

This forum topic shows that someone with this same FRU got somebody to admit it was part of the battery recall, but he was " too late"  (if something is the MFG' s fault it is broken, how is it less so 6+ months after the warranty expires?)

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Series-Tablet-ThinkPad-Laptops/X60-Tablet-battery-A-battery-error-has-...

I really need some help, I need the laptop for school and I really can' t afford to spend $200 for a new battery... especially since I paid for the lenovo extended warranty (fine print: it doesn' t cover stuff that breaks). 

[brynnb]

I'm having the same problem. My battery is specifically listed (42T4507) and is having the exact same symptoms described as the batteries that are being found eligible for replacement (mine wasn't eligible, if you can't tell). It's extremely frustrating to be out of pocket $100+ because of some arbitrary technicality despite it being painfully obvious that the hardware is faulty. It says "the battery must be replaced" which is synonymous with "there has been irreparable damage". What's the difference? There isn't any, and this whole situation is really pathetic.

Let me repeat: EXACT same symptoms and EXACT same model that should be covered. Talk about having lost a customer for life. Not to mention all of the other hardware defects that came with my X60T that I'm exhausted of dealing with. Did I mention that I got blue screens of death, brand new out of the box?

[samdim]

It is very worrying to notice that almost all complaints of the sudden death of a perfectly good battery happens a very short period AFTER warrenty on the battery ends.

I think this has nothing to do with the battery cells ot the ability to charge but with the controlers.

We need a very definate and quick response from Lenovo.

[aliencam]

well mine didn't die just after the warranty, it died 6 weeks after the 6-month recall did though...

[tknutson]

Of our 180 or so tablets, I'd say at least 10% have done the same as has been described here.  I haven't really seen degraded performance much, just the battery saying it no longer works.  No apparent rhyme or reason to it.

[repartocorse]

Has anyone had any successful resolution of this problem? or made any progress on a free replacement.

I have the exact same issue and yes the exact same timing...right after warranty expiration.

I am more worried about buying a new battery and that not fixing the problem...has anyone had a resolution of this problem with a new battery installed.

I just need my machine to work...I don't have time to order battery, test battery, send battery back, send machine in, get machine back, have same problems....

if anyone could mention on how this situation has played out for them that would be much appreciated.

[aliencam]

Replacing the battery does work, I bought a battery from a third-party vendor online selling a "replacement battery" (not branded the same as the lenovo one, but the battery information says that its made by the same company), and it works fine now.  My Lenovo battery is still junk though.

[lolwyn]

Hi all, this problem, unfortunately, JUST occured to me....i don't know what happened. All of a sudden, the battery light turned from green to orange and started blinking...

My battery is an 8-cell. I think the warranty of my battery is over...so I guess my ONLY solution is to get a new one?

BUT the lenovo website doesn't even have it listed for sale anymore....is my laptop screwed? O__O'

Thanks