New battery not charging

stuartguerin · 12-07-2006, 03:16 PM

Hi

I have an IBM thinkpad R40 which works great but the battery it came with would not charge. I thought it was an old battery so I bought a new one but this doesn't charge either. I find if I shake the machine a bit and leave it it sometimes charges the battery. Is there something I can open up and tighten as it is clearly a connection issue?

Any advice would be very much appreciated, it's driving me crazy!

Thanks
Stu

**TheMatt** · 12-07-2006, 03:47 PM

Hi Stu,

Try cleaning the contacts on the laptop where the contacts on the battery would touch.

stuartguerin · 12-08-2006, 03:56 AM

Thanks for your reply.

Yeah, it was the first thing I tried and to no avail.

Its strange that it will charge sometimes if I knock the machine about a bit like the thug that I am. Getting quite annoyed by the whole thing, it came with a 30 day warranty which has now elapsed (as I thought it had just come with a dead battery) but now a brand new battery won't charge too.

Does anyone know much about the inside of an R40? Is it worth me taking it apart and tightening anything? As you can tell I am quite up for this idea...

PLEASE HELP!!!

**laboye** · 12-09-2006, 10:06 AM

Hi and welcome to TSF. Here is a generic set of disassembly instructions that uses the R40 as the example:

http://www.quepublishing.com/article...&seqNum=3&rl=1

When the computer is plugged in and running with the battery installed, does the system report that there is a battery in? Do you have the ThinkPad Utilities installed? If so, you can check detailed information specific to the battery and see if it is a bad battery. If not, you can use BatMon to determine other info, though it is not as thorough as the ThinkPad Utilities:

Batmon:
http://www.passmark.com/ftp/batmon.exe

The thinkpad utilities are model specific, so you'll need to provide your type-model code. It is located on the bottom of your ThinkPad on a small black and white sticker above a barcode.

-Eddie

stuartguerin · 12-11-2006, 11:40 AM

Thanks for your response Eddie.

There has been a development. I have discovered that when I slowly insert the power cable it starts charging the battery for about 30 seconds (the 'charging' icon appears next to the clock in windows). It then stops. I guess either the cable or the socket is the issue.

Does anyone have any further advice? I have looked into buying a new cable but this may cost up to £45 as I cannot find one which is not part of a charger pack.

Thanks again to all who offer their help, I really appreciate it.

Stu

12-07-2006, 03:16 PM	#1 (permalink)
stuartguerin Registered User Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 5 OS: xp	New battery not charging Hi I have an IBM thinkpad R40 which works great but the battery it came with would not charge. I thought it was an old battery so I bought a new one but this doesn't charge either. I find if I shake the machine a bit and leave it it sometimes charges the battery. Is there something I can open up and tighten as it is clearly a connection issue? Any advice would be very much appreciated, it's driving me crazy! Thanks Stu

12-07-2006, 03:47 PM	#2 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,701 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Hi Stu, Try cleaning the contacts on the laptop where the contacts on the battery would touch. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

12-09-2006, 10:06 AM	#4 (permalink)
laboye TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Hollywood, FL Posts: 1,246 OS: Windows xp Pro/Vista Beta 2/Ubuntu 6.06 LTS My System	Hi and welcome to TSF. Here is a generic set of disassembly instructions that uses the R40 as the example: http://www.quepublishing.com/article...&seqNum=3&rl=1 When the computer is plugged in and running with the battery installed, does the system report that there is a battery in? Do you have the ThinkPad Utilities installed? If so, you can check detailed information specific to the battery and see if it is a bad battery. If not, you can use BatMon to determine other info, though it is not as thorough as the ThinkPad Utilities: Batmon: http://www.passmark.com/ftp/batmon.exe The thinkpad utilities are model specific, so you'll need to provide your type-model code. It is located on the bottom of your ThinkPad on a small black and white sticker above a barcode. -Eddie __________________ Repair Windows XP Guide --- Resolutions Crazy Computer that I'm saving up for::Antec P180 Case;PC Pwr&Cooling 1kW Quad SLI PSU;Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe;Intel Core2 XE X6800;Corsair TWIN2XP2048 2GB PC2-6400 DDR2 RAM;2xAsus GeForce 7950 GX2;BFG PhysX Accel.;IBM DVD-RAM/Plextor DVD±RW;Seagate 750GB HD 7200RPM;WDX 150GB 10000RPM;Vigor Monsoon TEC Cooler

12-08-2006, 03:56 AM	#3 (permalink)
stuartguerin Registered User Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 5 OS: xp	Thanks for your reply. Yeah, it was the first thing I tried and to no avail. Its strange that it will charge sometimes if I knock the machine about a bit like the thug that I am. Getting quite annoyed by the whole thing, it came with a 30 day warranty which has now elapsed (as I thought it had just come with a dead battery) but now a brand new battery won't charge too. Does anyone know much about the inside of an R40? Is it worth me taking it apart and tightening anything? As you can tell I am quite up for this idea... PLEASE HELP!!!

12-11-2006, 11:40 AM	#5 (permalink)
stuartguerin Registered User Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 5 OS: xp	Thanks for your response Eddie. There has been a development. I have discovered that when I slowly insert the power cable it starts charging the battery for about 30 seconds (the 'charging' icon appears next to the clock in windows). It then stops. I guess either the cable or the socket is the issue. Does anyone have any further advice? I have looked into buying a new cable but this may cost up to £45 as I cannot find one which is not part of a charger pack. Thanks again to all who offer their help, I really appreciate it. Stu