Lenovo battery failure: a cruel April Fools joke?

April 1, 2007 4:42 PM

The battery in my IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad Z60t went out of warranty 4/29/07. When I woke up today, the machine says "Irreparable damage to the battery has been detected. Replace the battery with a new one." Is it really damaged? Could it be a broken sensor? Some kind of software glitch? Is this typical? Is there a better alternative to the $159 replacement?
posted by fourstar to Computers & Internet (15 answers total)

I assume that date is wrong since it's 4 weeks from now, but if you mean, like 2 days ago, call them anyway. I don't know if Lenovo is as good as IBM was, but IBM would almost certainly have replaced it under warranty that close to the end date.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:48 PM on April 1, 2007

4/29? isn't that April 29th?

You should still have a month.
posted by pjern at 4:48 PM on April 1, 2007

Response by poster: Sorry -- I did mean 3/29, and I am posting this question because after talking to them on the phone they refused to replace it.
posted by fourstar at 4:50 PM on April 1, 2007

if no warranty, check out www.batteryrefill.com
posted by raildr at 5:05 PM on April 1, 2007

Lithium batteries decay with time, irrespective of how much or little they're used, or what the usage pattern is. They're pretty much good for three years plus or minus a bit, and that's it.

Probably your battery is at the end of its useful life. (It does seem a little strange that you're being alerted two days after the warranty runs out.)
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 5:21 PM on April 1, 2007

Write the Consumerist. ;) "3 days out of warranty and the --software-- tells me I can't use my battery..." that makes great headlines.
posted by SpecialK at 5:22 PM on April 1, 2007

Response by poster: Steven: I purchased this laptop new 1 year ago.
posted by fourstar at 5:22 PM on April 1, 2007

Blog where other people are having the "irreparable damage" message.

I also had the message on my lenovo, but reading around, concluded it probably was just a software bug, and not actual battery damage. A few BIOS updates later, the surious message stopped showing up.

Since BIOS updates are free, I would try that first.
posted by IvyMike at 5:36 PM on April 1, 2007

Batteries probably arn't under warranty anyway.
posted by delmoi at 6:32 PM on April 1, 2007

Hmm, looks like the actual warranty did cover the battery, at least I couldn't find any mention of them not being covered.
posted by delmoi at 6:36 PM on April 1, 2007

Batteries probably arn't under warranty anyway.

Lenovo (almost?) always warrants batteries for one year, whether the computer itself comes with a one- or three-year warranty.
posted by Kwantsar at 6:41 PM on April 1, 2007

Lenovo (almost?) always warrants batteries for one year, whether the computer itself comes with a one- or three-year warranty.

That's been my experience, too. And it's led me to always get the 3-year warranty with laptops.
posted by jmd82 at 7:33 PM on April 1, 2007

Some/a lot of Lenovo batteries were recalled. Check the Lenovo site.
posted by Gungho at 9:29 PM on April 1, 2007

Presumably, if the battery monitor says it's hosed, there are two possible explanations: a) it's hosed or b) the software is telling the wrong thing.

Have you tried a livecd? My thinkpad runs like a dream in linux. I'm not suggesting you switch, but the downloaded livecd will install linux in memory and let you try it out. Try ubuntu. If the livecd downloads and runs fine on battery power, then the battery is likely OK.
posted by handee at 12:35 AM on April 2, 2007

Response by poster: Well for anyone who stumbles across this thread later:

• This was not normal wear-and-tear; All lithium-ion batteries have System Management Bus (SMBus) circuits which regulate their charge, and the one on this battery failed.
• IBM/Lenovo would not cover the problem.
• The Buyer's Assurance Plan on my credit card however does extend the mfg warranty by 1 year and is reimbursing me for a battery replacement.

posted by fourstar at 10:37 AM on April 2, 2007