Re: Help with IBM Thinkpad 701C battery problem!

[Steve Rodrigues <steverod@CS.Berkeley.EDU>]

John H. Kim wrote:
> I've only run the battery down 4 times.  Twice I plugged into AC within
> a minute (definitely longer than 10 seconds).  The other two times it
> went into suspend a minute or two after the alarm.  Hibernation is disabled
> on my 701.  I assume you have the NiMH like I do?

> > it jumps from about 12 to 14% down to 0% almost immediately and won't
> > let me suspend or hibernate (it says battery power is too low to go 
> > into suspend).

> I haven't been using that meter much.  I'll do a rundown tonight and
> watch what happens.  I *have* seen it at 10%, 8%, and 5% so I don't
> think I have your problem.

I have experienced this problem on my 701 (2.5 mos old), unfortunately,
quite a bit. The first few discharges (near reliable AC power, of course),
went fine. Then I went abroad on a six-week trip involving many long plane
flights and very uncertain access to reliable electrical power, and I began
experiencing this problem - sometimes the battery would drain from 40% all 
the way to 0% in no time. Usually, this happened in the middle of a burst 
of creativity, with no access to AC power. :(

As a side note, this all occurred in countries using 220V/50Hz power, rather
than the US 110/60, so that might have somehting to do with it. We'll see...

The latest BIOS update (3N) resolved one of my big complaints (coming out of
suspend when you shake it), and hopefully the battery problem can be easily
resolved. We'll see....

Otherwise, I love my 701.

Steve

-- 
Steve Rodrigues            | Lost, yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and 
Expatriate Texan           | sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty
UC Berkeley, Dept. of EECS | diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they
steverod@cs.berkeley.edu   | are gone forever. -- Horace Mann