Electronics Repair (sci.electronics.repair) Discussion of repairing electronic equipment. Topics include requests for assistance, where to obtain servicing information and parts, techniques for diagnosis and repair, and annecdotes about success, failures and problems.

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Default Backup battery/BIOS preventing power on.

I received a ThinkPad (T23) in the post a few days ago. It had been
left in Sleep mode and the battery was too flat to boot.

I had intermittent power-on probs for a day or so. Now if I press the
power button nothing happens, but removing the backup battery at this
point will turn the machine on (no need to press the power button
again). Leaving the backup battery out entirely solves the problem, and
the machine turns on first time with no problem -- although it will not
load the operating system, so doing away with the backup battery
entirely doesn't seem to be an option

I think the Power Manager has got stuck into thinking there's no power
as a consequence of the extended sojourn in sleep mode with a near flat
battery.

I flashed the BIOS with the latest version to no avail (it is possible
to power on with the backup battery installed but it takes a lot of
messing around, diconnecting/reconnecting AC & batt etc). I have also
tried draining the capacitor by keeping the power button pressed with
mains/batt and backup disconnected.

I have a couple of questions. Is it possible to disable the pre 'power'
on test? Why hasn't leaving the motherboard without any power for a few
hours already reset the system -- could this prob be due to something
else entirely?

thanks for everyone's time.

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Ken Weitzel
 
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wrote:
I received a ThinkPad (T23) in the post a few days ago. It had been
left in Sleep mode and the battery was too flat to boot.

I had intermittent power-on probs for a day or so. Now if I press the
power button nothing happens, but removing the backup battery at this
point will turn the machine on (no need to press the power button
again). Leaving the backup battery out entirely solves the problem, and
the machine turns on first time with no problem -- although it will not
load the operating system, so doing away with the backup battery
entirely doesn't seem to be an option

I think the Power Manager has got stuck into thinking there's no power
as a consequence of the extended sojourn in sleep mode with a near flat
battery.

I flashed the BIOS with the latest version to no avail (it is possible
to power on with the backup battery installed but it takes a lot of
messing around, diconnecting/reconnecting AC & batt etc). I have also
tried draining the capacitor by keeping the power button pressed with
mains/batt and backup disconnected.

I have a couple of questions. Is it possible to disable the pre 'power'
on test? Why hasn't leaving the motherboard without any power for a few
hours already reset the system -- could this prob be due to something
else entirely?

thanks for everyone's time.


Hi...

Maybe I'm missing something here... I don't have a
thinkpad... but why don't you just replace the battery
and be done with it?

As for resetting the bios to it's defaults... is there
possibly a pair of pins to short to do this? Or isn't
there a cmos setup to restore defaults?

Good luck, and take care.

Ken

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Both the backup battery and the main battery are working fine. Problem
is, when the backup battery is powering the bios, the machine won't
power on, even if connected to AC power (as I say, I suspect the power
management is too blame).

Without the backup battery, it powers on, but the system keeps cycling
to back to the BIOS and asking me to set the time. If I could be done
with the backup battery altogether that would be great, but I can't
seem to get past the BIOS without it installed.

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Woody
 
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DAAAA The backup battery is working fine but it won't power up with it
plugged in?????????????????
What is the voltage of the battery when plugged in and trying to power on?
Are the wires reversed? Have you replaced it with a new one?? If that is the
case the only resolve is replace the mother board.



wrote in message
oups.com...
Both the backup battery and the main battery are working fine. Problem
is, when the backup battery is powering the bios, the machine won't
power on, even if connected to AC power (as I say, I suspect the power
management is too blame).

Without the backup battery, it powers on, but the system keeps cycling
to back to the BIOS and asking me to set the time. If I could be done
with the backup battery altogether that would be great, but I can't
seem to get past the BIOS without it installed.



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Bob Shuman
 
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Not clear what "backup" battery you are referring to here that is "working
fine", but I'd strongly suspect the on (mother) board backup battery is weak
or dead. Replace it with a fresh one, reset your BIOS, and then report
back. Or, tell us how you know that the on board backup battery is known
good.

Bob

wrote in message
oups.com...
Both the backup battery and the main battery are working fine. Problem
is, when the backup battery is powering the bios, the machine won't
power on, even if connected to AC power (as I say, I suspect the power
management is too blame).

Without the backup battery, it powers on, but the system keeps cycling
to back to the BIOS and asking me to set the time. If I could be done
with the backup battery altogether that would be great, but I can't
seem to get past the BIOS without it installed.





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Bob Shuman wrote:
Not clear what "backup" battery you are referring to here that is

"working
fine", but I'd strongly suspect the on (mother) board backup battery

is weak
or dead. Replace it with a fresh one, reset your BIOS, and then

report
back. Or, tell us how you know that the on board backup battery is

known
good.

Bob


Thanks Bob. The ThinkPad's large yellow lithium "backup battery" is 3
volts and I've also tried using a different battery with the same
result. I think this is the only on board battery. One times in ten it
*can* be powered up with the backup installed, in which case the
computer works fine, so I don't think it's a terminal system board
fault.

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