T400 plugged in but battery not charging (or discharging)

My Lenovo has been plugged in all morning; Battery level is consistently showing at 45%. Strange. Machine seems to know it's plugged in. Status says battery is not active, in good condition and machine is operating off the power cord. So... what gives? I don't know?

 

Have you Lenovo ThinkVantage Power Management installed ?
It could be because the battery is charged within the thresholds.

 

You put or discharging in parenthesis...how is that possible. Are you sure that the lenovo battery meter is just not stuck? Look at the windows one and reboot. Sometimes the lenovo one can get stuck from coming in and out of sleep repeatedly or docking (at least in my exp).

 

In the Power Management application you can define when you want the battery to charge. If its between the thresholds then it will just maintain that battery level...

 

I know that. I said discharge, by the way. It would be physically impossible for it to not discharge if you unplugged (which would be implied if you were testing if it was discharging...).

 

It's reading: 45%. Windows battery program says the same thing. I don't see any "threshold" setting. Where would that be exactly -- i.e., which application, window, menu setting, because I've looked and can't find it.

 

Lenovo power manager. Open it go to battery (make sure it is in advanced mode) then there should be a link for options within the battery menu/tab.

 

Interesting. I found the window. It's the one labeled, "Battery Maintenance," and it's accessible not from the Power Manager Options tab, but from the button reading, "Maintenance," in the Battery Tab. That window has text indicating that if you primarily use the power cord (which I do) the battery charge threshold should be set to less than 100% in order to avoid battery deterioration. However, my threshold reads: "Always fully charge." So the machine is set to fully charge the battery, but all indications are that the battery is stuck at 45%.

 

It does discharge though right? And then runs down to a lower percentage? Try discharging it a bit and then see if it starts to charge once you get it close to empty (5%) or so. And did the battery EVER charge? This is very odd regardless but if it is not functioning, give lenovo a call and they can send you a new battery.

 

Good advice. I've only had it for one day and yes the battery has discharged; I'll run it without the cord and then take 'er back up once she's about to go into the puddle. (I feel like Captain Sully. )

 

Is the battery LED (should be third from the right) blinking when it's plugged in? If so, the battery IS CHARGING even if the software says it's not.

If the battery LED is not blinking, then my guess is you are having issues with the charge thresholds.

I would recommend that you SET A THRESHOLD (e.g. start at 30%, stop at 95%), restart your computer, reset the threshold to "Always fully charge" and THEN plug in your ThinkPad. This should clear the threshold data and fix your problem.

As an aside, if you mainly use your laptop on AC, I would recommend setting a charge threshold to maintain the battery life long term. I use start at 50% stop at 95%, but if you never use the battery, I would recommend start at 30% stop at 50% (40% is ideal for long term storage).

 

Oh, this is not good. Battery discharged to 10%; now it's plugged in and is stuck at 10%. Something is awry and amiss. Crap. Was hoping for a smooth sail one day in from delivery. Any suggestions before I go try support... which I probably can't access at this hour anyway.

 

Under Windows Power Options it shows the battery at 9% with a red X going through the icon of the battery. In additon, the Power manager says the battery has "No Activity," in the status section.

 

Power off and remove and reinstall the battery...just for something to try. But I take the charge light is not blinking like jon mentioned?

 

Thanks for the suggestion, Jon. unfortunately, it didn't work. Battery LED not blinking. Status is "no activity." remaining percentage is down to 7%. That's all the power we got, captain. Unless I can get a new reserve of dilythium crystals, I'm doomed, doomed!
Geeze, i wish I could fix this without having to call Lenovo.

 

BTW -- anyone know the fastest best way to contact Lenovo support? Phone, email? Is there some number where support will answer at night?

 

Jaredy, your suggestion worked. It's now charging; although the adapter is making an odd staticky sound... the ac adapter is. Is that normal during charging?

 

Little bit of electrical noise isn't unheard of. As long as the laptop or power brick isn't overly hot/smoking/smelly you should be okay.

 

Great, Jaredy. Thanks again for your help and suggestion. (And everyone else who helped out.)

 

So. We're almost back to square one. The Thinkpad Power Manager seems to be the problem: The Icon on the task bar has been showing 55% all day; then out of nowhere I get an alert that the battery is low. It still says, 55%. The Power Manager application though shows it charging now (it's plugged in) at 27% just as does the Power Meter. In addition, even though it's plugged in now, the power manager seems to have dimmed the screen; taken it to power saving mode. On its own. Still trying to figure out what's the cause of all this.

 

Maybe the battery is still bad. You can certainly change the power scheme though...call lenovo is the battery stopped charging correctly.

 

Lenovo support wasn't that hard to get a hold of; and they are 24 hours. So, surprised me! They had me install a new version of Thinkpad Power Manager. In addition, on my own I unistalled Firefox... I think one of the add-ons was causing some overall buggy stuff.

 

Did that solve it...?

 

SO far it seems that it has addressed the issue. I'll keep you posted.

 

I am on my second t400 and have had the same issue with both machines. I can use my laptop during the evening and drain the battery down to (now 43%) and go for days with it plugged in before it decides to charge the battery. I have reset the battery and also confirmed that the battery will recharge at anything less than 96%. Are others continuing to have this problem? Any good resolution?