CF-28 Battery eater?

Hiya all,
I've been handed over a CF-28 to look at a battery problem, its not mine so i dont have a lot of history on this cf-28.

The problem seems to be a dead battery, the battery light keeps flashing red which would appear to be a battery failure. Problem is, this is the 2nd battery replacement and it keeps flashing red. The owners did report that when they installed the battery it worked for some time but quickly died aswell

- When i remove the battery and reinstall it, it does turn orange for 10 seconds or so, but then returns to the flashing red state.
- It doesnt even seem to detect the battery.. XP Reports no battery's found and the BIOS wont start a "battery refresh" and reports there is no battery installed.

Seeing i have absolutly no experience with these thoughbooks (as they are quite uncommon overhere) i wanted to get some taughts.

Should i let the owners order another battery / get warranty on replacement? or is there something messed up inside? (like the charging mechanism or something?)

What are your experiences on this?

Thanks in advance,
Subs

 

First, welcome here.

The flashing red light means a dead battery.
If you got the second battery new from a vendor, try to exchange.
They are old yet and even not used they can become defective.

 

NEW new batteries for this Toughbook haven't been manufactured by Panasonic since 2005 or 2006; this type of failure is more and more common as these batteries, even if unused, have exceeded their shelf life by more than 2x.

Your only way of knowing for sure is to find/borrow a known good CF-28 and/or battery for swap testing.

mnem
cheesy.

 

Double post

 

Batteries plus sells new rayovac branded batteries that I've had pretty good luck with. Very good battery life. Keep the receipt though because I had one develop a bad cell after 8 months of very "tough" use, they exchanged me a brand new one after they tested it. At $120ish they arent cheap but i'm happy with it, especially when it's a tax deductable work expense!

 

Does anyone read the stickies?

 

Well, the thing that bugged me that it didnt show up in XP at all, from what i recall, dead batteries normally show up inside the OS and just remain at 0% or 0 minutes remaining..

I'll see if they still have the other 2 batteries (orginal + 1st replacement) and see what they do.

Dont know if the Rayovac are available overhere (NL) and if the shop if even willing to swap for another make. Seeing this battery is allready there 2nd replacement i just wanna be sure

 

Where did you buy the battery? is it is a rebuild, it is possible that they don't work because of the chip inside the battery still thinks it's a dead battery.

read this tread

 

I think they bought it at some random computer store around here, all i do know is that the battery is an Energy+.. Which seems to be pretty bad as i read around here.