Safety Not An Issue In Lenovo ThinkPad Battery Replacement Move

Lenovo is offering replacement batteries for some ThinkPads, but the company is stressing that while the batteries may be duds, they do not pose any danger, as has been the case in the past.

Some ThinkPads users recently began seeing error messages saying that the laptops failed due to "irreparable damage or battery cannot be charged errors or low battery capacity as indicated by short battery run time or sudden drops in the battery fuel gauge," Lenovo said. The messages appeared in Power Manager, Message Center and the Windows System Notification. The messages mean that users can no longer charge or discharge batteries.

Either way, the bottom line is that the batteries on certain models of the laptops don't work. The affected models are the R60, R61, T60 and T61 models that have the Battery FRU part number 42T4546, 42T4566 and 92P1141; and the X60 and X61 with 42T4550, 42T4567, 42T4568, 92P1169, 92P1173, 93P5028 and 93P5030 batteries.

The company has a diagnostic battery test on its Web page. If the test determines a battery replacement is needed, users are redirected to another site where they can request a replacement.

Lenovo likely wanted to differentiate safety issues and non-working batteries because it actually has had a number of problems with ThinkPads.

In 2006, Lenovo and IBM recalled some 500,000 models manufactured between February 2005 and September 2006, when owners reported the laptops went up in flames due to faulty batteries. In 2007, Lenovo had to issue another ThinkPad recall involving some 200,000 laptops, also due to battery hazards that nearly caused the laptops to catch on fire.

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