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I have a pretty new (around 1 month old) Thinkpad x121e running Debian Wheezy (no Windows available).

This is what happens:

When I plug in the power cable I get a beep as I do when I unplug it (that for me is an indication that the laptop recognizes available power).

BUT it does not charge the battery. Only sometimes for a few secs I can see (via the Gnome-applet) that the battery is charged - but that does not last for more than maybe 30 secs.

So I now wonder if it is the battery that is faulty or some circuitry on the board - is there any way to track down the fault (I am currently on travel so I cannot try another power supply).

The laptop will run just on AC power, even with the battery removed. Does this mean the Mainboard is OK?

The laptop runs on AC when I remove the battery - does that mean the main board is ok?

All I can see at the moment is that according to the Gnome-applet the battery is not charged.

But earlier today I noticed that the battery way only half-full even as it was charging the whole night - so as far as I can tell from this night on I have problems with the battery not being charged properly.

Unfortunately I will be away from home for a week which means I do not have the details (customer-number etc) I would need to complain to the online-shop where I bought it.

Is there a way to skip the shop and complain directly to Lenonvo with just the serial-number?

I am from Germany and as far as I know there is an EU-law about a warranty period of at least 6 months...

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    1. Not a server. 2. If it's a month old, it'll likely be under warranty. Take it back.
    – ceejayoz
    Commented Oct 17, 2011 at 20:35
  • Will the notebook run on AC power with no battery plugged in?
    – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007
    Commented Oct 17, 2011 at 20:41
  • Is the laptop actually not charging or does the status icon just not show it is charging?
    – Ryan Matthews
    Commented Oct 17, 2011 at 20:44

2 Answers 2

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Sounds like a standard bad battery problem, get it sorted quickly as the warranty for a laptop battery is usually quite short, 2-3 months from time of purchase.

Call lenovo.

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  • The battery warranties I've seen generally start at the date of manufacture, not purchase. That said, most companies will replace the battery so long as the system is less than a year old. If they get picky, they can refuse to do so, but the good ones will.
    – music2myear
    Commented Oct 17, 2011 at 20:53
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    A machine of the quality of a Thinkpad should come with a MINIMUM one year warranty on the battery (and I can vouch that Thinkpads in particular do have a minimum one year from date of purchase, although note that if your reseller didn't reregister the machine correctly the date of purchase might be wrong). Still, get it replaced ASAP.
    – Shinrai
    Commented Oct 17, 2011 at 20:58
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Battery warranties are generally much shorter than the laptop warranty. You should at the very least call Lenovo or the store you purchase the laptop from and begin warranty repair/service. Even if you cannot get the laptop to them right away, the service start date generally counts as the date you noticed the issue, so far as warranty repair counts, and so the sooner you at least get the process started, the more likely you are to get a good repair.

It is more likely to be a battery problem than a system problem. It's still possible the mainboard is causing the problem, but the battery is just more likely.

Because of this, begin the warranty replacement process ASAP (I cannot stress this enough, battery warranties can be as short as 90 days from date of manufacture, which is not the date you purchased the laptop).

If replacing the battery does not fix the issue, then you'll know it's probably a mainboard issue, which can also be replaced under warranty.

Either way, get the repair process started now, even if you're traveling, so that when you get done with the traveling you can get the laptop sent off for repair right away rather than having to wait.

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