NeXT
Veteran Member
When I got my TransNote one of the big issues was the battery was no good. A quick search yielded that nobody was selling replacements. There was just the odd person with a NOS or used one and I wasn't willing to risk $100 on a battery that might be a dud. Fortunately (or so I thought) The Source (formerly Radio Shack) offered a battery rebuild program with a flat rate of $85 on laptop batteries and the possibility of a capacity upgrade if the newer technology cells were available. From the dropoff to the call to claim it there was a four week wait. To my dismay when I got the battery back it was faulty. With a full charge you were struggling to get more than 45 minutes out of a battery which originally touted a two hour capacity. I ended up complaining to the store who offered to have it sent back to be rebuilt again as one or more cells must been bad. Three weeks later I get a call that they could not rebuild the battery because the cells it needed (ICP103450 3.7V, 2Ah Li-ion) were not available (what?? who the hell supplies your batteries?) and they were returning it.
That was all I heard for FIVE MONTHS. For five months Finally I was pissed off enough that I went into the store and asked where the hell my battery was. turns out the shop in Ontario had discovered that the guy rebuilding the batteries had been doing a VERY poor job and he had been fired but because he didn't keep a list of who each battery belonged to they might of lost my battery. I told them I'd give them another month before demanding the pay for a replacement. Two weeks later I got the call that the battery had come in. When I picked it up they mentioned they couldn't find a replacement control board for it. WHAT??
Anyways, that's the last time I use a rebuild service. Next time I'm rebuilding myself.
After I got home I pulled it apart and found that they had blown the thermal safety fuse which effectively put the controller in a coma.
The fuse is that black box marked 5A SF under the red wire. In the event the watchdog circuit detects a potentially dangerous problem like a short or a thermal raceaway the microcontroller activates small heater in the fuse and melts the link, effectively killing all power. The fuse was essentially impossible to source and the batteries are the same. I ended up shelving the computer until tonight because I was bored.
I had considered just removing the fuse and soldering in a piece of wire. Sure, it bypassed two levels of safety circuitry but I wanted to see if replacing the fuse brought the controller back. IBM batteries apparently HATE losing all power. In the process I noticed that when I heated one side up the remains of the fuse instantly melted and was sucked onto the iron. The fuse was just a piece of solder.
This gave me a brilliant idea to reset the fuse with a piece of solder. Yeah that meant the fuse had a higher rating but whatever
. It was hard to do without melting the piece completely but eventually I got it.
After reassembling the battery and putting it in the laptop the computer was still dead. Plugging in the AC adapter kickstarted the controller, the BATTERY ERROR message went away and IT LIVES!
Now of course I'm simply stuck with the faulty cells. IF I could find someone with a spot welder I'd order up some new battery and repack the thing.
That was all I heard for FIVE MONTHS. For five months Finally I was pissed off enough that I went into the store and asked where the hell my battery was. turns out the shop in Ontario had discovered that the guy rebuilding the batteries had been doing a VERY poor job and he had been fired but because he didn't keep a list of who each battery belonged to they might of lost my battery. I told them I'd give them another month before demanding the pay for a replacement. Two weeks later I got the call that the battery had come in. When I picked it up they mentioned they couldn't find a replacement control board for it. WHAT??
Anyways, that's the last time I use a rebuild service. Next time I'm rebuilding myself.
After I got home I pulled it apart and found that they had blown the thermal safety fuse which effectively put the controller in a coma.
The fuse is that black box marked 5A SF under the red wire. In the event the watchdog circuit detects a potentially dangerous problem like a short or a thermal raceaway the microcontroller activates small heater in the fuse and melts the link, effectively killing all power. The fuse was essentially impossible to source and the batteries are the same. I ended up shelving the computer until tonight because I was bored.
I had considered just removing the fuse and soldering in a piece of wire. Sure, it bypassed two levels of safety circuitry but I wanted to see if replacing the fuse brought the controller back. IBM batteries apparently HATE losing all power. In the process I noticed that when I heated one side up the remains of the fuse instantly melted and was sucked onto the iron. The fuse was just a piece of solder.
This gave me a brilliant idea to reset the fuse with a piece of solder. Yeah that meant the fuse had a higher rating but whatever
. It was hard to do without melting the piece completely but eventually I got it.
After reassembling the battery and putting it in the laptop the computer was still dead. Plugging in the AC adapter kickstarted the controller, the BATTERY ERROR message went away and IT LIVES!
Now of course I'm simply stuck with the faulty cells. IF I could find someone with a spot welder I'd order up some new battery and repack the thing.