[SOLVED] Battery not recognized in Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga P40

[Lars Ericson]

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga P40. It doesn't recognize a new battery. I replaced it with another new battery. It recognized that battery, for a day. It started charging, but I noticed that the charge port did not light up. The next day, the charge port did light up, but again it didn't recognize the battery. I had replaced the charge port, which is loose, with a new one, a few months ago. It also doesn't quite like my charger, which is a replacement and boots the computer up just fine. It is maybe a few milliwatts shy of the original charger, but not by much. I've also deleted and reinstalled the battery driver several times.

What should I be looking for? Should I buy a new charger? A new charger port and reinstall that. Reinstall the current charging port and hope it's a loose connection?

I have two Lenovo laptops bought at different times and they are both incredibly flaky on battery issues. To rule out OEM I bought a fresh battery from Lenovo and they sent me the wrong one (off by a letter in the 4th character of the SKU) and they wouldn't take it back because I was a day late on the return. I am not at all happy with Lenovo and will never buy another one.

 

[Lutfij]

You could try and remove the battery(after disconnecting from the wall) and press and hold down the power button for 30 seconds, then reseat the battery and see if you're able to get the battery to function as it should. If the battery isn't operating normally, then it's either the power delivery circuitry on the motherboard or the battery needs replacing. Often times a replacement battery needs to undergo power cycles to function optimally. See if you're able to charge the battery overnight.

 

[Lars Ericson]

Here is an identical issue: Blinking amber light

I put in a new battery. powercfg/batteryreport detects it, identifies it, and shows capacity. I have a new 90W charger which doesn't throw the issue of "AC charger not recognized". I put in a new charger port a few months ago. Eventually even with powercfg /batteryreport showing a healthy battery, I get a popup that says "battery not detected".

The charger port, when I start up, flashes yellow for 1 or 2 seconds, then goes dark. It should stay either yellow (charging) or green (full).

So did I just botch the installation of the charger port? Should I get another one and try again?

Here is the report, generated AFTER I got a popup saying "battery not detected":

Battery report​

COMPUTER NAME	DESKTOP-3O9VDT6
SYSTEM PRODUCT NAME	LENOVO 20GQCTO1WW
BIOS	R05ET60W (1.38) 03/18/2016
OS BUILD	22000.1.amd64fre.co_release.210604-1628
PLATFORM ROLE	Mobile
CONNECTED STANDBY	Not supported
REPORT TIME	2023-04-2108:52:39

Installed batteries​

Information about each currently installed battery

	BATTERY 1
NAME	00HW020
MANUFACTURER	LGC
SERIAL NUMBER	493
CHEMISTRY	LiP
DESIGN CAPACITY	52,550 mWh
FULL CHARGE CAPACITY	52,550 mWh
CYCLE COUNT	-

Recent usage​

Power states over the last 3 days

START TIME	STATE	SOURCE	CAPACITY REMAINING
2023-04-1811:05:16	Active	AC	-	-
11:15:44	Suspended		-	-
11:35:34	Active	AC	-	-
11:53:00	Suspended		-	-
11:58:02	Active	AC	-	-
12:23:54	Suspended		-	-
12:30:23	Battery changed	Battery	-	-
12:30:23	Active	Battery	-	-
12:30:23	Suspended		-	-
12:30:59	Active	AC	-	-
12:50:30	Suspended		-	-
2023-04-1915:45:12	Active	AC	-	-
2023-04-2108:52:35	Report generated	AC	-	-

I have two Lenovo Yoga PCs and they are both a few years old now and both are having charging issues which seem to be unique to Lenovo and uniquely fussy. This is really frustrating because I am very attached to my P40 which was state of the art when I bought it and is still perfectly fine other than this charging issue.

To be pure Lenovo I purchased a new battery from Lenovo rather than a replacement from Amazon off-brand. They sent me the wrong one and then wouldn't allow a return. I will never buy another Lenovo product again.

PS: It looks this "feature" is intended, and the workaround is to flash it with a pre-2016 BIOS. I'll update if this works. And....Catch-22: It won't let you update the BIOS unless you have a charged battery installed. But I need to update the BIOS so I can charge the battery. If I was in space, I'd be dead.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWZlktXFNJk

 

[Lars Ericson]

I will close this for now. It turns out that Lenovo BIOS checks for Lenovo batteries and maybe a few others on a whitelist you can't get to. So it's trial and error and read the user comments to find a battery the BIOS will pass. You can't update the BIOS without a full battery to begin with, so there.

 

[Lars Ericson]

P.S. To fully complete the repair I had to also replace my replacement of the charging port, to finally get proper charging followed eventually by a green light. Not all batteries with the right part number work. Not all charging ports work. Here are the battery and charging port that worked for me:

• Charging Port DC in Power Jack Cable Replacement for Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 460 P40 00UP124 450.05109.0011 450.05109.0001
• Vanpir 00HW020 SB10F46458 Laptop Battery 11.4V 53Wh 4540mAh Replacement for Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 460 P40 Series 00HW021 SB10F46459

 

[Dylanear]

I'm going through this hell now. First replacement from Amazon doesn't work, charge, stay detected. Ordered the Vanpir you listed, so we'll see.

Why did you replace the charging port? Is there any electronics/logic in that part? What gave you the idea to change that part? Will the original Lenovo part not work with non OEM batteries? Was your original part damaged? Did you try other non OEMs? The one you listed will take weeks to get delivered? This one I can have in two days? Did you try this one?

Amazon.com

 

[Lars Ericson]

I'm going through this hell now. First replacement from Amazon doesn't work, charge, stay detected. Ordered the Vanpir you listed, so we'll see.

Why did you replace the charging port? Is there any electronics/logic in that part? What gave you the idea to change that part? Will the original Lenovo part not work with non OEM batteries? Was your original part damaged? Did you try other non OEMs? The one you listed will take weeks to get delivered? This one I can have in two days? Did you try this one?

Amazon.com

I changed the charging port because my daughter damaged it with too many careless cord removals. It was loose and even with good battery was not able to hold the plug. I replaced it a second time because I thought the make of charging port (there are multiple random firms that make them) might affect the ability to charge. Then I found out about the pernicious battery whitelisting in the BIOS.