DailyTech - Lenovo and IBM ThinkPad Batteries Recalled

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Hardware Lenovo and IBM ThinkPad Batteries Recalled
Anh Tuan Huynh (Blog) - September 29, 2006 12:38 AM

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18 comment(s) - last by jediknight.. on Oct 2 at 2:24 AM

A week after the first fire, Lenovo recalls affected models

Lenovo and IBM are recalling ThinkPad notebook batteries due to fire hazards. Only 168,500 battery packs in the US are affected, but this does not count the additional 375,500 batteries sold worldwide.

The affected batteries are manufactured by Sony like the recalled Apple, Dell and Toshiba notebook batteries. Notebooks equipped with the affected batteries include ThinkPad T43, T43p, T60, R51e, R52, R60, R60e, X60 and X60s models produced by IBM and Lenovo between February 2005 and September 2006. The following part numbers are included in the recall:

Affected Batteries
ASM P/N	FRU P/N
92P1072	92P1073
92P1088	92P1089
92P1142	92P1141
92P1170	92P1169 or 93P5028
92P1174	92P1173 or 93P5030

There haven’t been any other incidents since an IBM ThinkPad burst into flames at LAX last week. Nevertheless, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission suggests owners of affected units should stop using the batteries immediately. Lenovo will replace affected batteries free-of-charge. Until a new battery arrives it is suggested users use their laptops while plugged in with the battery removed.

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Sony

By Hare on 9/29/2006 2:26:59 AM , Rating: 2

I'm almost starting to feel bad for Sony. Then I remember all the things that make me feel the opposite.

Mixed emotions... This battery plague will cost Sony a fortune. I have a feeling this wasn't the last company with Sonys batteries exploding. Apple, Dell, Lenovo/IBM, Toshiba. Who's next and how many batteries?

RE: Sony

By Etsp on 9/29/2006 3:36:49 AM , Rating: 2

for the last 5 years or so the only thing sony's products had going for them was that they had the sony name on them. with this battery fiasco that "good" name (to the average consumer) is quickly being destroyed, and this will affect far more areas of their business than just battery manufacturing. Sony has been using it's name to sell products for a while now, which is why in recent times everyone is hating everything they do and that everything they do is proprietary. They are in for some rough times ahead, let us hope that from the ashes rises a new better sony.

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RE: Sony

By frobizzle on 9/29/2006 8:24:00 AM , Rating: 3

I can't believe you would ask that question. Sony's "good name" has hardly been deserved lately. It goes much farther than the current battery fiasco, or have you forgotten about the DRM Root Kits? The fact that they sneaked the Root Kit in was bad enough but then their constant denials about it until the mountain of evidence was too huge to ignore was unforgivable.

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RE: Sony

By Etsp on 9/29/2006 10:46:51 AM , Rating: 2

I think you missed the "for the last 5 years or so" part. Sony at one time was a good company with high quality products, and it was a name that average consumers felt they could trust. but I did forget the whole rootkit fiasco, which in all honesty, most people dont know about. The battery recalls and the explosions are something the average user will hear about, because it could potentially endanger their lives. I do agree that they do not deserve their "good name" after that, but it does take a while to ruin the name of such a supercompany.

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RE: Sony

By c4xiayu on 9/29/2006 10:38:12 AM , Rating: 2

Sony laptops?

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HP/Compaq next?

By slashbinslashbash on 9/29/2006 4:32:38 AM , Rating: 2

So we've had Apple, Dell, Toshiba, and now IBM/Lenovo. It seems like all the major laptop manufacturers have been covered except for HP/Compaq. Anybody know if they make their own batteries, or do they also use Sony as a supplier?

RE: HP/Compaq next?

By nomagic on 9/29/2006 5:12:33 AM , Rating: 2

HP did not use the affected Sony battery packs for its notebooks. Therefore, A battery call from HP is unlikely.

To make it clear, some HP branded notebooks batteries do contain Sony battery cells . However, there has been very little report of overheating.

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Why can't we standardize batteries?

By AlexWade on 9/29/06, Rating: 0

RE: Why can't we standardize batteries?

By Jedi2155 on 9/29/2006 5:22:09 PM , Rating: 2

The batteries are relatively standard. The cells inside a typical cyclindrical cells just arranged differently and different sizes for different size laptops. I'm bet they only need like 1 or 2 engineers to work on a battery design as most of the complicated stuff has already been designed.

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RE: Why can't we standardize batteries?

By vanka on 9/29/2006 5:25:53 PM , Rating: 2

The reason for the non-standard batteries is the different placement of internal components. A battery usually resides in the part of a notebook in which has free space; the shape and location of this space is dictated by the arrangement of the internal components. In this notebook batteries are similar to the fuel tanks in cars, it is easier for the manufacturers to redesign a battery/fuel tank that fits around the other parts than to re-engineer the other components to fit around the battery/fuel tank. A battery is after all nothing other than a collection of cells enclosed in plastic, shuffling the cells around is probably not a big deal.

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Only partial recall?

By RamboZZo on 9/29/2006 8:26:22 AM , Rating: 2

I wonder why they're only recalling certain sony batteries. I have a T42 which has Lith-Ion batteries made by sony. Its the same battery as the T43 yet the part numbers on mine are not listed on the recall.