Battery not detected on Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga P40
Battery not detected on Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga P40
I own a Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga P40 that doesn’t accept a new battery. After swapping it with another fresh one, it worked for a day. It charged initially but the charging port didn’t light up. The next day it did light up, yet still refused to recognize the battery. Recently, I replaced the charging port, which was loose a few months back, and it also doesn’t match my charger—though it starts up fine with the new one. It runs just a bit lower than the original charger, but not significantly. I’ve also reinstalled the battery driver multiple times. What should I do? Should I get a new charger and install it? Or try reinstalling the current port and checking if the connection is loose?
I’ve had two Lenovo laptops recently, both prone to battery problems. To avoid buying an OEM unit, I purchased a new battery from Lenovo, but it had a minor SKU error (off by one letter in the 4th character). They refused a return because I was late by a day. I’m very dissatisfied with Lenovo and won’t buy another one.
You might attempt to remove the battery once you've disconnected it from the wall, then press and hold the power button for thirty seconds before reinserting it to test functionality. If the battery doesn't work properly, it could be due to issues with the motherboard's power delivery system or the need for a new battery that requires power cycling. Try charging the battery overnight to see if it performs better.
I changed the battery and powercfg/batteryreport recognized it, showing the capacity. I own a fresh 90W charger that doesn’t trigger the "AC charger not recognized" warning. I connected it to a different port several months back. Even after powercfg /batteryreport displayed a healthy battery status, a popup appeared stating "battery not detected."
The charging port would light yellow briefly before turning off. It should remain yellow for charging or green when fully charged. Did I misinstall the port? Should I replace it and try again?
Here is the report generated after receiving the "battery not detected" alert:
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
Details of each 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 own two Lenovo Yoga PCs, both several years old, and they’re experiencing charging problems that seem specific to Lenovo. This is quite annoying since my P40 was top-of-the-line when I bought it and is otherwise functioning well except for this issue.
To stay fully Lenovo, I bought a replacement battery from Lenovo itself instead of an off-brand one from Amazon. They sent the incorrect model and refused to accept a return. I won’t purchase any more Lenovo products.
P.S.: It appears this feature is meant for Lenovo devices, and the solution is to flash it with a BIOS older than 2016. I’ll try that and see if it works. Also, there’s a catch: you can’t update the BIOS unless your battery is charged. But I need to update the BIOS so I can charge the battery. If I were in space, I’d be dead.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWZlktXFNJk
I will stop here now. It seems Lenovo BIOS looks for Lenovo batteries and possibly others on a restricted list that you can't access. This means you have to rely on trial and error, checking user comments to identify a battery the BIOS will accept. You won't be able to update the BIOS without having a complete battery first, so there.
P.S. To ensure the repair was complete, I also had to swap out my replacement charging port, which allowed proper charging and eventually gave the green light. Not every battery with the correct part number works, and not all charging ports are compatible. Here are the models that functioned 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
I'm dealing with a tough situation right now. The first attempt from Amazon didn't work, but the charge is still being detected. I placed an order for the Vanpir you mentioned, so we'll check that out. What made you decide to replace the charging port? Is there any electronics or logic in that section? What inspired you to change this part? Would the original Lenovo component function with non-OEM batteries? Was your original part damaged? Did you explore other non-OEM options? This one might arrive in just a couple of days, right? Have you tried it before?
I modified the charging port due to my daughter's repeated careless removal of cords. It was unstable and even with a good battery, it couldn't securely connect the plug. I replaced it again, believing the different charging port manufacturers might impact charging performance. Later, I discovered the issue with the pernicious battery whitelisting in the BIOS.