Lenovo Thinkpad 11e

[Zema Bus]

I have an old Thinkpad 11e I've had since about 2013, it has an AMD 4 core/4 threads Kabini processor (similar to what was used in the consoles at the time). It's still pretty good, and the power consumption is low even by today's standards. Biggest negative is the small screen size with wide bezels. The cmos battery is dead so I was looking for a replacement. I couldn't find one specific to this model so I opened up the heat shrunk plastic cover to see which battery it actually is. I ordered a replacement, not the same one but it'll work.

Thinkpad_11e_cmos.jpg (169.28 KiB) Viewed 358 times

Thinkpad_11e_cmos1.jpg (115.05 KiB) Viewed 358 times

[Grogan]

Lenovo... it just has to be different than any other to make things difficult. Why else would they use that battery when everyone else uses CR2032. I don't like those twisted wires and covering you have to wreck either, I've seen Dell and their ilk do that on desktop computers too (but they were normal CR2032 batteries).

I've got an old IBM thinkpad that I use for a monitor stand now (it's about 2.5 inches high lol). It's a Pentium 133 from 1995... I added 64G of RAM and upgraded it to Windows 98. If I could find the charger it would probably still boot. That thing was $9000 when Dad bought it ("active matrix" display)

Speaking of CMOS batteries, I need to get in and take note of all the settings I've changed on this MSI board so I can change the battery in a controlled manner. It's been a while and I wouldn't remember all the workarounds and shit that I've done. At least you're probably pretty close to defaults on that little laptop.

[Zema Bus]

My replacement is a CR2032

[Grogan]

Does it fit in the casing? (same voltage, so if not size, what's different about the batteries?)

[Zema Bus]

It's slightly thicker, so it would stick up a little higher, and it has a higher capacity so it would last longer. Diameter should be the same.

[Zema Bus]

It fits in the casing though it sits slightly high, it's not by much but that could be a problem when putting the back cover back on since there's not much room for error. Some of that comes from the sticky pad they attached to it, maybe with that removed it would have enough clearance. But I hit a little snag, the connectors are different, just enough to be incompatible. I tried one intended for another Lenovo laptop of the same era (CR2016 battery), and its connector is also shaped differently. All three are electronically compatible, why would they go out of their way to use different connectors, especially from two nearly identical laptops that were in production at the same time? So the search continues. I might just try splicing the wires together.

[Grogan]

Splicing the wires should be OK I'd think.

Lenovo products are highway robbery.