[ltp] Important Battery Firmware update for recent Lenovo ThinkPads

[Henrique de Moraes Holschuh]

This post is relevant to owners of the following Lenovo ThinkPads: 

* L410, L510, SL410, SL510, L412, L512, T410, T410i, T510
* T510i, W510, Edge 14", Edge 13", X100e

There is an important battery *pack* firmware update available at:
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?DocID=DS003186

And more data at:
http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/6ifu09ww.txt

Here is the description from the Lenovo site:

What is Battery Firmware Update Utility?

This battery firmware update utility fixes an issue where some batteries
indicate an incorrect full charge capacity value. Because of this error,
the amount of energy available for use is artificially low, decreasing
the amount of time the system can be used on battery. The fix is
entirely contained in the battery firmware update; there is no need to
replace any hardware for this problem.

The battery firmware update requires that a supporting Power Management
driver and BIOS are installed. Lenovo has bundled the necessary
dependencies and the battery firmware update into a common package.
During the update, the system may reboot, or be shut down.

Update: This firmware was updated on September 14, 2010. The update
includes a second fix, also for the full charge capacity value and the
same symptoms. This second fix applies to all of the supported batteries
listed below but fixes a problem which can only manifest itself on
ThinkPad Models T410, T410i, T510, T510i, and W510.

Note: Customers with Edge 13, Edge 14, Edge 15, E30, E40, E50, L410,
L412, L510, L512, SL410, SL510, and X100e systems still need to have at
least the first firmware update. This can be checked in Power Manager,
on the Battery Details tab. If this page shows the battery FRU number as
one in the "Affected FRU Number" list below, the firmware update should
be applied.

---8<---

Batteries affected:

Support batteries  FRU P/N : 42T4708  (ASM P/N : 42T4709)
                   FRU P/N : 42T4714  (ASM P/N : 42T4715)
                   FRU P/N : 42T4737  (ASM P/N : 42T4738)
                   FRU P/N : 42T4757  (ASM P/N : 42T4758)
                   FRU P/N : 42T4797  (ASM P/N : 42T4796)
                   FRU P/N : 42T4803  (ASM P/N : 42T4802)
                   FRU P/N : 42T4783  (ASM P/N : 42T4782)
                   FRU P/N : 42T4789  (ASM P/N : 42T4788)
                   FRU P/N : 42T4831  (ASM P/N : 42T4830)
                   FRU P/N : 42T4807  (ASM P/N : 42T4806)
                   FRU P/N : 42T4815  (ASM P/N : 42T4814)

---8<---

I do *NOT* think it works from a bootable CD.  You may have to enlist
the help from someone with a compatible ThinkPad with a Windows install,
or call Lenovo and request a bootable CD version of the update.  If
enough people request the CD update, they're likely to find a way do
make it available.

The battery can reset its gauge by itself, you do not need to do it in
Windows.  Just do a full-charge - deep-drain - full-charge cycle.  This
is _not_ good for the battery, do it only very rarely.

-- 
  "One disk to rule them all, One disk to find them. One disk to bring
  them all and in the darkness grind them. In the Land of Redmond
  where the shadows lie." -- The Silicon Valley Tarot
  Henrique Holschuh