I have a Thinkpad T470s running Linux Mint where the batteries suddenly stopped charging. The batteries are supposedly new (the laptop is a refurbished one) with battop showing a cycle count of only around 20 for both batteries when they stopped charging. The laptop is now running on mains only and will die once it is plugged out.

It seems as if it is the main battery (00HW022) that is defective, as battop first showed a voltage of around 5V, and then later did not register in battop at all. The secondary battery (01AV405) shows a voltage of 12.5V, but it is also not charging.

Locating local replacement batteries for the 00HW022 was a little more difficult than I expected with these machines. I have a replacement 01AV405, but I don't want to install it now as I suspect it is not the problem.

1. Can I remove just the 00HW022 and expect that the other battery can begin to charge again and allow the laptop to run on only that?
2. Is there a reason I would have a hard time finding a replacement 00HW022, or is that just a skill issue? Do they go under other names?
3. Is there any reason to believe that Linux is making things difficult here? I suspect that everything related to batteries is handled by the firmware and Linux is only reporting on diagnostic values and have nothing to do with the charging itself - is that correct?