Battery not charging when laptop is in use (14.04)

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Solution 1

With lots of other users reporting battery problems there may be no easy answer. Trying a newer kernel (newer Ubuntu live cd/dvd/iso probably the easiest) might help, does the latest live (currently 14.10?) do the same thing?

And it would be hard for me to tell if my laptop battery were really not charging when running Ubuntu, or if it's only the battery % indicator that wasn't getting updated. I'd try timing experiments, something like charging the laptop fully while off (5hrs? 8hrs? however long it usually takes), then use the laptop unplugged for 2 hours (or however long is about half run time), then plug in and keep using for 2 more hours, then unplug and see how long it lasts. Once running Ubuntu and once running windows. If it lasts just as long in Ubuntu and windows then it looks like just the battery % not getting updated, but if it lasts for 2 or 3 more hours in Windows and turns off in 20 minutes for Ubuntu, that's the battery.

And does the BIOS show anything about the battery's charge? If it does, that'd be a great way to check the "actual" charge, before running & after running/charging for a while.

When a kernel default got changed a while ago my sensors were no longer visible without booting with the option acpi_enforce_resources=lax (added before the "--" from the live iso's F6/aditional options). Does that show anything different? (FYI sensors from lm-sensors is informative)

Also, running upower may give some more power info too, in case it's the desktop power indicator that's not updating. A command like upower --monitor-detail should "print the full details of the power source whenever an event happens."

I would assume that charging the battery would be controlled by the BIOS or hardware or something, it seems too important and hardware-specific to let any OS control that...

Solution 2

It is possible that something is eating power - does the laptop run hot? You could try top to see what processes are running, or powertop will report on actual power usage - and let you tune it down, more importantly.

If it isn't actually going flat then there is some power coming into the system so you know the hardware's OK, and it charges when off so the charge circuits are good. BTW I don't think it's BIOS so much as hardware that does charging - it's all voltage/current controlled, if you left it to firmware or OS you'd get fires!

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Naren Prakash
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Naren Prakash

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

  • Naren Prakash
    Naren Prakash about 1 year

    I have a HP pavilion dv4, with an Intel® Core™ i5-2410M CPU. I switched to Ubuntu 14.04 recently and the battery of my laptop does not appear to charge when in use. It charges when the laptop is turned off. It used to work perfectly when I ran Windows on it. Can anyone help me with this? Any help would be appreciated!

    • Xen2050
      Xen2050 almost 9 years
      How do you know it's not charging? Does the battery run down and the laptop shuts itself down or just dies, even while plugged in? I thought the laptop's BIOS controls battery charging, and it just tells the OS what it's doing, the OS can't control charging, can it? Anyone have references otherwise?
    • Naren Prakash
      Naren Prakash almost 9 years
      When plugged in, the laptop doesn't charge and stays at the same percentage. When shut down, it charges. The laptop has a decent battery backup and can be used normally once the battery is charged!
    • Xen2050
      Xen2050 almost 9 years
      Does the laptop seem to last as long as usual when unplugged, after letting it charge for the usual charge time even if the batt % doesn't change? It sounds like it could still be an "info" issue, and maybe the battery really is charging, just not updating the batt %. FYI There are several Q's like this, but few answers.
    • Naren Prakash
      Naren Prakash almost 9 years
      Yes, The laptop lasts as usual after charging (charges only when turned off). I've checked but the laptop is not charging when in use. If i use the laptop plugged in, it holds charge but when the cord is pulled out it starts to discharge an eventually turns off! @xen2050
  • Xen2050
    Xen2050 almost 9 years
    I don't know much about BIOS & hardware controllers, just "something under the OS" must do it. I'd definitely agree that leaving it up to MS or any random user to decide when to charge & when not to would be big trouble