My laptop battery never charges to 100% and it stays on 99

Question

I recently bought a brand new laptop (Asus vivobook x510uf). I'm using ubuntu 18.04.2

When I plug it to charger, It charges near 98-99 percent. It always shows less than 5 min remains to full charge, but it takes about 30 min to gets 100%. After that its state changes to discharging and after few minutes the battery logo changes to a battery with cross on it and for remaining time it says "estimating...". What's the problem?

$ upower --dump
Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/line_power_AC0
  native-path:          AC0
  power supply:         yes
  updated:              Wed 03 Apr 2019 05:43:43 PM +0430 (155 seconds ago)
  has history:          no
  has statistics:       no
  line-power
    warning-level:       none
    online:              yes
    icon-name:          'ac-adapter-symbolic'

Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0
  native-path:          BAT0
  vendor:               ASUSTeK
  model:                ASUS Battery
  power supply:         yes
  updated:              Wed 03 Apr 2019 05:45:43 PM +0430 (35 seconds ago)
  has history:          yes
  has statistics:       yes
  battery
    present:             yes
    rechargeable:        yes
    state:               pending-charge
    warning-level:       none
    energy:              39.443 Wh
    energy-empty:        0 Wh
    energy-full:         40.679 Wh
    energy-full-design:  43.046 Wh
    energy-rate:         4.065 W
    voltage:             11.55 V
    percentage:          100%
    capacity:            91.7089%
    technology:          lithium-ion
    icon-name:          'battery-full-charging-symbolic'
  History (rate):
    1554297343  4.065   pending-charge

Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/DisplayDevice
  power supply:         yes
  updated:              Wed 03 Apr 2019 05:45:43 PM +0430 (35 seconds ago)
  has history:          no
  has statistics:       no
  battery
    present:             yes
    state:               unknown
    warning-level:       none
    energy:              39.443 Wh
    energy-full:         40.679 Wh
    energy-rate:         4.065 W
    percentage:          100%
    icon-name:          'battery-missing-symbolic'

Daemon:
  daemon-version:  0.99.7
  on-battery:      no
  lid-is-closed:   no
  lid-is-present:  yes
  critical-action: HybridSleep

Solution 1

If your battery is removable, remove it, disconnect AC power, and hold down the power button for 15 seconds. This will reset the power manager. Reconnect all power and see if the problem is resolved.

If your battery is not removable, then disconnect AC power, leave the computer turned on and not sleeping/hibernating, and let the battery drain to zero. Once the computer turns off, hold down the power button for 15 seconds. Reconnect the AC power. Turn computer back on and let it recharge the battery, and recheck operation.

If the above two options don't resolve the problem, and you dual-boot with Windows, boot into Windows, and locate the power/battery settings. Look for an option that allows you to tailor the battery charge... something like it'll charge to 98% and identify that as full... it might be in the power or energy saver or "ECO" settings. Reboot into Ubuntu and see if the problem is solved.

Solution 2

You need to calibrate your battery and sensors. Unplug and run the laptop until the machine shuts down for "critical low battery", then leave it turned off while it charges back up. One, two, or at most three cycles like this will let Ubuntu calibrate how much power is available at what sensor readings, and should cause the display to more closely reflect what you expect.

Comments

[mokazemi]

why it happens? note that my laptop is new (I bought it 4 days ago)

[Zeiss Ikon]

Each battery is very slightly different from every other. I got the same thing with new batteries for my Thinkpad; once they were calibrated, the power icon reported reasonable figures for any charge state (except when I didn't use it for too long and one battery discharged too much to read -- once it charged back up, it was fine).

[mokazemi]

Thanks. I'm gonna try it.

[mokazemi]

I have another question. I think "energy-full" and "energy-full-design" should be at least so near to eachother. Is it something wrong with my battery?

[Zeiss Ikon]

That's at least partly a hardware question -- but it's related to the individual characteristics of batteries, and how the battery reports to the OS. The battery maker puts a value in the battery's electronics for design capacity; the OS reads what the capacity is when voltage reaches "full" level, and those are the two values. FWIW, after calibration, these are likely to be closer as well.

[mokazemi]

Unfortunately my battery is not removable. I did what you said. It charged 100%, But I still get "Estimating" and a missing battery symbol.

[Boris Hamanov]

@MohammadKazemi did you drain your battery ALL the way down, and THEN hold the power button down for 15 seconds? Do you have Windows?

[mokazemi]

Yes. I did so. Maybe it's a bug on gnome-shell.

[mokazemi]

I don't have windows (I had it at first, but I've deleted it!)

[linrunner]

@heynnema : Asus != ThinkPad, so why do you recommend TLP in this case?

[Boris Hamanov]

@linrunner My understanding is that TLP covers more than just Thinkpads. Am I wrong?

[linrunner]

yes. but charge thresholds are for ThinkPads only.

[Boris Hamanov]

@linrunner ah, ok. I'll edit that out.

[linrunner]

Don't get me wrong: i like it when TLP is recommended. Only in this case it won't help.