no laptop battery charging

smokeyone · #1 5th November 2009, 10:09 AM

I am a newbie to linux/fedora and have just installed version 11 on my acer 5315 laptop.
Can anyone give me some advice please on getting the battery charged. At the moment
the battery charges for about two minutes before the laptop reverts to battery only mode (even though the mains is connected) and as the battery is now almost flat the laptop shuts down soon after. If I take the battery out completely then the laptop runs fine on mains supply only, put the battery back in and a few moments later the laptop shuts down.
The battery is fine, I tested it on a friends laptop and I also reinstalled vista again to test - battery charding okay. Now back to Fedora - hope someone has some ideas please.

PS

Would this work ! --If someone could explain how to do it.....

How to disable power management?

Here were the steps I followed to 100% disable all power management.

1. Installed Boot Up Manager

Code:

sudo apt-get install bum

2. De-select the following services

* powernowd
* apmd
* acpi-support
* acpid

3. Disable Gnome-Power-Manager from starting up when you boot into gnome.
Code:

System->Preferences->Sessions

stevea · #2 5th November 2009, 11:33 AM

You may have a bad acpi in you BIOS, it's common. Booting with "noacpi" on the kernel command line (in grub) may solve the problem.

smokeyone · #3 5th November 2009, 12:54 PM

Thanks very much for the advice but I would need walking through the instructions otherwise I am stuck....

joe.pelayo · #4 5th November 2009, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smokeyone

Thanks very much for the advice but I would need walking through the instructions otherwise I am stuck....

Hi smokeyone.

It is very simple to do what stevea suggests. Are you fairly familiar with the terminal? I hope so.

You need to open a terminal, become root, and edit the file /boot/grub/menu.lst which has the information about the installed kernels (in fact it is the list you see at boot time). At the line of the current kernel (usually the first line containing kernel information, you might need to check the file) you'll see the instructions for running the kernel along with some 'parameters' at the end. That's where you need to insert the command stevea suggested. Unfortunately I am not in Fedora right now so I can not post and example of the file, but check it carefully and you'll get it.

Here are the steps, in the terminal:

Code:

su
[input your root password]
gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

edit the file, save changes and you are good to go. Make sure you check precisely what you do in case you need to revert the changes in the future.

Good luck,
Joe.

smokeyone · #5 5th November 2009, 04:21 PM

Thanks for the help.. Had to google to find out how to get to root - have the menu list

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/mapper/VolGroup-lv_root
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=0
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (2.6.29.4-167.fc11.i586)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.29.4-167.fc11.i586 ro root=/dev/mapper/VolGroup-lv_root rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.29.4-167.fc11.i586.img

Does noacpi go right after i586 img just above here or the next img up.........

joe.pelayo · #6 6th November 2009, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smokeyone

Thanks for the help.. Had to google to find out how to get to root - have the menu list

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/mapper/VolGroup-lv_root
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=0
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (2.6.29.4-167.fc11.i586)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.29.4-167.fc11.i586 ro root=/dev/mapper/VolGroup-lv_root rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.29.4-167.fc11.i586.img

Does noacpi go right after i586 img just above here or the next img up.........

No, it goes after "rhgb quiet".

Thanks,
Joe.

smokeyone · #7 6th November 2009, 10:49 PM

I have spent ages trying to sort out my battery troubles. The laptop charges just for a couple of mintes then cuts out. I won't go on but I understand fedora 9 and maybe 10 worked fine -
Does anyone know of the differences or where I can find a copy of the older distro.

Deonis · #8 6th November 2009, 11:41 PM

Why do you think it's Fedora's problem? Maybe it's your laptop's buttery DEAD!?

smokeyone · #9 7th November 2009, 05:15 AM

Well - it charged fine in vista and inbetween ubuntu (same trouble) & fedora I re-installed vista again to double check and it charged up okay. Of course, as the laptop will only charge for a few minutes before reverting to battery only - this is with the mains plugged in - then the battery slowly drains down until the laptop shuts itself off. Remove the battery and then the laptop reverts to mains. Put the battery back in and we are back to square one - charge for a couple of minutes and then shut down.

asio_bob · #10 8th November 2009, 01:08 AM

Can you post the output of the following command

cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/info

If there are strange unicode characters, leave them. i.e paste as is

smokeyone · #11 8th November 2009, 06:14 AM

xxxxx@xxxxx-laptop:~$ cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/info
present: yes
design capacity: 4400 mAh
last full capacity: 4145 mAh
battery technology: rechargeable
design voltage: 11100 mV
design capacity warning: 220 mAh
design capacity low: 132 mAh
capacity granularity 1: 264 mAh
capacity granularity 2: 3780 mAh
model number: GC86508SAT0
serial number:
battery type: Lion
OEM info: SANYO
xxxxx@maggie-laptop:~$

Had to try this several times as the battery cuts out and shuts down laptop
1% battery remaining

joe.pelayo · #12 8th November 2009, 01:51 AM

Why are you using a 586 kernel? I've just checked in my Aspire One (with no 64 bits support) and it works fine with the i686 version. I am sure your machine could work just as easily with it too and almost for sure will solve your problem.

How did you install Fedora? A liveCD/USB? You may want to try a i686 live media before reinstalling.

Thanks,
Joe.

smokeyone · #13 8th November 2009, 06:20 AM

Installation from a download. How do you upgrade the kernal....

joe.pelayo · #14 8th November 2009, 06:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smokeyone

Installation from a download. How do you upgrade the kernal....

I am afraid you'll need to replace the whole system my friend. But it might be worth a shot trying to change the kernel in YUMEX. This program YUMEX is not installed by default so you might need to put it yourself:

Code:

su
[password]
yum -y install yumex

Once it is installed you can open it in Applications -> System Tools. There you will be able to install software, just search "kernel" and install the i686 one (if available). After it is installed you will need to reboot.

Be warned that this could be a troublesome process and it would be better to make a clean install (with i686 media).

Thanks,
Joe.

smokeyone · #15 8th November 2009, 06:44 AM

I'll have a go at the Kernal but what makes you think the system needs replacing....