[svlug] question - my laptop won't charge to 100% even though plugged in and using AC power

[Darlene Wallach]

On Sun, May 3, 2009 at 1:47 PM, Deyan Bektchiev <svlug at bektchiev.net> wrote:
> On Sun, May 3, 2009 at 1:01 PM, Darlene Wallach
> <freepalestin at dslextreme.com> wrote:
>> On Sun, May 3, 2009 at 1:52 AM, Deyan Bektchiev <dejanb at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Sat, May 2, 2009 at 1:05 AM, Darlene Wallach
>>> <freepalestin at dslextreme.com> wrote:
>>>> Chris,
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, May 2, 2009 at 12:55 AM, Chris Miller
>>>> <lordsauronthegreat at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> On Sat, May 2, 2009 at 12:42 AM, Darlene Wallach
>>>>> <freepalestin at dslextreme.com> wrote:
>>>>>> I always use my laptop plugged into AC power. The last few days I've noticed
>>>>>> the yellow light is blinking and will not turn green. When I hover the mouse
>>>>>> over the plug it shows the computer is charging. Does this indicate I need a
>>>>>> new power supply? The power supply gets warm - it used to get hot. I just
>>>>>> bought one last summer, July 2008, just before I left for Gaza. Or does this
>>>>>> indicate another problem?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thank you for any insight. Thank you for your attention.
>>>>>
>>>>> Lithium Ion batteries do loose their ability to hold a charge as time goes by.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have noticed that sometimes the battery's internal meter becomes
>>>>> "confused" and fails to recognize that it's holding as much as it will
>>>>> be able to hold in its degraded state.
>>>
>>> I had a ThinkPad battery that simply "died" and would not recharge at
>>> all and was showing the exact same symptoms. The ThinkPad power
>>> manager (unfortunately only available in Windows) showed that the
>>> battery was bad and I called Lenovo to have it replaced under
>>> warranty.
>>>
>>> Run "cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT*/*" and look at the output to see if
>>> the battery is really holding charge.
>>>
>>
>> $ cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT*/*
>> alarm:                   365 mWh
>> present:                 yes
>> design capacity:         4400 mWh
>> last full capacity:      3656 mWh
>> battery technology:      non-rechargeable
>> design voltage:          11100 mV
>> design capacity warning: 365 mWh
>> design capacity low:     182 mWh
>> capacity granularity 1:  644 mWh
>> capacity granularity 2:  8 mWh
>> model number:            245XIX
>> serial number:           0001
>> battery type:            LiOn
>> OEM info:                OEM
>> present:                 yes
>> capacity state:          ok
>> charging state:          charging
>> present rate:            unknown
>> remaining capacity:      3605 mWh
>> present voltage:         12516 mV
>>
> It looks like your battery capacity is degraded by 15-20% but is
> should still be OK - I wouldn't worry much about the blinking light.
>
> If you want to try and restore some of the capacity, completely
> discharge and charge the battery a couple of times. Discharge it until
> the laptop would shut down or go to sleep and then charge to 100% (or
> as much as it charges - you can use the ACPI information to monitor
> the charging).
>
> --dejan
>

Thank you! I always use the power supply and never use the battery so
I'll follow your advice and see what happens.

Dalrene Wallach