Battery not charging

mmarc28 · 5 2024 07:51

Hi community,
I have a lenovo thinkpad carbon X1 with manjaro+plasma KDE. This is the output of inxi -Fxz

System:
  Kernel: 6.6.41-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.1.1
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.0.5 Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 20QESA1200 v: ThinkPad X1 Carbon 7th
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: 20QESA1200 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: LENOVO
    v: N2HET46W (1.29 ) date: 02/21/2020
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 0 Wh (0.0%) condition: 52.0/51.0 Wh (101.9%) volts: 13.1
    min: 15.4 model: LGC 5B10W13930 status: not charging
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-8565U bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Comet/Whiskey Lake note: check rev: C cache: L1: 256 KiB L2: 1024 KiB
    L3: 8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 400/4600 cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800
    5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 800 bogomips: 32012
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel WhiskeyLake-U GT2 [UHD Graphics 620] vendor: Lenovo
    driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 bus-ID: 00:02.0
  Device-2: Chicony Integrated Camera driver: uvcvideo type: USB
    bus-ID: 1-8:5
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.13 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.1 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting dri: iris gpu: i915 resolution: 1: 2560x1440~60Hz
    2: 2560x1440~60Hz
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,swrast platforms:
    active: x11,surfaceless,device inactive: gbm,wayland
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 24.1.3-manjaro1.1
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 620 (WHL
    GT2)
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.279 drivers: intel surfaces: xcb,xlib devices: 1
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Point-LP High Definition Audio vendor: Lenovo
    driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-cnl bus-ID: 00:1f.3
  API: ALSA v: k6.6.41-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api
  Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.2.1 status: off
  Server-3: PulseAudio v: 17.0 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Point-LP CNVi [Wireless-AC] driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:14.3
  IF: wlp0s20f3 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Ethernet I219-V vendor: Lenovo driver: e1000e v: kernel
    port: N/A bus-ID: 00:1f.6
  IF: enp0s31f6 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-3: Realtek RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter driver: r8152 type: USB
    bus-ID: 4-1.1.2:4
  IF: enp45s0u1u1u2 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP) driver: btusb
    v: 0.8 type: USB bus-ID: 1-10:8
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: up address: see --recommends
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 953.87 GiB used: 161.75 GiB (17.0%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Western Digital model: PC SN730
    SDBQNTY-1T00-1001 size: 953.87 GiB temp: 40.9 C
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 928.86 GiB used: 161.75 GiB (17.4%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 299.4 MiB used: 280 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 8.8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 56.0 C pch: 57.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): fan-1: 0
Info:
  Memory: total: 16 GiB available: 15.43 GiB used: 4.75 GiB (30.8%)
  Processes: 233 Uptime: 9m Init: systemd
  Packages: 1868 Compilers: clang: 18.1.8 gcc: 14.1.1 Shell: Bash v: 5.2.26
    inxi: 3.3.35

After letting the laptop fully discharge, it is now stuck to 0% battery, which does not charge when the laptop if connected to the charger. If I unplug the charger, the laptop shuts down. This is the ouput of sudo tlp-stat --battery

--- TLP 1.6.1 --------------------------------------------

+++ Battery Care
Plugin: thinkpad
Supported features: charge thresholds, recalibration
Driver usage:
* natacpi (thinkpad_acpi) = active (charge thresholds, recalibration)
Parameter value ranges:
* START_CHARGE_THRESH_BAT0/1:  0(off)..96(default)..99
* STOP_CHARGE_THRESH_BAT0/1:   1..100(default)

+++ ThinkPad Battery Status: BAT0 (Main / Internal)
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/manufacturer                   = LGC
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/model_name                     = 5B10W13930
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/cycle_count                    =    874
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_full_design             =  51000 [mWh]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_full                    =  51990 [mWh]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_now                     =      0 [mWh]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/power_now                      =      0 [mW]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/status                         = Not charging

/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_start_threshold =      0 [%]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_end_threshold   =    100 [%]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_behaviour               = [auto] inhibit-charge force-discharge

Charge                                                      =    0.0 [%]

Capacity                                                    =  101.9 [%]

and this is the output of sudo acpi -V

Battery 0: Not charging, 0%
Battery 0: design capacity 3878 mAh, last full capacity 3953 mAh = 100%
Adapter 0: on-line
Thermal 0: ok, 59.0 degrees C
Thermal 0: trip point 0 switches to mode critical at temperature 128.0 degrees C
Cooling 0: Processor 0 of 10
Cooling 1: pch_cannonlake no state information available
Cooling 2: Processor 0 of 10
Cooling 3: iwlwifi_1 no state information available
Cooling 4: Processor 0 of 10
Cooling 5: TCC Offset 3 of 63
Cooling 6: Processor 0 of 10
Cooling 7: INT3400 Thermal no state information available
Cooling 8: Processor 0 of 10
Cooling 9: SEN2 no state information available
Cooling 10: Processor 0 of 10
Cooling 11: B0D4 no state information available
Cooling 12: Processor 0 of 10
Cooling 13: x86_pkg_temp no state information available
Cooling 14: intel_powerclamp 0 of 100
Cooling 15: Processor 0 of 10
Cooling 16: SEN1 no state information available

In particular

/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/status                         = Not charging

/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_start_threshold =      0 [%]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_end_threshold   =    100 [%]

Battery 0: Not charging, 0%

It looks like some setting is preventing the charge from starting, but I could not resolve the issue. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

linux-aarhus · 5 2024 10:11

Fully discharging a battery is never a good idea - you may kill the battery - there is no generic recipe to revitalize a modern lithium battery.

How a battery reacts is impossbile to say - there is as many opinions as there batteries.

If you keep it around 20-80% it is likely to stay in servie for a longer time.

wes33 · 5 2024 11:04

Did you try to reset with the pin hole in bottom of machine?

Mirdarthos · 5 2024 11:08

To me, this sounds like a faulty laptop…

Teo · 5 2024 12:58

Could be the charger, could be battery controller. If the battery was deeply discharged it might have entered protection mode, essentially a blown fuse, which might or might not be software recoverable.

mmarc28 · 5 2024 13:46

Hi all, thanks for the suggestions. I believe (hope) it is a software issue because

Changing charger does not change anything
The battery is correctly found and probed by the system, it is the charging problem which does not start
I’ve recently updated to the new kernel as well as updated many packages
Other than this the laptop works fine. Of course I haven’t let it discharge on purpose, but sometimes it happens and it has always been fine.

I found similar topics in the forum, but the solutions provided there didn’t solve the issue. I think the settings for the level at which the charging starts are messed up, but I’m not expert enough to understand what to do.

mmarc28 · 5 2024 13:49

No I didn’t but I should try that. I’m a little worried since I’ve never had to do that. Do I have to do it with the laptop turned off? This will only reset the internal battery connection, right?

Thanks and sorry for asking for clarifications!

Mirdarthos · 5 2024 14:28

The only thing that eliminates is the charger.

Well, the doctor can declare a human healthy as well. While in the meantime they have a terminal disease.

This doesn’t eliminate the hardware. In fact, it assort of proves that it’s not the software…

Yah, but it is possible for only one thing to fail, ya’know.

I’m not trying to say that it is definitely hardware or anything like that. I’m merely pointing out that your “reasons” look a lot like grasping at straws.

Of course, there is the chance that I’m wrong. I accept that. In fact, I hope that, for your part.

Wollie · 5 2024 14:40

You could try the UEFI diagnostics menu (firmware) and then run a quick battery check (resets charge start/stop thresholds).

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=289167

wes33 · 5 2024 17:25

I think the pinhole reset is worth a try. But it’s a bit dicey since the normal instruction are this: “Flip the laptop upside down and unplug any exterior power sources. Locate the small hole located directly in the middle of the back cover. Once it is found, stick a straightened paperclip into the emergency reset hole to reboot the system.” If your battery is completely dead this won’t work obviously. Personally, if that happened I’d try it plugged in but you may just want to contact Lenovo service,

BG405 · 5 2024 17:29

One issue with Li-Ion cells is that when deeply discharged, it destroys the electrodes. You might be able to recover some capacity by “force-charging” it but this is not recommended.

I have an older IBM Thinkpad (R51e) which also has a blown charge controller chip. Try changing that out in a hurry. Works with a good battery but no way to charge it in-situ.

Time for a new battery I think; I’d recommend Greencell where I bought the battery for this machine.

mmarc28 · 6 2024 07:52

So, I’ve tried several things, nothing worked.

Changing TLP settings for when charging starts/ends. This worked for people with similar issue to mine, even if in those cases the battery was stuck to a positive percentage and not 0% like it is for me;
rebooting with different kernels;
resetting the laptop through the pinhole in the bottom;
running the UEFI Diagnostic battery check, which reported:

Health Test:        PASSED
Temperature Test:   PASSED
Lifespan Mode Test: WARNING

where the WARNING should be due to mismatch between UEFI and firmware:

WARNING: Current lifespan mode: LS1_5. Expected lifespan mode: LS2.

The log also says:

Charging Status:  TERMINATE_DISCHARGE_ALARM | REMAINING_CAPACITY_ALARM | 
REMAINING_TIME_ALARM | INITIALIZED | DISCHARGING |
 FULLY_DISCHARGED

Remaining charge: 0%

I’m accepting that it is an hardware problem and I’ll have to change battery. However the UEFI Diagnostic seems to find no crucial issues with the battery. Does anyone have an explanation for this or can interpret the sequence under Charging Status?

Thanks!

Wollie · 6 2024 09:34

This page explains the alarm messages:

https://blueshape.net/apps/onlinehelp/bsmon/BattStatInfo.html

Does not look good, guess you have to replace the battery or need to look for a battery specialist.

Teo · 6 2024 16:24

Terminate discharge alarm - looks like what i suspected - undervoltage, too deep discharged and the “software fuse” is blown. I have read that sometimes it is a reversable condition, but the bat. Is now at least software locked and have to be unlocked with some special software. And then diagnosed if safe to use. So, depending on the general age and condition and the prices for pc repairs and batteries in your area - either specialized workshop or new battery.

mmarc28 · 6 2024 16:30

Thanks all, I’ve ordered a new battery which will arrive in a couple of days. If replacing it fixes the issue, I’ll mark the topic as solved and close it.

BG405 · 8 2024 04:12

I hope it does work out OK, but I’d also recommend setting a minimum charge threshold before the machine sleeps (or preferably, hibernates) of say (at least) 10 to 15% and also limit the max charge capacity to something like 90-95%; this should help preserve the battery.

Note: some machines won’t support max charge threshold settings.

Using this arrangement, I’m on probably year two with this battery and it still lasts well. Might be able to squeeze 7 or 8 hours out of it, with light use.

I hope the battery you have coming is a genuine one, by the way. Had too many fakes over the past few years. Make sure it can manage a few cycles from about 90 down to about 15% without issue, or report an issue / return the thing straight away.

Check acpi -V.

mmarc28 · 14 2024 21:12

Hi all, I finally had the chance to replace the battery and the issue is fixed. The new battery charges regularly. The old one had one of the four cells inflated. Thanks for all the tips!

system · 17 2024 21:13

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