Power light is blinking in hibernate on my Dell XPS after I changed the battery

Support
1

I have a Dell XPS 13 9380. It’s been on Linux since I got it, and on Manjaro for a couple of years now. Last week I changed the battery. When I suspend the laptop I have it set to ‘deep’ rather than ‘s2idle’. This still works fine, but when I suspend, the power light starts to blink an error code (three amber one white) that suggests an issue with the cmos battery. However, if I plug in the charger for a couple of seconds it goes away.

Because it is something that only comes on after I suspend the laptop and because it stops if I charge the battery for a second or two, I wonder if it is a software issue. I’m reluctant to replace the cmos battery when it only occurs in the suspend state. Does anyone have any suggestion on what I could do?

2

There is a reason the system does as it does.

I would change the cmos battery as the system suggests.

It is - usually - a small li-ion cell. I don’t know the exact layout of a Dell system - but the battery itself is usually very cheap.

3

Thanks. I’ve found the cmos battery. I detached it as part of flushing the system power when changing the main battery (and reattached it – that was after the error code started). OK, I’ll order a cmos battery.

4

They don’t usually last beyond around ten years. It’s often a CR2032 but some machines have a rechargeable cell or battery.