Asus W5 laptop batteries in Suse 10.2

wild_oscar · 05-08-2007, 05:39 AM

I found out a couple of days ago that my battery isn't working in Linux. After I remove the AC adaptor plug I get about 1-2 minutes before the power meter (both in KDE and Gnome) complains about the battery is about to die.

I'm guessing that's...huh...impossible. So maybe Linux is not reading the battery correctly.

I'm running Suse 10.2.

Can anyone help me by guiding me on discovering the root of the problem?

Lenard · 05-08-2007, 05:53 AM

Have a look around in the /proc/acpi directory structure and review the log files.

Example(your battery location may be different):
$ cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT1/state

present: yes
capacity state: ok
charging state: charged
present rate: 0 mA
remaining capacity: 4044 mAh
present voltage: 12446 mV

Also check out acpitool: http://freeunix.dyndns.org:8000/site2/acpitool.shtml

wild_oscar · 05-08-2007, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lenard

Have a look around in the /proc/acpi directory structure and review the log files.

Example(your battery location may be different):
$ cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT1/state

present: yes
capacity state: ok
charging state: charged
present rate: 0 mA
remaining capacity: 4044 mAh
present voltage: 12446 mV

Also check out acpitool: http://freeunix.dyndns.org:8000/site2/acpitool.shtml

Installed acpitool.Odd behaviour of the power meter (both in the tool and in kpowersave):

Was at 100% for about a minute. Then it went from 100%:

Code:

    Remaining capacity : 720335 mW, 100.0%
    Design capacity    : 25300 mWh
    Last full capacity : 720335 mW
    Present rate       : 0 mW
    Charging state     : charged
    Battery type       : rechargeable, LIon
    Model number       : W5A
    Serial number      :

to 6-7% instantly!

Code:

  Battery #1     : present
    Remaining capacity : 48125 mWh, 6.68%, 01:18:28
    Design capacity    : 25300 mWh
    Last full capacity : 720335 mW
    Present rate       : 36795 mW
    Charging state     : discharging
    Battery type       : rechargeable, LIon
    Model number       : W5A
    Serial number      :

Now it seems to be stable at 6- 6.7 % (been like that for...10 minutes now).

Kpowersave is blinking saying "low bat". How come the capacity decrease is not stable, ie, more or less constant?

Lenard · 05-08-2007, 08:24 AM

Something is not right, the battery voltages are way off.

Yours:

Remaining capacity : 720335 mW, 100.0%
Remaining capacity : 48125 mWh, 6.68%

Design capacity : 25300 mWh

Mine:

Code:

$ acpitool -B
  Battery #1     : present
    Remaining capacity : 4004 mAh, 99.01%, 02:31:05
    Design capacity    : 4000 mAh
    Last full capacity : 4044 mAh
    Present rate       : 1590 mA
    Charging state     : discharging
    Battery type       : rechargeable, Lion
    Model number       : Primary
[lenard@Aspire5100 ~]$ acpitool -B
  Battery #1     : present
    Remaining capacity : 4044 mAh, 100.0%, 00:00:00
    Design capacity    : 4000 mAh
    Last full capacity : 4044 mAh
    Present rate       : 1270 mA
    Charging state     : charged
    Battery type       : rechargeable, Lion
    Model number       : Primary

Check and see if there is a BIOS update available, also see: http://acpi4asus.sourceforge.net/

wild_oscar · 05-08-2007, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lenard

Check and see if there is a BIOS update available, also see: http://acpi4asus.sourceforge.net/

I am sorry for the dummy question, but where is the kernel tree for Suse 10.2?

Quote:

If your kernel tree is not in /lib/modules/<kernel_version_you_use>/build,
you will have to edit the Makefile to change the line s
KDIR := /lib/modules/$(KVER)/build
to reflect the path to your kernel tree :
KDIR = </absolute_path_to_your_kernel_tree/>

I was trying to install acpi4asus version 0.40, but can't perform "make":

Code:

make -C driver
grep: /lib/modules/2.6.18.8-0.3-default/build/include/linux/autoconf.h: No such file or directory
grep: /lib/modules/2.6.18.8-0.3-default/build/include/linux/autoconf.h: No such file or directory
grep: /lib/modules/2.6.18.8-0.3-default/build/include/linux/autoconf.h: No such file or directory
grep: /lib/modules/2.6.18.8-0.3-default/build/include/linux/autoconf.h: No such file or directory
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/miguel/bin/acpi4asus-0.41/acpi4asus-0.40/driver'
Kernel configuration :
CONFIG_BACKLIGHT_CLASS_DEVICE : [ ]
CONFIG_LEDS_CLASS : [ ]
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.18.8-0.3-default/build SUBDIRS=/home/miguel/bin/acpi4asus-0.41/acpi4asus-0.40/driver modules
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.18.8-0.3-obj/i386/default'
make[2]: *** No rule to make target `modules'.  Stop.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.18.8-0.3-obj/i386/default'
make[1]: *** [default] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/miguel/bin/acpi4asus-0.41/acpi4asus-0.40/driver'
make: *** [build] Error 2

My /lib/modules/2.6.18.8-0.3-default/build dir only has a Module.symvers file...

Lenard · 05-08-2007, 11:09 AM

Depending on which kernel you currently have installed download the kernel-source rpm file for example;

ftp://mirrors.kernel.org/opensuse/di....2-34.i586.rpm

wild_oscar · 05-08-2007, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lenard

Depending on which kernel you currently have installed download the kernel-source rpm file for example;

ftp://mirrors.kernel.org/opensuse/di....2-34.i586.rpm

Thank you! That's what was missing...

wild_oscar · 05-09-2007, 03:19 AM

So basically what is happening is that the "full capacity" reading is wrong:

Code:

    Remaining capacity : 720335 mW, 100.0%
    Design capacity    : 25300 mWh
    Last full capacity : 720335 mW

It should be equal to the "design capacity"! Does anyone know how to change it?

Lenard · 05-09-2007, 05:37 AM

Update the BIOS maybe or apply a kernel patch and create/use a custom DSDT;

http://acpi.sourceforge.net/

You can also build your own custom kernel, I have found that building a vanilla kernel is sometimes better then for my systems then kernels supplied by the vendor;

http://kernel.org/

The latest released kernel is 2.6.21.1, and is built/installed on all my systems.