On my Lenovo T590 using Arch Linux, to get the laptop to charge after disconnection from wired power (even if off), I need to go into firmware settings: I need to push enter>F1>select "config">select "disable built in battery" and confirm (at which point it turns off automatically)>turn the laptop back on and use like normal.

While this is annoying and clunky enough as it is, I think I need to solve this problem once and for all soon, because today I barely salvaged my laptop today from a bit of wetness. The screen was freezing up or skewing for a while, and still seems to be acting up when I try to enter Lenovo firmware settings a lot of the time. I do think this will get better on its own, because at first the laptop wouldn't even turn on properly, the power button just flashing before going black again; but then I could get into the "Lenovo" logo in the firmware before the laptop froze when actually loading Arch; then I could finally load Arch without difficulty. However, it does trouble me that entering my firmware is still problematic sometimes, particularly since it's necessary to use my laptop.

Does anyone else have any ideas for permanent solutions to this problem?

Hey AKM512,

Couple of questions here :

Which version of the kernel are you running ? Arch is a rolling release, so you're likely on 6.x if you update regularly. A lot of older or less-frequently used firmware has been removed from more recent versions of the kernel in order to reduce its size. The T590 is fairly recent hardware, but you may still want to check if separate firmware modules are available for it that seem related to power management.

Other than that, your issue sounds almost hardware-related. If at times when you've pressed the power button, you don't even get to the Lenovo splash screen, the operating system hasn't even loaded yet. Have you run hardware diagnostics or had the laptop looked at for possible hardware problems ?

Let us know how you make out.

Cheers,

Rick