Battery not charging

d0ugparker · 03-01-2018, 06:34 PM

I was surprised to see zero threads using a search on

Battery not charging

When I have the laptop powered up, the battery percentage in the status bar above cycles repeatedly from 50% charge to about 98% charge, then repeats, while the LCD screen on the bottom left shows an arrow indicating that power is being sent to the battery to recharge it, but there's no status bars showing up on the LCD's battery icon. Basically nothing's happening, but it looks like it's trying to charge the battery.

Is there an FAQ or a sticky thread somewhere that details how to either jump start the broken acpi charging library or whatever else I need to learn about to get my Fujitsu Lifebook T4215 charging its batteries again?

frankbell · 03-01-2018, 08:56 PM

It might help to know what distro/version you are using.

More to the point, how old is this battery?

d0ugparker · 03-02-2018, 12:18 AM

16.04LTS Ubuntu. The battery is of unknown age. I've had the pack apart, and even though the 18650s are paired up, I've split them, checked their individual cell voltages, and all are at 4.04v or better. IMO, this should be charging. The electronics is supposed to fault the battery pairs if any pair goes below a lower voltage than where it is currently.

jefro · 03-05-2018, 12:57 PM

As far as I know the battery circuit has nothing to do with OS. It should charge when power off.

You can't tell state of battery from voltage measurement.

Replace battery with known good and re-test. If fails then look to system or power block.

Soadyheid · 03-08-2018, 06:43 AM

A replacement battery will cost something in the region of £50.00, check out Amazon here or Google.

Play Bonny!

dave@burn-it.co.uk · 03-08-2018, 06:56 AM

Just make sure you buy from a reputable battery supplier and that it is new not refurbished. There is a large market in dodgy batteries.

AwesomeMachine · 03-09-2018, 02:09 AM

On eBay the whole laptop costs less than a battery for it.

rokytnji · 03-09-2018, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AwesomeMachine

On eBay the whole laptop costs less than a battery for it.

Great. 2 laptops with dead batteries. Sounds like a great idea to me.

Dealing with Chinese power supply for my newly acquired used chromebook from eBay. Messaging seller it freezes my mouse while charging. I have seen this type of behavior before. From Chinese power adapters. The reply will probably be useless. As always in these cases. Polite passive aggressive response.

It is not operating system related. 10 buck charger. Got what I paid for. You probably got what you paid for also. Funny part is. Chromebooks are made in China.

As is most everything electronic.