I have revived an old Sony VAIO (PCG-F590K) for use with Linux (Windows was removed altogether). The computer sat idle for about 4 years, and now the battery won't charge. I guess that is what you would expect - I don't know.

I have installed Slackware 10.2 with kernel release 2.4.31, which seems to work fine but I am still trying to figure out if it does everything it is supposed to.

Before spending the money on a new battery I wanted to rule out the possibility that the problem was a power management issue - that the battery might actually work if the software was configured properly. From what I have read 2.4.31 supports ACPI, though some people seem to suggest that linux in general doesn't support ACPI very well. The X Control Center tells me that neither APM nor ACPI are installed, and there is no /proc/acpi directory. On the other hand there is an ACPID package apparently, and the ACPI settings in .config are all included.

Could it be that ACPI is supported but won't be properly installed unless the battery has a charge?

I tried to patch the kernel with acpi-20040326-2.4.30.diff.bz2 from acpi4linux, and then made a new kernel configuration. I think I followed all directions correctly, but the new kernel won't boot, so I am still using the old configuration.

The experience raises a few questions: I should just get a new battery, right? How do I get ACPI to work? (The only way to power down is to press the power button.) Can anyone suggest how I might figure out why my kernel configuration failed? Would it make any difference if I upgraded with release 2.6.13 which apparently has full ACPI support? I don't think there is a problem with the BIOS. How would I check that for sure?

Thanks for you help

Is there any other indication of whether the battery is charged or not? For example, on my laptop, the battery LED is blue when the battery is fully charged and orange when it is discharged at all. So I could tell the my battery was working correctly even though linux didn't register anything.

My ACPI wasn't working on Debian Sarge 2.6.8 kernel. So I popped in a Knoppix 4.0 CD (2.6.12 kernel, IIRC) and the ACPI worked there, but it always said 0% charged. So I finally just updated to a 2.16.19 kernel and it now all works great.

So I guess I would recommend trying a newer live CD like a Ubuntu LiveCD or Knoppix 5.0 (something with a 2.16 or greater kernel) and see if the battery is really charging or not...

There is a pair of led related to the battery. They blink orange - #1 blinks more #2. I'm sure they are supposed to indicate when the battery is fully charged, but I forget, maybe they stop blinking. (It's been over four years since I used it.) Maybe the fact that they blink indicates some possible life for the battery, but when you pull the ac adapter power loss is immediate.

I found something else that is interesting, though, in what I think is a boot log (/var/log/messages):

kernel: ACPI disabled because your bios is from 00 and too old
kernel: You can enable it with acpi=force

Does anyone have a pointer for updating the BIOS? Probably I can find something for that around here.

If it sat unused for 4 years it's a pretty safe bet you need to replace the battery.

No doubt. I don't hold out much hope for the battery.

In any event, ACPI seems not to be working because of the BIOS. Updating the BIOS version seems somewhat risky. Even if I can find a BIOS update (Sony has a version from October, 2001) and safely install it, will that even solve my ACPI problem? Is it possible that kernel release 2.6.13 provides ACPI support for my existing BIOS when 2.4.31 doesn't?

I suppose the next thing to try is putting "acpi=force" in lilo.conf.

Yeah, it's likely that a 2.6.x kernel would probably support your ACPI, you'll just want to make sure and compile those options in. I'd replace the battery first and see if that solves the problem.

Pat's 2.4 kernel didn't support acpi on my lappy, but when I compiled a new 2.6 kernel everything worked fine.