I’m using openSuse 12.1 and after waking up I noticed that my battery won’t charge past 80% now. I tried discharging the battery and charging back to 100% but it will not go beyond 80%. Also my laptop tends to over heat very easily along with a loud running fan when I’m using very little cpu usage. Had my battery now since late 2010.
I suggest that first and foremost, if you have never done so, to buy a can or two of Duster Spray and blast out all of the heat sinks and slots on this laptop to clear out all of the dust. Time and time again, laptops over a year old suffer from high dust build up which can cause over heating, running slowly and even batteries that will not fully charge. Don’t take the dust build up problem lightly. You might need two cans because the cans get very cold and the air pressure can go down as you use it, so then switch to the other can if not done. You can use it on keyboards and most any electronic stuff, so it will not go to waste.
Now, you might want to consider doing a kernel upgrade as well as drivers that might affect battery charging could do better with a newer kernel. It is always worth a try. One choice is my bash script SAKC, that adds a new kernel load option, as you compile, but does not remove your old one, which will still be there just in case you need it. Here is the link for the bash script: S.A.K.C. - SUSE Automated Kernel Compiler - Version 2.71 - Blogs - openSUSE Forums, Goof Luck…
Thank You,