If this is not the right forum for this, please redirect.
I have three elderly HP laptops given to me by folks who replaced them with new laptops because they were too sluggish when “upgraded” to Win 10. I added memory - minimum 2 GB - and replaced the HD’s with SSD’s. Running SuSE 13.1 and Linux Mint, they perform quite respectably. But all of them lose battery charge between use. At first I thought the batteries were worn out, but I found that if I charge the batteries, and store the laptops with the batteries removed, they retain charge and are ready for the next boot.
I presume that something is drawing power even when the laptops are turned off. One plausible theory suggested to me is that the Wifi card is not shutting down, even when it is turned off. I might add that I also have two elderly Toshibas - laptop and notebook - that do not have this problem at all.
Is there a utility that shows power drain of the various components, both when in use and when (supposedly) turned off?
BTW I prefer SuSE 13.1 for these since it has full dial up support, and that is useful when there are power outages, which are all too frequent in my area, thanks to the squirrels.
For example, check if 'Wake-on-LAN is disabled in BIOS perhaps
BTW I prefer SuSE 13.1 for these since it has full dial up support, and that is useful when there are power outages, which are all too frequent in my area, thanks to the squirrels.
Well, you can still install qinternet or gtk-ppp graphical dialup utilities for Leap if desired.
There is no BIOS setting for Wake-on-LAN; there is “Internal Network Adapter Boot” but it is disabled. This could be the problem.
My power supplies are fine, since they will charge the batteries.
Well, you can still install qinternet or gtk-ppp graphical dialup utilities for Leap if desired.
I am using Tumbleweed now on one laptop, with the more capable CPU. ( I could not get Leap to print, so I tried Tumbleweed.) The Tumbleweed version of Qinternet would not install.
While using Leap I could use IIRC WVDial, but only as root. I’ll give Leap 42.2 a try.
>> The Tumbleweed
> > version of Qinternet would not install.
> Really? You could show the problem(s) with
>
In short, Forget it.
Sine wicked has deprecated the classic networking scripts (= since 13.2), all
smpppd-based functionality (and qinternet is just a front end to smpppd) is
gone.
AK
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
(R.J. Hanlon)
Yes indeed. Qinternet is configured by a module in YAST, which has not been included as of 13.2.
The WVDial work arounds will suffice, since the dialup capability I want is for emergency use.
Similarly, removing the batteries from my old HP laptops solves the drainage problem, at least in a crude but effective way.
And I think it is worth repeating that an SSD and OS can make an old laptop very usable, and useful, again. Just beware of HP laptops!
Pavilion dv8000. Turion 64 + 2 GB RAM. Original OS was Win XP. This one is the oldest; it has PATA drives so it is not compatible with SSD. Well, there are some PATA SSD’s around, but without trim support, the drive becomes useless after a while. It has an excellent 17" display, and the keys have tactile feedback.
HP Pavilion dv7-1135nr. Turion X2 + 4 GB RAM. Original OS Win 7. This one has a SATA SSD, and also 17" display with a nice keyboard. This one dual boots Linux Mint Mate and Tumbleweed.
HP Pavilion g7-2223nr. AMD A4 + 8 GB RAM. Original OS Win 8. 17" display, but has those gummy rubber “chiclet” keys. It is the most capable, but the one I like least to use.
All of these will drain their battery if left installed.
I also have a Toshiba Satellite - Centrino + 2.5 GB. Original OS Win XP. 15" display, SATA SSD and great keyboard. It dual boots 32 bit Linux Mint 17.3 and OS 13.1. Both Linuces run quite nicely despite the anemic Centrino CPU. It originally had 2 X 0.5 GB RAM, but I could upgrade only one DIMM through the access hatch.
There is also a Toshiba NB 305 - Atom CPU + 2 GB RAM. Original OS Win 7. I just run 32 bit Linux Mint on this one. Performance with Linux Mint Mate is tolerable.
Both of the Toshibas have no problem retaining battery charge when not in use. All dual-boot laptops use the OS bootloader.
I’ve had this problem with two older HP, a Turion64 laptop and an AMD-350 netbook, and the only way to avoid the battery draining in a week or so with the laptop/netbook shut down was to remove them, as you do - disabling WOL didn’t make a noticeable difference. The older laptop would throw a BIOS POST error on boot due to the date reverting to some-when in the last century, and had to be set manually to complete booting. The newer netbook still has some a working clock battery, so just setting the time to update on ntp is enough.
In the end I presumed that there is something wrong in how HP sets the power circuits that allows slow leaking - say, a highly resistive short between +VCC and ground, but this is just wild speculation.
Those HP machines had a locked-down BIOS showing only basic settings to the user. HP’s stance was that it’s necessary to avoid users borking their systems and requesting support. For some there was a key combo or procedure that would unlock the BIOS and show all options, but I couldn’t find this for my machines.
The CMOS battery should be replaced if the hardware clock is noticeably off.
As for your main battery…
First,
You have to know what kind battery it is. If your batteries are a <very> old design, they may be NiCad,
NiCads have “memory” which means that you should not leave your battery in your system when you’re also on external power.
You also need to allow your battery to be discharged <completely> before re-charging, else “memory” will degrade your battery capacity quickly and can be resolved only by a series of quick and complete discharge/recharge cycles.
NiCads gradually and noticeably lessen output as its stored charge lessens, which must be adjusted by electronic design.
For more than a decade now, batteries have been Li-Ion or Li-poly which require completely different use.
Unlike NiCads, Lithium based batteries have a set lifetime of 2-5 years, although I’ve had longer use.
Unlike NiCads, <do not> completely discharge the battery any more than you have to, instead they last longer by often repeated re-charging.
Lithium batteries do not have a memory charge problem, and has better “shoulders” in its power output profile which means you get consistent output even when the battery charge is low.
Perhaps most importantly when you have problems with a battery,
You have to know that charging and monitoring relies on the battery properly calibrated.
Calibration is a requirement because there are electronics built into your battery which prevents overcharging (and explosions or over heating) which has to be sync-d with your OS charging utility.
If you don’t know if calibration has been done, then you need to find a utility to do this, check first for an OEM app from your laptop manufacturer before looking at 3rd party apps (I’m pretty sure HP should provide one somewhere).
So, what happens when your battery isn’t calibrated?
Your monitoring thinks that your battery is fully charged when it isn’t
Your charging stops before your battery is fully charged.
Generally,
re-calibration requires at least one (maybe a couple) complete discharge and recharge cycles using the calibration utility.
Once calibrated, your battery electronics will be sync-d with the OS charging utility to ensure that your battery is properly topped off, not too much or too little.
Sure, but it has to be accessible without much hassle. I’ve disassembled that HP laptop once to change the thermal pad, and never saw any replaceable battery. It was working at the time, so I wasn’t paying special attention.
The OP issue - and mine - has nothing to do with calibration, but with charge retention, as stated in our posts. Recalibrating the battery won’t help any.
Not to beat this to death, but all of the laptops I described have lithium ion battery packs. I got a new battery for the Linux Mint - Tumbleweed laptop, charged it according to the detailed instructions provided with the new battery, and it discharges too.
So, after reading “brunomcl’s” posts, it appears that this is a peculiarity of HP laptops. What I don’t know is if this also happens when the original Windows is installed. Possibly HP patches their OEM Windows with code that shuts down proprietary devices.
On Mon 06 Mar 2017 01:36:01 AM CST, Metapsych wrote:
deano_ferrari;2815148 Wrote:
> FWIW, other HP users have reported similar behaviour (with little
> useful comment from HP themselves)
> http://tinyurl.com/gspnx7k
Thanks, Deano. Your link is the definitive answer; it’s a design flaw.
No more HP laptops for me; I’ll keep an eye out for old Toshiba’s.
Hi
The newer model HP’s I have don’t exhibit this… I do have a G72
sitting in the junk pile, it’s got an i3 in it…
The few DV models have worked on always seem to run hot…
–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE Leap 42.1|GNOME 3.16.2|4.1.36-44-default
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That’s been my experience as well. My previous HP Compaq 6710b didn’t exhibit this problem, and I’m currently using a ProBook 450G2 that has great battery life. No evidence of battery drain when off.