Toshiba Satellite laptop believes fully charged battery is critically low -- forces shutdown

[Olek Wojnar]

Steps to reproduce:

1. Power off laptop.
2. Ensure laptop battery is fully charged.
3. Disconnect AC adapter
4. Power on laptop.

Expected:
Laptop will work normally on battery power.

Actual:
Less than 30 seconds after booting into GNOME, a warning window pops up saying that the battery is critically low and the system needs to shutdown. It then proceeds to do so. After about 2-3 cycles of this, the battery gets down to below about 98% charge. At this point it gives a warning and does not shut down. Shortly afterwards, the battery information shown in GNOME Power Manager shows the correct battery charge.

It seems there's just a problem at the very full charge levels where the system reverses the charge reading.

This is very frustrating when you need to run on batteries, and also doesn't present a good impression of Ubuntu to your colleagues. :(

Please let me know if you need any additional information or if I should file this under another package. Thanks!

[Olek Wojnar (olekw)]

I'm not sure if there's any connection but I figured I'd mention that. They both seem potentially ACPI-related and they both affect this machine.

I'm also attaching the lspci -vvv output I posted for the other bug.

[Olek Wojnar (olekw)]

I'm not sure if there's any connection but I figured I'd mention that. They both seem potentially ACPI-related and they both affect this machine.

I'm also attaching the lspci -vvv output I posted for the other bug.

[Ben Collins (ben-collins)]

Could you check three things:

1) https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/Toshiba for hints.

2) For a BIOS update for your system

2) Failing that, check http://acpi.sourceforge.net/dsdt/view.php for an updated DSDT for your system. Install the DSDT in /etc/initramfs-tools/DSDT.aml and run "sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`".

[Olek Wojnar (olekw)]

Sure!

1) Sorry, couldn't find anything relevant here. Even did a few keyword searches. Then again, my model isn't listed so perhaps that's why.

2) BIOS is current.

3) Installed closest DSDT but no change. Once again, there is no specific DSDT for my model (Toshiba Satellite 1130-S155) so I used the generic Satellite one.

Please let me know if I can assist in getting better info on this model out there. I'm afraid I don't know nearly enough to create an updated DSDT or anything myself, but I'll be happy to provide any info on my system and/or test patches. Thanks!

[Colin Darie (colinux)]

Hello,

I have also exactly the same bug on my Toshiba Satellite M30X-168 since I installed Edgy (by dist-upgrade from Dapper and by a complete install CD).

It did not occur on Dapper or Breezy, only on Edgy.

Sorry for my english :)

[matt0001 (formicary)]

This also affects my Satellite A85.

[Olek Wojnar (olekw)]

Does anyone know if this bug is still present in the 2.6.20 kernel which is shipping with Feisty?

[matt0001 (formicary)]

The problem didn't occur using the beta Live-CD of Feisty, but I have not tried it with a hard drive install. I'll wait for some other brave soul to do it first.

[Colin Darie (colinux)]

I don't use anymore this laptop ( screen broken...) but I 'll try tomorrow or next week-end an upgrade with the remaining half of the screen and I'll tell you.

However, with feisty and a Toshiba P100-* I don't have this problem (but I don't know if it would have had it with edgy).

[Jean-Sebastien Gosselin (jsgosselin)]

Hi,
I have a Toshiba Satellite P30 and it does exactly the same thing. I installed the edgy 6.10 version.

[swift (guido-equilibrant)]

The problem is still there in feisty on a Toshiba Tecra M2

[Stefan Björk (bluebirch)]

Toshiba Satellite L30-134 has this problem too.

[Eric Wheeler (crazybot)]

i have the same problem on my Tosh Sat A135-S4527, as well as many other acpi problems.

[Eric Wheeler (crazybot)]

oops, i had this problem on both feisty and gutsy in kubuntu.

[Sarah Kowalik (hobbsee-deactivatedaccount)]

any particular reason the release team is subscribed? there's no patch, or anything.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

I am assigning this bug to the 'ubuntu-kernel-team' per their bug policy. For future reference you can learn more about their bug policy at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies .

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Hardy Heron Alpha series was recently released which contains an updated version of the kernel. You can download and try the new Hardy Heron Alpha release from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/hardy/ . You should be able to then test the new kernel via the LiveCD. If you can, please verify if this bug still exists or not and report back your results. General information regarding the release can also be found here: http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/ .

Also please note that we will keep this report open against the actively developed kernel bug against 2.6.17 this will be closed. Thanks.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

[Markus Korn (thekorn)]

Unfortunately this bug report is being closed because we received no response to the last inquiry for information. However, the Intrepid Ibex 8.10 Beta release was most recently announced - http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/intrepid/beta . If you are able to confirm this is still an issue with this most recent release please feel free to reopen this report. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New".

Thanks,
Markus

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.