Battery Percentage always shows 0% (When it's not)

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Frappe
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Battery Percentage always shows 0% (When it's not)

Post by Frappe »

Hi all,

Stopped using Linux for a few years (was always a novice anyway) and have recently come back to it in the last 6 or so months.

Setup has been fine, but it's time to follow up on a couple of issue that have bugged me since setting it up.

One is the battery percentage always shows 0% and I have no idea why. I know it isn't 0%, As windows shows the correct value.
I have tried unplugging and rebooting while unplugged, doesn't seem to make a difference.

Not sure on what to do, below are my details, hope this helps?

Code: Select all

System:    Kernel: 5.13.0-39-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A Desktop: Cinnamon 5.2.7 Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una 
           base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: TOSHIBA product: Satellite C850 v: PSKC8A-04G00S serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Type2 - Board Vendor Name1 model: Type2 - Board Product Name1 v: Type2 - Board Version serial: <filter> 
           UEFI [Legacy]: Insyde v: 1.10 date: 02/29/2012 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: N/A condition: 88.8/88.8 Wh (100%) model: TKBSS NS2P3SZMC4WR status: Unknown 
           Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Marathon Mouse/Performance Plus M705 charge: 55% (should be ignored) 
           status: Discharging 
           Device-2: hidpp_battery_1 model: Logitech K520 charge: 70% (should be ignored) status: Discharging 
CPU:       Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i7-3667U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Ivy Bridge rev: 8 L2 cache: 4096 KiB 
           flags: avx lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 19954 
           Speed: 1126 MHz min/max: 800/1900 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 915 2: 861 3: 946 4: 1046 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics vendor: Toshiba driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
           resolution: 1600x1200~60Hz, 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 4000 (IVB GT2) v: 4.2 Mesa 21.2.6 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel 7 Series/C216 Family High Definition Audio vendor: Toshiba driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:1b.0 
           Device-2: C-Media Audio Adapter (Unitek Y-247A) type: USB driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid bus ID: 3-1.1:4 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.13.0-39-generic 
Network:   Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Accton driver: ath9k v: kernel port: 3040 
           bus ID: 02:00.0 
           IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet vendor: Toshiba driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 2000 
           bus ID: 03:00.0 
           IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 223.57 GiB used: 42.58 GiB (19.0%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Crucial model: CT240BX500SSD1 size: 223.57 GiB 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 46.37 GiB used: 42.58 GiB (91.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 60.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:      Processes: 252 Uptime: 1h 25m Memory: 7.66 GiB used: 2.83 GiB (36.9%) Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: 
           gcc: 9.4.0 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 inxi: 3.0.38 
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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mikaelrask
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Re: Battery Percentage always shows 0% (When it's not)

Post by mikaelrask »

Hey and welcome to the forum and linux mint Frappe. 02/29/2012 your computer is 10 years old i would suggest you open up the update manager and install the latest version kernal 5,4 and begin to use that. After install the 5.4 kernal you need from the boot screen when rebooting hit the tap key on your keyboard and from the grub meny that will appear hit the 5.4 kernal so you boot with that instead of the 5.13 kernal. Kernal 5.13.0-39 witch your using atm is for really new hardware.

good luck
CPU AMD Ryzen 9 7900
Graphic Card: AMD ATI Radeon RX 7900 XT/7900 XTX/7900M
Ram 32 GB ddr 5
Kernel: 6.5.0-14 generic
LM Cinnamon 21.3 edge
CharlieBrown
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Re: Battery Percentage always shows 0% (When it's not)

Post by CharlieBrown »

can you post the output of

Code: Select all

ls /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0
Frappe
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Re: Battery Percentage always shows 0% (When it's not)

Post by Frappe »

Hi,

Here is the output.

Code: Select all

alarm               charge_now   manufacturer   status      voltage_min_design
capacity            current_now  model_name     subsystem   voltage_now
capacity_level      cycle_count  power          technology
charge_full         device       present        type
charge_full_design  hwmon2       serial_number  uevent
Do I still need to reverse the kernel to 5.4?

I may be slow in responding due to timezone. Thanks.
CharlieBrown
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Re: Battery Percentage always shows 0% (When it's not)

Post by CharlieBrown »

Frappe wrote: Mon Apr 18, 2022 10:52 am Hi,

Here is the output.

Code: Select all

alarm               charge_now   manufacturer   status      voltage_min_design
capacity            current_now  model_name     subsystem   voltage_now
capacity_level      cycle_count  power          technology
charge_full         device       present        type
charge_full_design  hwmon2       serial_number  uevent
Do I still need to reverse the kernel to 5.4?

I may be slow in responding due to timezone. Thanks.
no, if the newer one runs is no need.
let's check the output of this parameters with

cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/capacity
cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/capacity_level
cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_full
cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_full_design
cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/cycle_count

you can check the other parameters in the same way, but this 5 are interesting first

and the output of

Code: Select all

upower -i `upower -e | grep 'BAT'`
a graphical alternative is

Code: Select all

gnome-power-statistics
it is installed as default
Frappe
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Re: Battery Percentage always shows 0% (When it's not)

Post by Frappe »

Outputs below, thanks.

kk@kk-linux:~$ cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/capacity
cat: /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/capacity: No such device
kk@kk-linux:~$ cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/capacity_level
Normal
kk@kk-linux:~$ cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_full
6000000
kk@kk-linux:~$ cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_full_design
6000000
kk@kk-linux:~$ cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/cycle_count
0
kk@kk-linux:~$ upower -i `upower -e | grep 'BAT'`
native-path: BAT0
vendor: TKBSS
model: NS2P3SZMC4WR
power supply: yes
updated: Tue 19 Apr 2022 22:50:36 (103 seconds ago)
has history: yes
has statistics: yes
battery
present: yes
rechargeable: yes
state: charging
warning-level: none
energy: 0 Wh
energy-empty: 0 Wh
energy-full: 88.8 Wh
energy-full-design: 88.8 Wh
energy-rate: 0 W
percentage: 0%
capacity: 100%
technology: lithium-ion
icon-name: 'battery-caution-charging-symbolic'
Frappe
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Re: Battery Percentage always shows 0% (When it's not)

Post by Frappe »

Anyone?
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mikaelrask
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Re: Battery Percentage always shows 0% (When it's not)

Post by mikaelrask »

hey install the 5,4 kernel and boot with that and see if that solves the problem with the battery. newer kernels comes with new features and sometimes with new problems.

Device-2: hidpp_battery_1 model: Logitech K520 charge: 70% (should be ignored) status: Discharging.
CPU AMD Ryzen 9 7900
Graphic Card: AMD ATI Radeon RX 7900 XT/7900 XTX/7900M
Ram 32 GB ddr 5
Kernel: 6.5.0-14 generic
LM Cinnamon 21.3 edge
Frappe
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Re: Battery Percentage always shows 0% (When it's not)

Post by Frappe »

Thanks, but no luck.

So weird that it just works on Windows and not Linux mint. I was under the impression Linux had 100x more drivers.
Frappe
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Re: Battery Percentage always shows 0% (When it's not)

Post by Frappe »

Over a month now posting into this 'large' community and nobody has the answer.....
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Re: Battery Percentage always shows 0% (When it's not)

Post by mikaelrask »

did you boot with the 5,4 kernel? you need to during boot up hit the tab key on your keyboard to get the grub menu to choice to boot with the 5.4 kernel if not i will boot with the latest installed on in your case the 5.13 kernel.

second option is to download Linux mint 19.2 with comes with 4,15 kernel and see if that can detect your battery.

small question did your computer come with windows 8 before you installed linux mint by any chance? if so disable secure boot from your laptops bios.

good luck
CPU AMD Ryzen 9 7900
Graphic Card: AMD ATI Radeon RX 7900 XT/7900 XTX/7900M
Ram 32 GB ddr 5
Kernel: 6.5.0-14 generic
LM Cinnamon 21.3 edge
djph
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Re: Battery Percentage always shows 0% (When it's not)

Post by djph »

Frappe wrote: Tue Apr 19, 2022 9:23 am Outputs below, thanks.

Code: Select all

kk@kk-linux:~$ cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/capacity
cat: /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/capacity: No such device
really odd that you'd get this, when your other output shows the file "capacity" ... but then again, coupled with the output of upower, it kinda looks like the battery itself might not be in the best of states ... I mean, your system is at least 10 years old at this point ...

What version of Windows are you running?
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Re: Battery Percentage always shows 0% (When it's not)

Post by ynasida »

I can confirm that I have same issue when I use kernel version 5.4.0-110-generic at latest linux Mint.
I can also say that battery indicator is fine when i log in using very old version of kernel 3.13 with Rafaella linux mint.
It's Toshiba laptop - Satellite-C850-B6K

Looks like new kernel does not support so old Battery

Battery: ID-1: BAT0 charge: N/A condition: 88.8/88.8 Wh (100%) model: TKBSS NS1P3SZMC2WR status: Unknown

Would be cool to get way to fix it anyway.

Please advice.
Frappe
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Re: Battery Percentage always shows 0% (When it's not)

Post by Frappe »

djph wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 2:44 pm battery itself might not be in the best of states ... I mean, your system is at least 10 years old at this point .
What's evident to me is that it's not working with Linux when it words perfectly on Windows.
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Re: Battery Percentage always shows 0% (When it's not)

Post by Frappe »

Completely reinstalled and this time installed Linux Mate 20.3 and still shows 0%

what's going on? I don't understand why it's just Linux failing to recognizing it.

Any experts out there?
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Re: Battery Percentage always shows 0% (When it's not)

Post by shedyed »

There are battery replacements available for that laptop, however Toshiba has discontinued the Satellite. Sure you can get one, but I would spend only to move all important data to a newer and more permanent home.

It was made to compete with the Thinkpad, the IBM Thinkpad, which is now owned by Lenovo. Time to make some choices, if I may. There are newer ones from Toshiba, but you are not stuck to the brand, are you?

Don't think of it as a change -- think of it as an upgrade.

Look at the Thinkpad; their owners have to choose between Carbon, Yoga, or IdeaPad. There are lots of choices, You can choose a newer battery, yes, but only because the computer has the crown jewels inside, or nuclear launch codes, Mr President.

You chose Linux, so it is time to find a permanent residence for this OS.
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Re: Battery Percentage always shows 0% (When it's not)

Post by Frappe »

shedyed wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 11:28 am There are battery replacements available for that laptop
How confusing is this?

If I boot windows, why does windows show the battery percentage (and fairly accurately) while LM show 0%.

How on earth is this a battery issue????
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