My laptop battery is getting a old but it still gives me approx one hour [ 1½ hours on Windows]. The problem is that when I disconnect the power cord [or log on without the power cord ], the estimated time to empty shows only 2 minutes and the laptop goes into suspend. After a while the estimates gets more accurate. Is there any fix available ?
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1I have heard that the software that the battery itself uses to estimate remaining charge can get inaccurate over time. A suggested way to fix this is to completely drain your battery, fully recharge it, completely drain it and fully recharge it again to help it calibrate its estimating software. This should work for any battery that uses lithium-ion technology (e.g., you can apply this advice to smartphones, etc., as well). Do you still have the problem after trying this?– Knowledge CubeOct 29, 2011 at 2:57
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I discharged and recharged the battery, but not twice. Will try that.– Mr HydeOct 29, 2011 at 16:03
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@MrHyde - after following Warrioring64 suggesstion did it resolve your problem?– Mark RooneyMar 6, 2012 at 10:49
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@MarkRooney : No, the problem persists; I have come to believe that the problem is caused by inaccurate estimation when the battery level is between 90 and 100 % (have attachesd a screenshot above). I have got around the problem by setting the battery critical option to Nothing, though that may cause me to lose work someday :-/– Mr HydeMar 7, 2012 at 12:44
1 Answer
The default battery indicator in Ubuntu can be inaccurate on some laptops due to the systems bios not showing the remaining time correctly.
One solution for this is to get a better battery indicator called battery-status
that is available by ppa for installation.
Type the following commands in a terminal;
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:iaz/battery-status && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install battery-status
After installation go to Cog -> Startup Applications;
And add following command to the list
/usr/lib/battery-status/battery-status --indicator
Then restart your system, there is a good guide with screenshots on OMG!Ubuntu!