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I have installed Ubuntu 16.04 on an older Macbook Air. I recently found out that when I unplug the power supply, the computer shuts off and dies. This even though it is showing that the battery is fully charged. It also shows the green light in the plug of the power supply which should indicate fully charged. When the computer is turned off, this light is still green and it does not seem to charge the battery even when shut down.

Power Setting dialog

I am not sure if this has always been the case, since I installed 16.04. I used to run an older Ubuntu but decided to revert back to MacOs on this computer, which failed and I therefore installed 16.04.

Running upower -i $(upower -e | grep 'BAT') as suggested below gives following:

enter image description here

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  • What do you get for the command upower -i $(upower -e | grep 'BAT') ? You should be able to see a good amount of stats that can be better commented on.
    – tk-noodle
    Apr 5, 2017 at 21:22
  • What happens if you boot up without the power supply connected? Apr 5, 2017 at 21:31
  • This sounds like a hardware issue, perhaps a faulty chip in the battery reporting a false fully charged signal.
    – Elder Geek
    Apr 5, 2017 at 21:44
  • I have added the result of upower -i $(upower -e | grep 'BAT'), hoping that this can be interpreted. I am wondering that it states that energy is 0Wh but that the state is 'fully charged'. Apr 6, 2017 at 16:44
  • I also tried switching on the computer without the power suply connected but it will not boot. Apr 6, 2017 at 16:48

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I've seen this on laptop batteries. It's caused by a bad cell in the battery, which could cause a fire or even explode if left on charge. If you can remove the battery from your computer, do so; otherwise, get it replaced by a qualified servicer as soon as possible and don't charge the computer until you can do so.

I can't emphasize enough the safety aspect of this: charging this computer could burn down your home.

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    Thanks for the advice. I have decided to scrap the Macbook and have purchased a used Dell laptop (which of course will have Ubuntu installed :-) The casing on the Macbook was starting to expand and, since you mention it, I do think that it was the battery that caused this. Apr 8, 2017 at 14:24

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