Battery and charging issues

Hardware Support
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1

Hello
I previously used Zorin OS, but since a few days, I noticed that the LED next to my charging port was a bit weird. It seems, it's not acting like it was supposed to do : orange when charging, white when the pc is on...
It's really weird because it's doing this even when the pc is off ! So I guess it's bios related...
Another thing : I'm curently charging the pc, and the battery icon into the task bar isn't working : gnome doesn't understand it's charging, even if it is...
And the battery percentage doesn't goes up.

Just to specify : it's a laptop, and the SSD has ceased to function... So I bought a new one and went to a shop to repair it. Right after that, I install Zorin OS.

I search on Internet about gnome who does not recognize my pc charging and the percentage who doesn't goes up, and maybe it's related to "upower", or something like that...
Can someone help me please ? :folded_hands:

2

It could be the battery going south.

3

You can set charging thresholds on some laptops. The laptop then only charges when the battery level has fallen below a certain threshold. Otherwise the laptop will not charge, even if it is connected to electricity. Perhaps this is the case for you?

4

Maybe, but it never does this in the past, on windows 10, 11, Zorin, or even Arch... And I never changed something in the bios, by the way I just reset their settings

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5

I think too...
But I'm too lazy to pay for a battery and a replacement... :sweat_smile:

6

Then, the operating system shouldn't matter. Batteries degrade over time, and this may have reached its limit.

Read the computer's manual and see if there's any information about this behavior.

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7

My pc is a bit old, but I will search about that. Thanks you for helping me, at least :slight_smile:

8

It could also be due to a defective power supply unit.

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9

I agree, sometimes this can be a possibility if it's not the batteries fault. It occurs if the adapter is damaged by dropping, it is very old/unsupported/third-party one

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10

@ndc make sure to check the other suggestions mentioned here about the adapter and power supply.

I've removed the solved tag on this post until you can confirm whether this was the problem or not.

1 Like
11

@ndc

Exactly how old is your PC, what is the brand, model? If your computer is 5 years old, and the battery has been through many charge an discharge cycles, its likely the battery needs replaced.

You could try to get a new battery charger for it, but as a mechanic, I don't believe in throwing money at something without a proper diagnosis. I would use a multi-meter to test the charger, to make sure its working properly.

Truth is, I used to use an Acer computer from 2012. The battery in the Acer computer lasted about 6 years, before it wouldn't keep my notebook powered during a power outage. When I ordered a replacement battery for it, it only lasted 1 year!

Now days, modern notebook's don't use externally replaceable battery packs. You have to take the back panel completely off by a whopping 16 screws. I won't have fun replacing my MSI battery pack when I will need to.

My MSI computer is 4-years old, so far, the battery is still holding, during power outages. I also set my computer to go to sleep, after the battery goes down to 10%. That function doesn't always work though. Hopefully, my battery will keep alive for several more years yet.

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12

You can check your battery health with upower. It is a similar tool to powercfg /batteryreport in Windows.
Here is a guide.

If energy full (maximum current capacity) differs much from
energy full design (original manufacturers capacity) your battery is getting old.

First enter
"upower -e"
Then
"upower -i /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0"
(or for further battery BAT1)

13

Just to also add, you said you took it to a repair shop. What did they do to it? Lastly if this was a notebook that had a built-in battery saver like Samsung, then this requires the presence of Windows for it to work. I would always avoid Samsung as they never provide BIOS updates. They make e-waste at point of manufacture.

14

I'm going to change the battery, if it's not the problem, well I lost 90€ for nothing... I keep you update

15

According to the upower command, my pc had 349 charge cycle, I have this computer since november of 2021, the brand is HP, and the SSD inside broke a few weeks ago...
I think it's not related to the cable, because when I use it the battery does not discharge. But if I unplug it, the battery percentage gets off...

16

here is the output :

nath@nath-zorinos:~$ upower -i /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0
  native-path:          BAT0
  vendor:               Hewlett-Packard
  model:                Primary
  power supply:         yes
  updated:              sam. 16 août 2025 15:52:21 (38 seconds ago)
  has history:          yes
  has statistics:       yes
  battery
    present:             yes
    rechargeable:        yes
    state:               pending-charge
    warning-level:       none
    energy:              12,7 Wh
    energy-empty:        0 Wh
    energy-full:         38,828 Wh
    energy-full-design:  38,828 Wh
    energy-rate:         0 W
    voltage:             11,312 V
    charge-cycles:       349
    percentage:          32%
    capacity:            100%
    technology:          lithium-ion
    icon-name:          'battery-good-charging-symbolic'

nath@nath-zorinos:~$
17

They changed the ssd.
Also, I came back thursday to change the battery. They should receive it monday, so I will come back with the pc

18

I am surprised that after 349 charging cycles, energy-full and energy-full-design display the same values.

What is shown in
/sys/class/power_supply/?

Navigate into the directory:

"cd /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/"

Use cat to read values:

"cat energy_full"
"cat energy_full_design"
"cat cycle_count"

19

I didn't test this, but :

I went back from the repair shop, they changed the battery (90€, ouch), and now my laptop is able to charge !

Thanks you all for your interest about this problem :heart_hands:

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