Charge level treated as about 10x more than it is on Lenovo X1 Extreme Gen 2?

[qpkorr]

[x] I've read and accepted the Bug Reporting Howto [x] I've provided all required tlp-stat outputs via Gist (see below)

Describe the bug

On my Lenovo X1 Extreme Gen 2, it looks as though tlp doing something weird when reading the charge percentage - missing the decimal point, and rounding things - I've not worked it out yet.

For example, with charge thresholds set to 60% and 64%, and charge at 7.1%, it's not charging:

tlp-stat -b

#: john@j4lt:~ ; sudo tlp-stat -b --- TLP 1.6.1 -------------------------------------------- +++ Battery Care Plugin: thinkpad Supported features: charge thresholds, recalibration Driver usage: * natacpi (thinkpad_acpi) = active (charge thresholds, recalibration) Parameter value ranges: * START_CHARGE_THRESH_BAT0/1: 0(off)..96(default)..99 * STOP_CHARGE_THRESH_BAT0/1: 1..100(default) +++ ThinkPad Battery Status: BAT0 (Main / Internal) /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/manufacturer = SMP /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/model_name = 5B-+���5'+8"$�� /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/cycle_count = 159 /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_full_design = 13840 [mWh] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_full = 653840 [mWh] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_now = 46290 [mWh] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/power_now = 0 [mW] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/status = Full /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_start_threshold = 60 [%] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_end_threshold = 64 [%] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_behaviour = [auto] inhibit-charge force-discharge Charge = 7.1 [%] Capacity = 4724.3 [%]

It's actually claiming the battery is Full - I've seen some other status when I first saw this problem a month or two ago - "not-charging" or something - can't recall sorry.

Increasing the charge thresholds to 67% and 68% (after a bit of fluffing around to narrow down the problem, which resulted in a little charging, hence 7.1% is up to 7.3%), the problem remains

tlp-stat -b

#: john@j4lt:~ ; sudo tlp setcharge 67 68 Setting temporary charge thresholds for BAT0: stop = 68 start = 67 #: john@j4lt:~ ; sudo tlp-stat -b --- TLP 1.6.1 -------------------------------------------- +++ Battery Care Plugin: thinkpad Supported features: charge thresholds, recalibration Driver usage: * natacpi (thinkpad_acpi) = active (charge thresholds, recalibration) Parameter value ranges: * START_CHARGE_THRESH_BAT0/1: 0(off)..96(default)..99 * STOP_CHARGE_THRESH_BAT0/1: 1..100(default) +++ ThinkPad Battery Status: BAT0 (Main / Internal) /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/manufacturer = SMP /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/model_name = 5B-+���5'+8"$�� /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/cycle_count = 159 /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_full_design = 13840 [mWh] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_full = 653840 [mWh] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_now = 47410 [mWh] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/power_now = 0 [mW] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/status = Full /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_start_threshold = 67 [%] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_end_threshold = 68 [%] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_behaviour = [auto] inhibit-charge force-discharge Charge = 7.3 [%] Capacity = 4724.3 [%]

But increasing the start percentage to 68% and 69%, and suddenly it starts charging:

tlp-stat -b

#: john@j4lt:~ ; sudo tlp setcharge 68 69 Setting temporary charge thresholds for BAT0: stop = 69 start = 68 #: john@j4lt:~ ; sudo tlp-stat -b --- TLP 1.6.1 -------------------------------------------- +++ Battery Care Plugin: thinkpad Supported features: charge thresholds, recalibration Driver usage: * natacpi (thinkpad_acpi) = active (charge thresholds, recalibration) Parameter value ranges: * START_CHARGE_THRESH_BAT0/1: 0(off)..96(default)..99 * STOP_CHARGE_THRESH_BAT0/1: 1..100(default) +++ ThinkPad Battery Status: BAT0 (Main / Internal) /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/manufacturer = SMP /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/model_name = 5B-+���5'+8"$�� /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/cycle_count = 159 /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_full_design = 13840 [mWh] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_full = 653840 [mWh] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_now = 47410 [mWh] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/power_now = 0 [mW] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/status = Charging /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_start_threshold = 68 [%] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_end_threshold = 69 [%] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_behaviour = [auto] inhibit-charge force-discharge Charge = 7.3 [%] Capacity = 4724.3 [%]

Until it charges enough, and stops charging again:

tlp-stat -b

#: john@j4lt:~ ; sudo tlp-stat -b --- TLP 1.6.1 -------------------------------------------- +++ Battery Care Plugin: thinkpad Supported features: charge thresholds, recalibration Driver usage: * natacpi (thinkpad_acpi) = active (charge thresholds, recalibration) Parameter value ranges: * START_CHARGE_THRESH_BAT0/1: 0(off)..96(default)..99 * STOP_CHARGE_THRESH_BAT0/1: 1..100(default) +++ ThinkPad Battery Status: BAT0 (Main / Internal) /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/manufacturer = SMP /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/model_name = 5B-+���5'+8"$�� /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/cycle_count = 159 /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_full_design = 13840 [mWh] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_full = 653840 [mWh] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_now = 48110 [mWh] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/power_now = 0 [mW] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/status = Full /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_start_threshold = 68 [%] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_end_threshold = 69 [%] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_behaviour = [auto] inhibit-charge force-discharge Charge = 7.4 [%] Capacity = 4724.3 [%]

I first saw this issue a few weeks ago (after upgrading to Ubuntu 24? I'm not sure), but somehow - perhaps after a reboot? it charged properly. Now that the battery level has dropped below 10%, I'm getting warnings of low battery - and hence I noticed it again.

Expected behavior

When the charge level is below the charge start threshold, I expect it to charge.

To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the unexpected behavior:

1. Does the problem occur on battery or AC or both? AC since can't charge on battery.
2. Actions to reproduce the behaviour? I don't know sorry. Happy to run any diagnostics you like while I've got it in this state.
3. Shell commands entered and their output
4. Full output of tlp-stat via https://gist.github.com/ for all matching cases of 1 (not as file attachment, no screenshots) https://gist.github.com/qpkorr/4dfaad7928101d7534d54e303260bf87

[linrunner]

Your battery reports impossible values

/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_full_design = 13840 [mWh] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_full = 653840 [mWh] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_now = 48110 [mWh]

They state that the battery was last charged to 654 Wh (there are no laptop batteries that big), although the design capacity is only 13.8 Wh (there are no such tiny batteries in laptops, and certainly not in an X1 extreme).

Conclusion: your battery is defective, replace it.

Btw: the Bug Reporting Howto that you confirmed above states:

What not to report

• Hardware issues e.g. worn out or malfunctioning batteries

I don't want the TLP issue tracker to become a hardware support forum. Thank you for your understanding.

[qpkorr]

Thank you - weird. I ran tlp-recalibrate and once it was done, things look a lot more normal:

tlp-stat -b

#: john@j4lt:~/Downloads ; sudo tlp-stat -b [sudo] password for john: --- TLP 1.6.1 -------------------------------------------- +++ Battery Care Plugin: thinkpad Supported features: charge thresholds, recalibration Driver usage: * natacpi (thinkpad_acpi) = active (charge thresholds, recalibration) Parameter value ranges: * START_CHARGE_THRESH_BAT0/1: 0(off)..96(default)..99 * STOP_CHARGE_THRESH_BAT0/1: 1..100(default) +++ ThinkPad Battery Status: BAT0 (Main / Internal) /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/manufacturer = SMP /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/model_name = 5B10W13900 /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/cycle_count = 160 /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_full_design = 80400 [mWh] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_full = 69300 [mWh] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_now = 69300 [mWh] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/power_now = 0 [mW] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/status = Full /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_start_threshold = 96 [%] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_end_threshold = 100 [%] /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_behaviour = [auto] inhibit-charge force-discharge Charge = 100.0 [%] Capacity = 86.2 [%]

To my untrained eye at least, it looks as though there's nothing wrong with the battery (it's 4 years old but has been sitting at 60% on AC power the vast majority of that time). Even the model number is now looking normal, unlike before. Clearly the problem is with the source information, as you say - but whether it's a faulty battery or a bug in the software/firmware producing that info, I've no idea. Sorry for bothering you - thanks so much for such a great tool!

[linrunner]

Maybe you're lucky and it was just a one-off glitch in the battery electronics.