Thanks for all the help. Puppy won't run with battery power

[rockedge]

odd thing....following your thread here....I have a desktop that does exactly the same behavior. At random times I will return to the machine after a period of time and it will not come "alive". eventually only hard reset through holding the power button....but the machine will bark....

[peterw]

Hi
From the symptoms, I strongly suspect that you have a hardware issue. The laptop and its batteries are about 10 years old now. I have a laptop with the same processors (not a Dell) and I had to buy a replacement battery to make it useful, although on mains power it was fine. Dells of this vintage had a circuit in the power supply that communicated with the motherboard to make sure you were using a Dell Power Supply. If you did not use Dell or a Power Supply with the right part it would play up. The Bios info gave you details.
Also, print out what /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0 says about your battery. It may give some clues.

[number77]

Hi
From the symptoms, I strongly suspect that you have a hardware issue. The laptop and its batteries are about 10 years old now. I have a laptop with the same processors (not a Dell) and I had to buy a replacement battery to make it useful, although on mains power it was fine. Dells of this vintage had a circuit in the power supply that communicated with the motherboard to make sure you were using a Dell Power Supply. If you did not use Dell or a Power Supply with the right part it would play up. The Bios info gave you details.
Also, print out what /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0 says about your battery. It may give some clues.

The power supply is genuine dell, the battery is new but compatible.
====> NOTEBOOK BATTERY (BAT0) <====

Complete Report:
Name DELL 00
SBDS Manufacture Date 2014-06-14
design capacity 4400 mAh
last full capacity 6600 mAh
design voltage 11100 mV
design capacity warning 440 mAh
design capacity low 133 mAh
capacity granularity 1 44 mAh
capacity granularity 2 44 mAh
capacity state ok
charging state charging
present rate 1575 mA
remaining capacity 5665 mAh
present voltage 12412 mV
AC-state on-line

Capacity Summary:
Remaining capacity: 5665 mAh, 85.8% of last full capacity
Design capacity: 4400 mAh
Last full capacity: 6600 mAh, 150.0% of design capacity
Capacity loss: -50.0%
Any ideas.

[peterw]

Hi

Battery looks good.

Just looked at an old Dell Latitude 100L that I have and looked at the Bios Settings. On page 5, I have a Bios setting that allows me to control screen brightness for both Battery only and Power Supply On. If you have the same feature could you check it. On mine I have set it to full brightness, both on battery only and with power.

[Gordie]

Had an HP DV6 laptop with much the same problem. Intermittent dead battery. Was running Slackware64 14.2 at the time. Anyway, my son took over ownership of the computer and wiped the drive and installed Windows 7.
Like magic the battery is now free of problems. All symptoms went away.
Weird

[number77]

Hi

Battery looks good.

Just looked at an old Dell Latitude 100L that I have and looked at the Bios Settings. On page 5, I have a Bios setting that allows me to control screen brightness for both Battery only and Power Supply On. If you have the same feature could you check it. On mine I have set it to full brightness, both on battery only and with power.

Hi
Set them both to max brightness but switched the psu off and a few seconds later it hung.

[peterw]

Hi
OK, so it's not the Bios settings. We need to explore a bit further.
1. If the Dell is powered up into the Bios and the Power Supply disconnected, will it switch off or will it keep going?
2. If you have the old battery (hoping it can hold some charge) could you fit it and then run Puppy to see if it can remain on for a while without the Power lead.
3. If you run another distro like Mint does the lack of a a connected Power Supply still cause a shutdown?
4. When you clean up the fan, etc, carefully inspect the components around the power supply socket and the battery connectors. I have had dry joints in these parts which has caused failures.
It is a process of eliminating potential causes of the problem.

[number77]

Hi
It will stay in the bios on battery half an hour at least, no hang.
The old battery had the same problem.
I did install lubuntu and daphile, same problem.
Probably nothing for it but to open it and check for dry joints.
Strange thing is xp runs all day on battery.

[peterw]

Hi number77

Stripping, cleaning and inspecting is needed. However, I can't, yet, see why Windows XP is fine and Linux gives a hang. Another thought is that a bios update might solve the issue. A10 is the latest June, 2013. Its worth a try if your bios is not that.
http://www.dell.com/support/home/uk/en/ ... Id=R186796

[number77]

No its not the bios, I already have that on.

[jd7654]

I did install lubuntu and daphile, same problem.

Thanks for trying that, That is what I suspected would happen. So the problem is really "Linux won't run with battery power in Dell Latitude D620" not necessarily Puppy itself.

So I point that out not as a cop-out or to give up on Puppy, but rather look into Ubuntu support or search message boards for a fix or solution, because they have much larger user base than Puppy and may have someone with this laptop and similar issue. I've seen some reports or similar issues of Linux on laptops.

What I was getting at earlier with the suspend inquiries, is that AC power loss *can* trigger suspend, or lid switch or other messages.

Your laptop was designed with Windows XP in mind, never intended for Linux. So the theory is that Windows XP is handling the AC power loss message sent to OS properly, while Linux is not handling it properly, going into suspend or some other mode. Might be a kernel issue, or could be a power management config, or possibly just not resolved for Linux on your hardware.

Is this your laptop:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/ ... 20/manuals

Probably not related, but I have seen Linux falsely detect a laptop is docked when it isn't. If so this manual item may have bearing:
"If a computer loses AC power while docked to the Dell D/Dock or Dell D/Port, the computer immediately goes into low-performance mode."

But that is just a thought. I have no other solution to offer.

[peterw]

Hi jd7654

Linux should run on the Dell. Below is a review by a guy who was happy with it.

http://blog.geeksinaction.org/2010/11/0 ... tude-d620/

Of course he would have been using an earlier kernel. On some occasions, I have used Fedora because it tends to have the latest drivers that are needed if you have new devices. Perhaps give Fedora a go.

[greengeek]

Hi number77 - try pulling out the ac cord from the laptop then immediately opening a terminal and typing the following:

dmesg

do you get any power related messages?

[peterw]

Hi number77

I have reread all the post quite a few times now and after you have done the stripping and cleaning, etc, if you still have the problem there is still a few things you can do. I have realised that we are not certain whether the laptop is working and just the screen is switched off. Maybe if you used the vga connection to an external display to see if that is the case.

[number77]

Hi Peterw
I have tried the external monitor but there is nothing. It does seem to have hung as nothing has any effect. Cap lock doesnt put on its light. No way to get back control.

[number77]

I did install lubuntu and daphile, same problem.

Is this your laptop:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/ ... 20/manuals

Probably not related, but I have seen Linux falsely detect a laptop is docked when it isn't. If so this manual item may have bearing:
"If a computer loses AC power while docked to the Dell D/Dock or Dell D/Port, the computer immediately goes into low-performance mode."

But that is just a thought. I have no other solution to offer.

Yes thats the one.

[number77]

Hi number77 - try pulling out the ac cord from the laptop then immediately opening a terminal and typing the following:

dmesg

do you get any power related messages?

I havent got time to read it before it hangs.

[peterw]

Hi number77

Another trick that I have successfully used to fix motherboards and other surface mount boards on quite a number of occasions is to re-flow the solder on the board. I have been reluctant to suggest this because it is not for the feint hearted. Some people strip their boards down and put them in a hot oven for 5 mins. I strip the board down, grip the board in a vice and gently go over the board with a paint stripping hot air gun both sides in the same area gradually moving around to do all the board. It takes a bit of practice and good judgement to get this right and better first done on a dead board where you have nothing to loose or on an old board. You can see that the solder has got very hot and looks as if is soft and then move on. After, it is important to not move the board until it is cool and the solder has rehardened. Surface tension keeps the components in place. Hopefully, breaking and making all the connections, reseating cpu, etc, will cure your issue and you will not have to do this. I have given a youtube website where this process is referred to because of display issues on a D620.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1GQWwqPR3U

[cthisbear]

Link fixed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1GQWwqPR3U

Chris.

[peterw]

Thanks Chris
For some reason the ability to make it active has disappeared for me?