Suspicious battery usage

Nubsy · 2011-01-17 03:35:02

Hello all,

I'm running Arch (kernel 2.6.36) on a thinpad T510. The laptop is school issued, given to us at the end of this past august. I installed Arch a few months ago, and more than ever, the battery life per charge is suspicious. For example, just tonight, it has been plugged into the charger for a few hours while I was sitting on the couch. I unplugged it and it reports 62% (the gnome battery meter and acpi). An other example is I let the comp charge overnight, get up in the morning, use it for less than an hour before work, I get to work, and the battery is already about 20%. The computer suspends when I close the lid, I ran powertop and there's nothing really surprising except for 'PS/2 keyboard/mouse/touchpad interrupt' which I have read is a bug but I don't has any fix.

I'm really at a loss as to what the issue could be. I need this to survive more than a short while because this upcoming semester, I have a big block of classes without a break and I'm not sure what the charging opportunities will be.

Again,
Thinkpad T510
Intel i5 vPro
Arch kernel 2.6.36
Gnome desktop environment

If you need any more info, I'd be more than happy to supply it.

Thank you for any help you can offer.

Last edited by Nubsy (2011-01-17 03:57:20)

ngoonee · 2011-01-17 03:52:40

Please post different issues as separate threads.

For battery life, unless Windows gives you significantly longer battery life the problem is most likely to be hardware related. Laptop batteries don't really last very long, less so a 're-used' school-issued laptop.

Nubsy · 2011-01-17 03:56:54

I apologize about the multiple issues, I will edit that post and remove the second part.

The laptop is brand new, not refurbished. It came with Windows 7 preinstalled and I currently have it dual-booted. I haven't used windows in a while, but I do remember the battery lasted significantly longer.

_abraxas · 2011-01-20 00:13:34

this is very common. linux is not yet designed ootb for saving power. have a look at http://code.google.com/p/kernel-netbook/ and http://www.lesswatts.org/

skunktrader · 2011-01-20 00:29:08

_abraxas wrote:

this is very common. linux is not yet designed ootb for saving power. have a look at http://code.google.com/p/kernel-netbook/ and http://www.lesswatts.org/

I beg to differ. After some work, my eee pc 1001p running arch has about 75 minutes longer battery life before needing a recharge than it had running the factory windows 7 install.

_abraxas · 2011-01-20 08:48:23

skunktrader wrote:

I beg to differ. After some work

that's what i mean. it's not yet designed -out of the box- for saving power

KushedVapors · 2011-01-21 19:15:40

skunktrader wrote:

_abraxas wrote:
this is very common. linux is not yet designed ootb for saving power. have a look at http://code.google.com/p/kernel-netbook/ and http://www.lesswatts.org/
I beg to differ. After some work, my eee pc 1001p running arch has about 75 minutes longer battery life before needing a recharge than it had running the factory windows 7 install.

Can you at least list the changes you did to your laptop to see if we could use them?

skunktrader · 2011-01-21 19:54:03

In no particular order
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Cpufreq
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop_mode
http://www.archlinux.org/packages/commu … /powertop/
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pm-utils
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=23318

Arch Linux

#1 2011-01-17 03:35:02

Suspicious battery usage

#2 2011-01-17 03:52:40

Re: Suspicious battery usage

#3 2011-01-17 03:56:54

Re: Suspicious battery usage

#4 2011-01-20 00:13:34

Re: Suspicious battery usage

#5 2011-01-20 00:29:08

Re: Suspicious battery usage

#6 2011-01-20 08:48:23

Re: Suspicious battery usage

#7 2011-01-21 19:15:40

Re: Suspicious battery usage

#8 2011-01-21 19:54:03

Re: Suspicious battery usage

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