Arch Linux

John0000

Member

Registered: 2012-04-12

Posts: 40

[Solved] Internal battery died, can't upgrade

Hello,
My old laptop's internal battery is dead (usually looking like a small circular flat one), and as a result I have multiple errors from pacman (gpg keys) and any https site (invalid certificates...), since everytime I boot the date is set to 2007.
I can't change this battery because despite having completely dismantled it I couldn't find it (model is a packard bell easynote ac200).
Someone I know told me in some laptop this battery is somehow included in the core processor and can't be changed...so I assume this is the case with this model.

I upgrade it only once every few months (my parents are using it) and it doesn't have systemd installed yet, so I can't use the timedatectl wiki.

Is there a workaround to upgrade the system anyway? Maybe even to have the date working correctly again? Or is my laptop, despite working perfectly well, good for trash because of this battery?

Help appreciated!

Last edited by John0000 (2012-12-17 20:04:38)

2ManyDogs

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2012-01-15

Posts: 4,648

Re: [Solved] Internal battery died, can't upgrade

Can you set the system time the "old fashioned way"? Either use the BIOS to set the hardware clock when you boot it, or use the "date" command from a terminal to set the system time once it's running. Then the time should stay right until you reboot, so you should be able to update it. If you have not updated this machine for a few months you are in for a bit of work to bring it to systemd.

Can you leave the laptop plugged into its AC charger when it's not being used? That might be enough for it to retain the time, even without a working battery.

You probably know this, but a machine like this, used by other people and only upgraded every few months, is not the best candidate for an Arch install. You might consider another distro that would be easier to maintain.

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2012-12-17 18:54:09)

chris_l

Member

Registered: 2010-12-01

Posts: 390

Re: [Solved] Internal battery died, can't upgrade

In my experience, to update an arch installation that has not been updated in a long time, is easier to boot using the latest iso, mount the system on /mnt, rename /mnt/lib (for the glibc thing), manully set the time, and

pacman -r /mnt -Syu

Then, fix all the things you will have to fix.

Once you do that,  install the ntpd daemon.

Last edited by chris_l (2012-12-17 19:24:22)

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"open source is about choice"
No.
Open source is about opening the source code complying with this conditions, period. The ability to choose among several packages is just a nice side effect.

John0000

Member

Registered: 2012-04-12

Posts: 40

Re: [Solved] Internal battery died, can't upgrade

Thanks for your replies!

Changing the date in the BIOS worked. I've left it plugged in for a few minutes after shutdown and it kept the date too.