[Partly solved] Unusually high battery drain when laptop is shut down

xiliyi · 2017-09-06 14:39:54

Hello forums

I’m running Arch on a Thinkpad X201 with an up-to-date system.
The battery is quite old (from 2010), and the current max charge is about 20 % only, but it has been stable for years.
Now, the Battery discharges when the laptop is powered down: within 24 hours, it is completely drained.
When I remove the battery (when it is maximally charged) and wait, there is no perceivable drain at all: the discharge only happens when the battery is plugged in and the charger is not connected to the laptop. This is why I believe it has to be related to software or hardware (but not the battery).
This first occurred about three weeks ago, though I can’t be sure, because I usually keep the charger plugged in.

Do you have a hint where I should start looking for a solution?
Please let me know if I can provide any other information to find out what causes the battery drain.

Thank you

Note 1: For a long time (years), the startup has taken very long: More than 10 seconds from pressing the power button to BIOS password prompt, even when the battery is fully charged and the charger is connected. Replacing the BIOS battery didn’t resolve this.
Once the BIOS password prompt has appeared, the boot is very fast.
Now, when I remove the battery and put it back in, the bios password appears very quickly, the way it used to be years ago. This is why I believe the slow BIOS startup may be related to the battery issue.

Note 2: A couple of weeks ago, I replaced the thermal paste on the CPU and GPU. This has helped to keep the temperature down a lot: it is now ~45 °C during regular use and rises up to ~60 °C when I compile code. Before, it reached ~100 °C under load. I haven’t seen any negative effects, but could this be related? Maybe some short-circuit around the GPU that results in battery drain?

Note 3: Other people have reported a similar problem which was caused by “wake on LAN”.
(See these threads: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=122760 (2011), https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=180496 (2014), https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=218361 (2016))
On my machine, WoL is disabled in the BIOS and also in TLP, and there is no output upon “ethtool wlp2s0 | grep Wake-on”.

This is the output of

# tlp-stat

--- TLP 1.0 --------------------------------------------

+++ Configured Settings: /etc/default/tlp
TLP_ENABLE=1
TLP_DEFAULT_MODE=AC
TLP_PERSISTENT_DEFAULT=0
DISK_IDLE_SECS_ON_AC=0
DISK_IDLE_SECS_ON_BAT=2
MAX_LOST_WORK_SECS_ON_AC=15
MAX_LOST_WORK_SECS_ON_BAT=60
CPU_HWP_ON_AC=balance_performance
CPU_HWP_ON_BAT=balance_power
CPU_BOOST_ON_AC=1
CPU_BOOST_ON_BAT=1
SCHED_POWERSAVE_ON_AC=0
SCHED_POWERSAVE_ON_BAT=0
NMI_WATCHDOG=0
ENERGY_PERF_POLICY_ON_AC=performance
ENERGY_PERF_POLICY_ON_BAT=powersave
DISK_DEVICES="ata-INTEL_SSDSA2M160G2HP_CVPO9523006V160AGN sdb"
DISK_APM_LEVEL_ON_AC="254 254"
DISK_APM_LEVEL_ON_BAT="128 128"
SATA_LINKPWR_ON_AC=max_performance
SATA_LINKPWR_ON_BAT=min_power
AHCI_RUNTIME_PM_TIMEOUT=15
PCIE_ASPM_ON_AC=performance
PCIE_ASPM_ON_BAT=powersave
WIFI_PWR_ON_AC=off
WIFI_PWR_ON_BAT=off
WOL_DISABLE=Y
SOUND_POWER_SAVE_ON_AC=0
SOUND_POWER_SAVE_ON_BAT=1
SOUND_POWER_SAVE_CONTROLLER=Y
BAY_POWEROFF_ON_AC=0
BAY_POWEROFF_ON_BAT=0
BAY_DEVICE="sr0"
RUNTIME_PM_ON_AC=on
RUNTIME_PM_ON_BAT=auto
USB_AUTOSUSPEND=1
USB_BLACKLIST_BTUSB=0
USB_BLACKLIST_PHONE=0
USB_BLACKLIST_WWAN=1
RESTORE_DEVICE_STATE_ON_STARTUP=0
DEVICES_TO_DISABLE_ON_STARTUP="bluetooth wwan"
ENABLE_ON_STARTUP="wifi"

+++ System Info
System         = LENOVO ThinkPad X201 3323A2G
BIOS           = 6QET70WW (1.40 )
Release        = "Arch Linux"
Kernel         = 4.12.10-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Aug 30 12:18:42 CEST 2017 x86_64
/proc/cmdline  = BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=5f441a4e-e793-4a1d-b4a5-6c953a25491b rw quiet cryptdevice=UUID=ccdf4668-6cb3-48c6-ac3b-d7ac7d1059d0:cryptroot:allow-discards root=/dev/mapper/cryptroot elevator=noop
Init system    = systemd 
Boot mode      = BIOS (CSM, Legacy)

+++ TLP Status
State          = enabled
Last run       = 04:12:11 PM,    248 sec(s) ago
Mode           = AC
Power source   = AC

+++ Processor
CPU model      = Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU       M 620  @ 2.67GHz

/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_driver    = acpi-cpufreq
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor  = schedutil
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors = performance schedutil 
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq  =  1199000 [kHz]
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq  =  2666000 [kHz]
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_frequencies = 2667000 2666000 2533000 2399000 2266000 2133000 1999000 1866000 1733000 1599000 1466000 1333000 1199000 [kHz]

/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_driver    = acpi-cpufreq
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_governor  = schedutil
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors = performance schedutil 
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq  =  1199000 [kHz]
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq  =  2666000 [kHz]
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_available_frequencies = 2667000 2666000 2533000 2399000 2266000 2133000 1999000 1866000 1733000 1599000 1466000 1333000 1199000 [kHz]

/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_driver    = acpi-cpufreq
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_governor  = schedutil
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors = performance schedutil 
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq  =  1199000 [kHz]
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq  =  2666000 [kHz]
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_available_frequencies = 2667000 2666000 2533000 2399000 2266000 2133000 1999000 1866000 1733000 1599000 1466000 1333000 1199000 [kHz]

/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_driver    = acpi-cpufreq
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_governor  = schedutil
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors = performance schedutil 
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq  =  1199000 [kHz]
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq  =  2666000 [kHz]
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_available_frequencies = 2667000 2666000 2533000 2399000 2266000 2133000 1999000 1866000 1733000 1599000 1466000 1333000 1199000 [kHz]

/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/boost                  = 1

x86_energy_perf_policy: unsupported CPU.

/sys/module/workqueue/parameters/power_efficient       = Y
/proc/sys/kernel/nmi_watchdog                          = 0

+++ Undervolting
PHC kernel not available.

+++ Temperatures
/proc/acpi/ibm/thermal = 47 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 [°C]
/proc/acpi/ibm/fan     =  1959 [/min]

+++ File System
/proc/sys/vm/laptop_mode               =     0
/proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs =  1500
/proc/sys/vm/dirty_expire_centisecs    =  1500
/proc/sys/vm/dirty_ratio               =    20
/proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_ratio    =    10

+++ Storage Devices
/dev/sda:
  Disk ID   = ata-INTEL_SSDSA2M160G2HP_CVPO9523006V160AGN
  Model     = INTEL SSDSA2M160G2HP                    
  Firmware  = 2CV102M3
  APM Level = none/disabled
  Status    = active/idle
  TRIM      = supported
  Scheduler = noop

  Runtime PM: control = on, autosuspend_delay =   -1

  SMART info:
      4 Start_Stop_Count          =        0 
      5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct     =        1 
      9 Power_On_Hours            =    15926 [h]
     12 Power_Cycle_Count         =     4704 
    225 Host_Writes_32MiB         =    4.443 [TB]
    232 Available_Reservd_Space   =      100 [%]
    233 Media_Wearout_Indicator   =      100 [%]


+++ SATA Aggressive Link Power Management
/sys/class/scsi_host/host0/link_power_management_policy  = max_performance
/sys/class/scsi_host/host1/link_power_management_policy  = max_performance
/sys/class/scsi_host/host2/link_power_management_policy  = max_performance
/sys/class/scsi_host/host3/link_power_management_policy  = max_performance
/sys/class/scsi_host/host4/link_power_management_policy  = max_performance
/sys/class/scsi_host/host5/link_power_management_policy  = max_performance

+++ AHCI Host Controller Runtime Power Management
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1f.2/ata1/power/control = on
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1f.2/ata2/power/control = on
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1f.2/ata3/power/control = on
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1f.2/ata4/power/control = on
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1f.2/ata5/power/control = on
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1f.2/ata6/power/control = on

+++ Docks and Device Bays
/sys/devices/platform/dock.0: battery_bay   = no battery 
/sys/devices/platform/dock.1: ata_bay       = no drive (or powered off)
/sys/devices/platform/dock.2: dock_station  = undocked

+++ PCIe Active State Power Management
/sys/module/pcie_aspm/parameters/policy = default (using bios preferences)

+++ Intel Graphics
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_rc6       =  0 (disabled)
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_dc        = -1 (use per-chip default)
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_fbc       =  0 (disabled)
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_psr       =  0 (disabled)
/sys/module/i915/parameters/modeset          = -1 (use per-chip default)
/sys/module/i915/parameters/semaphores       =  0 (disabled)

+++ Wireless
bluetooth = none (no device)
wifi      = on
wwan      = none (no device)

wlp2s0(iwlwifi)               : wifi, connected, power management = off

+++ Audio
/sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save            = 0
/sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save_controller = N

+++ Runtime Power Management
Device blacklist = (not configured)
Driver blacklist = amdgpu nouveau nvidia radeon (default)

/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:00.0/power/control = on   (0x060000, Host bridge, no driver)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:02.0/power/control = on   (0x030000, VGA compatible controller, i915)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:16.0/power/control = on   (0x078000, Communication controller, mei_me)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:16.3/power/control = on   (0x070002, Serial controller, serial)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:19.0/power/control = on   (0x020000, Ethernet controller, e1000e)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1a.0/power/control = on   (0x0c0320, USB controller, ehci-pci)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1b.0/power/control = on   (0x040300, Audio device, snd_hda_intel)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1c.0/power/control = on   (0x060400, PCI bridge, pcieport)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1c.3/power/control = on   (0x060400, PCI bridge, pcieport)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1c.4/power/control = on   (0x060400, PCI bridge, pcieport)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1d.0/power/control = on   (0x0c0320, USB controller, ehci-pci)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1e.0/power/control = on   (0x060401, PCI bridge, no driver)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1f.0/power/control = on   (0x060100, ISA bridge, lpc_ich)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1f.2/power/control = on   (0x010601, SATA controller, ahci)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1f.3/power/control = on   (0x0c0500, SMBus, i801_smbus)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1f.6/power/control = on   (0x118000, Signal processing controller, intel ips)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:02:00.0/power/control = on   (0x028000, Network controller, iwlwifi)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:ff:00.0/power/control = on   (0x060000, Host bridge, no driver)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:ff:00.1/power/control = on   (0x060000, Host bridge, no driver)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:ff:02.0/power/control = on   (0x060000, Host bridge, no driver)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:ff:02.1/power/control = on   (0x060000, Host bridge, no driver)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:ff:02.2/power/control = on   (0x060000, Host bridge, no driver)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:ff:02.3/power/control = on   (0x060000, Host bridge, no driver)

+++ USB
Autosuspend         = enabled
Device whitelist    = (not configured)
Device blacklist    = (not configured)
Bluetooth blacklist = disabled
Phone blacklist     = disabled
WWAN blacklist      = enabled

Bus 002 Device 002 ID 8087:0020 control = auto, autosuspend_delay_ms =     0 -- Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub (hub)
Bus 002 Device 001 ID 1d6b:0002 control = auto, autosuspend_delay_ms =     0 -- Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub (hub)
Bus 001 Device 003 ID 17ef:4816 control = auto, autosuspend_delay_ms =  2000 -- Lenovo Integrated Webcam (uvcvideo)
Bus 001 Device 002 ID 8087:0020 control = auto, autosuspend_delay_ms =     0 -- Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub (hub)
Bus 001 Device 001 ID 1d6b:0002 control = auto, autosuspend_delay_ms =     0 -- Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub (hub)

+++ ThinkPad Battery Features
tp-smapi   = inactive (kernel module 'tp_smapi' not installed)
tpacpi-bat = inactive (unsupported hardware)

+++ Battery Status
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/manufacturer                   = SANYO
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/model_name                     = 42T4647
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/cycle_count                    = (not supported)
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_full_design             =   5200 [mAh]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_full                    =   1112 [mAh]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_now                     =   1112 [mAh]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/current_now                    =      0 [mA]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/status                         = Full

Charge                                                      =  100.0 [%]
Capacity                                                    =   21.4 [%]

+++ Suggestions
* Install tp-smapi kernel modules for ThinkPad battery features

Last edited by xiliyi (2017-09-30 16:54:07)

brainfucksec · 2017-09-08 11:52:36

1 - The best solution is: buy a new battery, 7 years is a really long time, the battery is dead.

2 - How much paste you used? If it is too much, you get the opposite effect, isn't related to battery problem.

Last edited by brainfucksec (2017-09-10 10:56:48)

ewaller · 2017-09-08 15:33:41

The heat sink compound is unrelated. It looks like you did a good job on that one, BTW.

I agree the battery has served you well and is done. A couple things. Define "Powered down". I ask because WoL would imply the system is sleeping, not powered down. If it is truly powered down WoL is irrelevant. If it is sleeping, that is a whole different kettle of fish. A system that is sleeping has to wake up about 20 times a second to refresh the RAM, then go back to sleep. This still results in a power draw from the battery of a couple Watts.

xiliyi · 2017-09-10 19:07:16

Hi brainfucksec and ewaller:

thanks for your replies. Yes, the renewal of the thermal compound really helped a lot to keep the temperature down. The laptop even shut itself down from time to time (when I repeatedly compiled a latex document, for example). This is not an issue anymore.

I bought a new battery. This solved the issue described in note 1!

By powered down, I meant shut down (as in “shutdown -h now”).

Concerning the main problem: I’ll have to see if it persists. I’ll report back.

xiliyi · 2017-09-15 05:39:19

After getting a new battery, there is still battery drain when the laptop is shut down, but it is negligible. In 12 hours, it drops about 1 %.
Is this normal? In that case, I’d mark the topic solved.

Last edited by xiliyi (2017-09-15 05:39:52)

ninian · 2017-09-15 07:29:22

xiliyi wrote:

After getting a new battery, there is still battery drain when the laptop is shut down, but it is negligible. In 12 hours, it drops about 1 %.
Is this normal? In that case, I’d mark the topic solved.

I have a couple of Toshiba NB500 netbooks which, regardless of the state of the batteries - brand new or otherwise, ALWAYS drain the battery by a few percent every day when the computers are fully powered off. Tried changing BIOS settings (eg wake from LAN, etc), firmware upgrades, all to no avail. Searching proved that this is a 'feature' of various laptops, Toshiba and Sony being maybe the most commonly mentioned offenders. My Asus netbooks NEVER drain the batteries like this, regardless of battery quality.

But I would check your BIOS settings just in case there's something trying to wake up the laptop every so often, hence draining power, albeit a little.
(Of course, you are following the recommended charging procedure for new batteries? 3-4 cycles of full charge/discharge before normal usage, trying then to avoid deep discharges, and ideally not below about 40%)

V1del · 2017-09-15 08:20:23

1% really also could just be the power needed to power up the system. Unless you are taking this reading from somewhere external I'd say that's a safe bet to go by.

TheSgtBilko · 2017-09-15 16:25:38

ninian wrote:

(Of course, you are following the recommended charging procedure for new batteries? 3-4 cycles of full charge/discharge before normal usage, trying then to avoid deep discharges, and ideally not below about 40%)

Source?

ninian · 2017-09-15 16:50:18

TheSgtBilko wrote:

ninian wrote:
(Of course, you are following the recommended charging procedure for new batteries? 3-4 cycles of full charge/discharge before normal usage, trying then to avoid deep discharges, and ideally not below about 40%)
Source?

2-Power laptop battery instructions

xiliyi · 2017-09-27 09:02:03

This issue is not solved.
As I mentioned, I bought a new battery. By now, I have observed the issue for some time. First of all, TLP currently shows the following info related to the battery:

$ sudo tlp-stat -b
--- TLP 1.0 --------------------------------------------

+++ ThinkPad Battery Features
tp-smapi   = active
tpacpi-bat = inactive (unsupported hardware)

+++ ThinkPad Battery Status: BAT0 (Main / Internal)
/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/manufacturer               = SONY
/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/model                      = 93P5030
/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/manufacture_date           = 2017-03-17
/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/first_use_date             = 2017-03-14
/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/cycle_count                =      1
/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/temperature                =     34 [°C]
/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/design_capacity            =  71280 [mWh]
/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/last_full_capacity         =  72290 [mWh]
/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/remaining_capacity         =  54220 [mWh]
/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/remaining_percent          =     75 [%]
/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/remaining_running_time_now = not_discharging [min]
/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/remaining_charging_time    = not_charging [min]
/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/power_now                  =      0 [mW]
/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/power_avg                  =      0 [mW]
/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/state                      = idle

/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/start_charge_thresh        =     70 [%]
/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/stop_charge_thresh         =     75 [%]
/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/force_discharge            =      0

Charge                                                      =   75.0 [%]
Capacity                                                    =  101.4 [%]

Procedure:
I shut the laptop down and remove the cable, but leave the battery inside.
At that time, TLP shows that the battery is fully charged (with thresholds) at 76 % and 54220 mWh.
I leave the laptop powered off for 16 hours. Powering it on after 16 hours, the battery is at 65 % (remaining capacity is 46720 mWh).
This makes for a difference (=drain) of about 7500 mWh, or about 470 mWh per hour. This is about 11 % of its full capacity, and with over 70000 mWh, it’s not a small battery.

When I remove the battery during the shut down period, there is no (relevant) drain.

The old battery (which after many years of daily usage only has a capacity of about 8000 mWh) is completely drained after being shut down for a full day. But this drainage only started a little while back (okay, months now, but still), and does not depend on which battery I use.

edit for clarifying the question:
Since this happens when the laptop is shut down, am I right in thinking that the issue is not related directly to Archlinux?
If this is true, it is probably related to hardware. What hardware is known to or could cause the drain? Could it be related to the age of the laptop (it is from 2010)?

Last edited by xiliyi (2017-09-28 07:15:55)

xiliyi · 2017-09-30 16:53:09

Hi Forums.

I have tried two other things:
First, I thought it could be related to Intel AMT, so I disabled it in the BIOS. That didn’t solve the problem.

Second, I shut the laptop down when it was charged, then removed the battery for a moment and put it back in, and then waited a day. And behold: there is no battery drain!

What could be the reason for this?

Arch Linux

#1 2017-09-06 14:39:54

[Partly solved] Unusually high battery drain when laptop is shut down

#2 2017-09-08 11:52:36

Re: [Partly solved] Unusually high battery drain when laptop is shut down

#3 2017-09-08 15:33:41

Re: [Partly solved] Unusually high battery drain when laptop is shut down

#4 2017-09-10 19:07:16

Re: [Partly solved] Unusually high battery drain when laptop is shut down

#5 2017-09-15 05:39:19

Re: [Partly solved] Unusually high battery drain when laptop is shut down

#6 2017-09-15 07:29:22

Re: [Partly solved] Unusually high battery drain when laptop is shut down

#7 2017-09-15 08:20:23

Re: [Partly solved] Unusually high battery drain when laptop is shut down

#8 2017-09-15 16:25:38

Re: [Partly solved] Unusually high battery drain when laptop is shut down

#9 2017-09-15 16:50:18

Re: [Partly solved] Unusually high battery drain when laptop is shut down

#10 2017-09-27 09:02:03

Re: [Partly solved] Unusually high battery drain when laptop is shut down

#11 2017-09-30 16:53:09

Re: [Partly solved] Unusually high battery drain when laptop is shut down

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