Notebook won't hibernate on low battery

Leye · 2009-11-19 20:25:44

Hi,

laptop-mode is installed on my laptop and I want it to auto-hibernate when the battery power is critically low. In laptop-mode's configuration, I think 4% is the default settings and I haven't changed that. Before that, I wanted it to shut down, but this never worked because when the notebook was preparing to shut down (I think), it cut off because the battery energy was too low (<2%). Even then I thought laptop-mode was configured to shut down on low battery.

This time I switched from shutdown to hibernate, and just a minute ago, the battery ran dry again. On low percentage (1.x%), it seemed like the notebook prepared for hibernating (the screen went black and the hard disk made some noise), but suddenly, the power cut off again.

By the way, I'm really scared whether the hard disk won't take any damage.

I wonder what exactly do I have to do to enable auto-hibernate. Why won't laptop-mode hibernate on 4% battery energy set in the configuration?

Does someone else use this method to rescue the notebook or do you have any other recommendations?

MadTux · 2009-11-19 20:54:45

I guess the problem is that it is difficult to calculate the remaining power at such a low level. If batteries are getting older it gets even more difficult. So my advice is to set a higher level, just to be sure the laptop can make a clean shutdown.
You are right in thinking its dangerous if you accidentially run out of power. Its not so much the hard disk that may get damaged, its more the file system. Additionally, you may loose information if not everything has been written to disk when you loose power.

uwinkelvos · 2009-11-20 04:27:51

1) Hibernate does exactly what you described. Blank screen, save an mem-image to the disk and power off. You need to setup your kernel to look for this mem-image at boot time: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pm-utils
Does hibernate work if you trigger it from command line?

sudo pm-hibernate

2) there ist someting in the laptopmode scripts, called something like hal-power-polling... dont remember exactly. This could be usefull if the scripts are not triggered at all.

Leye · 2009-11-20 09:53:46

sudo pm-suspend

does work, although I noticed that I've forgotten to set Pm-utils up!

In /etc/laptop-mode/conf.d/ I found a file called hal-polling.conf, but this has something to do with CD/DVD mounting, I think.

Perhaps "battery-level-polling.conf" could be responsible, that is "This module allows laptop mode to react to battery level changes, even if the battery does not send out frequent ACPI events for such battery level changes." It is currently set to 0 in the configuration.

What I think is funny is the fact that the notebook tries to suspend, but not before the battery level is ridicously low, instead of trying to auto-suspend at 3%. (Sorry I was mistaken with my mentioned 4% battery level, it's 3% actually.)

However, I checked my laptop-mode.conf again and perhaps I misunderstood something: Where I thought the notebook will auto-suspend at 3% battery level, there is explained:

#
#Disable all data loss sensitive features when the battery level (in % of the battery capacity) reaches this value.
#
MINIMUM_BATTERY_CHARGE_PERCENT=3

Actually, I haven't had any success finding the option to auto-suspend at all.

Oh and by the way, my notebook is quite new, 4-5 months perhaps.

Last edited by Leye (2009-11-20 09:54:47)

ruffedgz · 2009-11-20 21:28:25

I don't know if you looked at this part already (didn't see this on your previous posts) but did you check out the 'Power Managment' application under System?

That will help you set what your computer will do under AC power, Battery power and General Options. Just want to get that of the way so the more advanced solving can continue

Last edited by ruffedgz (2009-11-20 21:29:07)

uwinkelvos · 2009-11-20 22:33:02

Leye, i am pretty sure, there is some autohibernate option. Maybe as "plugin" in conf.d? Did you try pm-hibernate aswell? As pm-suspend is not realy the same

Leye · 2009-11-23 17:15:00

Hello, sorry for the delay--I had some problems with my internet connection over the weekend, so I couldn't be online that much.

@ ruffedgz,
I already set GNOME power management the right way--sorry I really overlooked that in my first post, because I focused on laptop-mode for the problem.

@ uwinkelvos,
There's no configuration file with "plugin" in its name in /etc/laptop-mode/conf.d/, I checked it and ... I must be blind! There is auto-hibernation.conf, and its content seems to be what I was looking for ... I'm really embarrassed if this is the solution--I'll try it the next time.

ruffedgz · 2009-11-23 21:07:05

That is good to know Leye!

Want to see if that does help your situation so don't forget to update us

Leye · 2009-11-29 19:11:35

Alright here's a status update. Today I let notebook's battery run dry again, and sadly, my configuration didn't seem to have an effect. At about 3%, I got a message that the battery level is crticially low, but nothing happened, although I set AUTO_HIBERNATION_BATTERY_CHARGE_PERCENT=2 in /etc/laptop-mode/conf.d/auto-hibernation.conf.

Any ideas what the reasons could be for this behaviour?

tavianator · 2009-11-29 19:53:54

3% is ridiculously low for a laptop battery, to the point where the resolution of the sensors can't distinguish between 3% and dead. At 3%, if anything starts to draw more power than it would at an idle (for example, your hard drive spinning up in order to hibernate), the battery won't be able to provide enough power to reliably run any number of critical components and BOOM! you're dead.

Why not set the threshold to something that gives you more wiggle room, like 10%? Or for testing, set it to something like 50% so you can make sure that it works without wasting too much time discharging your battery.

Leye · 2009-12-01 18:15:54

tavianator, that makes sense! I didn't know that. I'll follow your advice and will post my results, thanks for your reply.

miau · 2009-12-01 20:09:52

Leye wrote:

[
Perhaps "battery-level-polling.conf" could be responsible, that is "This module allows laptop mode to react to battery level changes, even if the battery does not send out frequent ACPI events for such battery level changes." It is currently set to 0 in the configuration.

I had to enable the battery level polling on my laptop to get the auto-hibernation working. Without this enabled i had the sae problems you have. You should give it a try.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-11-19 20:25:44

Notebook won't hibernate on low battery

#2 2009-11-19 20:54:45

Re: Notebook won't hibernate on low battery

#3 2009-11-20 04:27:51

Re: Notebook won't hibernate on low battery

#4 2009-11-20 09:53:46

Re: Notebook won't hibernate on low battery

#5 2009-11-20 21:28:25

Re: Notebook won't hibernate on low battery

#6 2009-11-20 22:33:02

Re: Notebook won't hibernate on low battery

#7 2009-11-23 17:15:00

Re: Notebook won't hibernate on low battery

#8 2009-11-23 21:07:05

Re: Notebook won't hibernate on low battery

#9 2009-11-29 19:11:35

Re: Notebook won't hibernate on low battery

#10 2009-11-29 19:53:54

Re: Notebook won't hibernate on low battery

#11 2009-12-01 18:15:54

Re: Notebook won't hibernate on low battery

#12 2009-12-01 20:09:52

Re: Notebook won't hibernate on low battery

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