Battery discharges when doing CPU intensive processes

JamesNZ · #1 25th November 2011, 01:19 AM

Hi everyone,
Whenever I do a CPU intensive task like compiling source (or even just watching videos) the laptop battery takes over from the power plug

Today I deleted a few hundred megabytes of data and even though it finished in seconds I got a message saying that the battery is low and that it would shut down soon. Which it did

What can I do?

***Dan*** · #2 25th November 2011, 02:32 AM

Sounds like the power brick isn't providing enough power. And if that's the case, it's probably going south. Could be an intermittent connection to the motherboard where the plug goes in also. First things first, though. Put a meter on the power brick and make sure it's output is nominal to the printed specs. And carefully inspect the junction where the power output wire connects to the plug end.

JamesNZ · #3 27th November 2011, 03:17 AM

Didn't think of that, thanks Dan I'll look into it

elesbb · #4 27th November 2011, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesNZ

Didn't think of that, thanks Dan I'll look into it

I also noticed the connection on the laptop is sometimes really poorly built . my charger for my netbook wouldn't even charge , I took apart the netbook and noticed there was only a thin metal tab that held the plug in place and in return the tab unbent . so that might be something to check make sure the charge. is fully plugged into the laptop

JamesNZ · #5 27th November 2011, 11:42 PM

I'm pretty sure the connection is fine, it charges without a problem. It's just that it will turn itself off when using the CPU heavily even though the battery is full

***Dan*** · #6 27th November 2011, 11:45 PM

Hmmm.

that sounds more like a heat problem than a power problem.

marko · #7 28th November 2011, 12:08 AM

It's possible the battery has just reached a point where it's not chargeable any more due to be being charged and discharged too many times. One symptom of that is when you run the laptop on the brick, then the battery shows as 100%, then if you remove the power cable and run on battery it goes from 100% to really low in a very short time (battery shows no staying power) and makes you shutdown.

JamesNZ · #8 28th November 2011, 12:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan

Hmmm.

that sounds more like a heat problem than a power problem.

Could be. I sent a PM to the author of this post about whether or not it I should run the command he gave to change the power mode. (I'm not too keen on having my processor fried

)

Quote:

Originally Posted by marko

It's possible the battery has just reached a point where it's not chargeable any more due to be being charged and discharged too many times. One symptom of that is when you run the laptop on the brick, then the battery shows as 100%, then if you remove the power cable and run on battery it goes from 100% to really low in a very short time (battery shows no staying power) and makes you shutdown.

I don't think it's that, the battery life is still pretty good. Every time I compile the blender source I disconnect the brick and compile it on the battery and it works fine. If I don't do that then either the laptop will start using the battery and run normally, or the laptop will switch to the battery and a minute later I'll get a message saying the power is low and that it will shut down soon which it does no matter what I do.

Hopefully it's nothing serious....

JamesNZ · #9 30th November 2011, 01:37 AM

Ok tried that command and it worked! Unfortunately gnome also crashed at the same time

I added the line to rc.local which kinda worked, it still switches to battery when compiling but the fan runs a bit slower and it doesn't seem so apt to switch. Still doesn't run as quietly as windows though.

Perhaps I'll just have to wait till ATi F16 drivers come out...