Librem, Battery problems, OS in use

A lot of folks have written about Librem 14 and battery issues.

How many of those “problem” Librem 14s are using Pure OS ? Only?
How many are using Qubes?
Or something else?

I do not own a Librem 14 but I have a Librem 13 that has had some battery issues. and

I read on the Qubes forum that Xen has issues with nuances of battery charging, and requires a file to be put inside dom0. Maybe that is now included in the last weeks Qubes download.

I dunno.

Seems the problem would be more easily fixed if all the needed for battery charging was in BIOS/EFI or as we say PureBoot or CoreBoot.

Well, there must some information in the battery for me to know its condition.

I RMAed my L14 three times. I’m a Qubes user.

sudo tlp-stat --battery (https://linrunner.de/tlp/usage/tlp-stat.html)

Check if useful: https://github.com/Slimbook-Team/slimbookbattery/releases and:
apt list gir1.2-ayatanaappindicator3-0.1 libnotify-bin
sudo apt install gir1.2-ayatanaappindicator3-0.1 libnotify-bin
sudo dpkg --install slimbookbattery_4.0.8beta_all.deb
slimbookbattery

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Obviously I suspected that battery charge problems might be about which Operating System is in use. The Operating System having directives about when to charge, when to stop charging (as in battery saving).

Also possible when the system polls when to start charging. Like what happens when the system has gotten into sleep mode.

I suspect charging would be delayed if it detects the battery or computer is too hot.

More complicated when using battery saving decisions with a battery, like mine, which is old, and does not get much above 80 percent.

Some symptoms in other manufactured items that do odd things in hesitating in charging battery.

Months ago I bought a refurbished iPhone 11, to use with an Apple Watch. I am older , and needed an “I have fallen and can’t get up, call for help.” It came with a flash to USB B cable and a charger, both looking like Apple parts.

I ended up buying the latest iWatch 8 with GPS, It’s own phone line. Because the used ones were not that much less expensive. The iWatch 8 came with an Apple Charger that is USB C, and the charger cable, magnetic, that goes to watch.

Cell company offered an iPhone 14 Plus for five dollars a month. Came with cable of USB C to flash.

What is all that detail about. Well, different combinations of chargers and cause the iPhone to stop charging. Since Apple says, “it just works,” I found the events interesting.

While using the iPhone 11 charger (which is likely not original an Apple one) I am guessing it uses less power. The overnight charge will give a message of, will finish charging by . . .

Last night, on Apple 14 Plus, as happens said it would finish charging by 5 AM. Not charging at all after five AM. I know all I have to do to start it charging again is to unplug that flash connector and put it back in.

I am guessing, the Apple 14 polls to decide, if it can charge. I know it is not because the room or battery is too hot.

Guessing the Apple iWatch charger is a higher power charger, but it still delays at 80 percent.

Guessing all these decisions to charge, stop charging, when to re-start are related to battery being hot, or battery saving.

I have had to shut down and restart the iPhone 14 to get it to sort out, if it is time to charge.

As I said somewhere on this forum I wrote about having two Dell laptops, which had external batteries. Exactly alike, bought as a door buster deal.

I went ahead an registered Windows 10 on both of them, not that I wanted it, but it might be part of a re sale of one of them. I put one back in shipping box, else I would find a way to stumble and break it.

Windows 10 has this thing of starting up in the middle of the dark, and looking to find a WiFi connection to update itself. I did not know that. I do not have at home internet.

When I took the one out of the box. No Boot. No Lights. Whether it was plugged into mains or not. Left it plugged in for more than a day. Never got warm. Never charged. Put in the battery from the one I had been using, and kept charged, and everything functioned correctly.

Bought a new battery. Had two working laptops. Everything fine. (except my bank account) This expresses my thought that a computer not showing any lights with Power Adapter plugged in might only have a battery problem.

Other oddities I have seen. I bought an older Chromebook, intending to convert it to Linux. I got it to install Linux to the small SSD in it. I could boot different USB flash drives with other Linux OS’s.

Then an upgrade to the Boot stuff. It would not start Linux any more. Suggestions on the Internet was that the SSD had a threshold, voltage or something that related to the age of the SSD. SSD being soldered in. It would still run an older version of Chrome (insecure as it could not be updated) At the beginning of the Covid, I gave it to a minister for someone who was desperate for a stay at home child.

As mine is a Librem 13 V2, which has a used battery. I can guess that it gets above 80 of original battery level. Then 80 percent of that is where the charge would stop. Perhaps it would be more cooperative if I took out one of the drives. Changed RAM from 32 Gb to 16 Gb. I dunno.

I repeat this information, to put everything in one place. I saw a note that Xen does not always do commands for battery charging very well. Qubes Forum said a file should be in dom0 with battery directives. I do not know whether that knowledge still applies, or whether it relates to Librem laptops.

Purism has my Librem 13 V2 laptop for repair. I actually will have to borrow money to pay if they can repair it. I advised them to put mine at the back of the repair list, and I am waiting on a estimate before telling them to proceed. but I am not in a hurry. Anyway, that is my interest in these battery issues.

If I had the money to spare (and those of us on Social Security never do) I would buy a Librem 14.

I have never asked the repair guys at Purism, if they have a separate battery charger to charge up their batteries to better than surface charge, before shipping.

For comparison, be nice to know if the Librem 14’s that fail, have what kinds of internal hardware. Total RAM, Which Drives. Which OS. Does the Pure Boot / CoreBoot have a means to record what has happened in terms of using / charging battery. Maybe which point the charge does not work. Well, as I think of it, making CoreBoot, PureBoot more complicated only uses up more battery.

I always end up the same. I dunno.

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