[MyL5] New L5 Evergreen - Problems Charging & Over

Hardware Librem 5
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Received my L5 Evergreen on 5/18 (2 days ago).

I was ecstatic - I have been waiting a long time - longer than some you might say, as I supported the project and pre-ordered in Sept. of 2017.

I have followed the quick start guide to the letter, and I am not having a good experience with this device.

I cannot get it to charge past 60%, and it gets hot when I try to leave it charging to get past 65%.
The battery died completely on the first overnight, even after several hours of charging on the first day. Further, the first charge was only 1 hour, as per the quick start guide - then I powered on for the first time.

This does not seem to be a common experience with other L5 Evergreen devices from what I have read on the forums here - although these types of issues seemed more common with earlier versions previous to Evergreen.

I have contacted Joao about this to see if Purism will send me a replacement and pay for return shipping of my current device, as in it’s current state this L5 is completely unusable.

One other thing I forgot to mention, during the first few minutes after powering on for the first time, I saw a message briefly that it wanted to install an update - which disappeared before I could get a good look at it. So, shortly after I tried to check for and install updates, but I get errors saying that the updates are “not available yet” - my WiFi is configured and working - so I am wondering if there might be updates that resolve the battery charging and perhaps overheating issues?

Also, does the L5 have a mechanism that shuts the device down if it is overheating? I am wondering if that is why I can’t keep it running after it has been charging for a while.

I am 100% committed to Purism and the L5 - as I value what the L5 provides, and I understand it has been a difficult product to create and launch. If this device were anything other than a Librem, I might just abandon the product/company and just return it for a refund and move on.

For the L5 - I am determined to work with Purism and the community to acquire and use the L5.

I want nothing more than to be a happy L5 user and Purism customer (PS: I have a Librem Mini V2 that is working very well and I am super happy with).

I hope to join the rest of you happy L5 owners who are forging the way to changing the world of mobile computing.

If anyone has any suggestions or can point the way - I am very interested to try anything and do whatever it takes.

-qx

Update:

My L5 has been unplugged for about an hour, seems cool now - and it starts and seems to work as expected.

Settings | Power shows the battery at 59% and I have plugged the charger back in.

LED shows red for charging.

Wondering what to try next.

-qx

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Are you also unable to install updates through the terminal?

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That thought hit me just after I posted…so far first try failed, I am getting something like: E: jaml5 not found or unknown host - ('jaml5 is what I set my hostname to, which I saw in settings and/or during the setup wizard - can’t remember).

I will follow up in a little while with exact error.

Thanks @Jt0

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First the Librem 5 still under heavy development by Purism.
I think Librem 5 has enabled emergency shutdown on overheating by Kernel.(but be alert)
Make sure config the correct time and date on L5.
Go to PureOS store and update your L5, some time need press many time the button till get reboot to update.
Make sure that L5 has last firmware for charging, if not flashing…
Use it your L5 and charge(L5 charger | PD) the battery many time until show 100% bat on Shell when charging on some moment.

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My order date was 23rd October 2017 and I’m listening it over and over and over and over and over for 4.5+ years. Not sure how much long will it be still under “heavy development”?

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There are some more troubleshooting steps in this thread too: Librem 5 doesn’t charge past 33%

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You say your WiFi is working… Have you confirmed that you’re able to browse the internet? If not, check the time, date, AND time zone to make sure they match your router.

There have been some updates that corrected the battery reading accuracy, and also ensured that the % indicator in the notifications area actually matches the % reading in the power settings. Once you’re able to get the waiting updates, that should fix itself.

You can also connect your L5 to your computer and use a shared ethernet connection to access the internet.

I wouldn’t worry about the heat. The L5 gets fairly warm during charging - warmer than you’re used to with other “less-smartphones.” The edges will get warm because the heat is directed to them. It shouldn’t catch fire. You’re using the included charger, right? Not some other brand?

The duration of use will vary based on how many functions you have running, e.g. cellular modem, WiFi, Bluetooth, constant web browsing, and so on. The L5 doesn’t have suspend capability yet, because Purism is concentrating on extending the usable active time first. I generally turn off the things I don’t need to have running. In one test I did, I achieved about 14 hours before total drain by turning off all 3 kill-switches and not using the phone…although that’s not a reasonable usage scenario. Normally I expect to get 5 or 6 hours of active time, given that I don’t like to drain the battery completely before recharging.

If your battery does drain to zero and the phone is unresponsive, try removing the battery, then putting it back in. Connect it to an electric outlet and it should be responsive again after it builds up a little juice.

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Anything “Linux” will always be “under heavy development.” (It’s a good thing.) :slightly_smiling_face:

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“Alpha phase of development” is a more proper description. “Under heavy development” can complement that, but that “heavy” is subjective. However, you can’t find that status from the product webpages of Librem 5…

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So is “proper.”

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I have an idea.

If you put it in a heat proof colander and cover with a saucer so it doesn’t catch any drip. Then string the charging wire past the rubber seal, can you use it to defrost the freezer section of your fridge?

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Preferably forever.
Linux kernel is under heavy development for over 20 years.
Basicly everything in electronics/IT is under heavy development or dead.

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Here are my thoughts, when Purism announced a Pure-Linux phone back in 2017, this got privacy-focused and Linux-lovers excited. Then Purism, for whatever reason, kept missing on dates. The initial enthusiasm died. Moreover as mentioned it is still under “heavy” development. So, all in all, the boat has sailed away. Backers who enthusiastically supported at first place are no longer interested.

Agreed, it is not Purism’s faults that initial iterations of CPU had issues, the pandemic happened, Chip shortage etc. But looks like people who receive the phone are no longer interested in a phone that is under “heavy” development.

However there are quite a few, @amarok who are really killing it. And then there are quite a lot like me who are eagerly and anxiously waiting for it to arrive. This is Christmas after Christmas, not sure when will that Christmas come … :thinking:

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How do you figure?

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There are a lot of “Librem 5 for Sale” requests here as well as on eBay.

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Not sure how this thread turned into a debate, but hey who am I to say :slight_smile:

Thanks to all of you, I am back on track with my new L5 - charging and overheating resolved.

Here is a quick bullet list of what my actual issue was, and what I did to get the L5 to behaving per my expectations (which is not “like an iPhone” my expectations are “as good as anyone else who’s happy with their Evergreen L5 :slight_smile:

  • Root Cause: L5 PureOS/linux not up-to-date - still had flawed firmware etc. re: battery charging.
  • Why? My WiFi signal was too weak.
  • Why? My WiFi in my house is challenged - and perhaps combined with L5 WiFi capability.

Steps I took to resolve:

  • Posted to this forum, on a new thread, read most of the responses.
  • Took a step back and started again with the basics.
  • Moved phone to a place where WiFi signal was stronger.
  • Used terminal to ping some other boxen to validate WiFi now working.
  • Opened PureOS Store app, selected updates.
  • Clicked on “Download” button - which no longer showed errors.
  • Clicked on “Update and Reset” button did not see much feedback.
  • I went to the top notification bar, clicked on the Power|Reset menu option (forgot that was there).
  • Opened the PureOS Store again, and it seemed that the update had been installed, and was met with another update.
  • Repeated about 3 or 4 times and this seemed like it might be doing 1 package at a time.
  • Changed to terminal, ran: “sudo apt update” and then “sudo apt upgrade” and then reset.
  • Repeated the above 1 more time to make sure all packages were acquired and installed.
  • Opened PureOS Store app | Updates and observed PureOS was “up to date”.
  • Opened Settings | Power - noted that battery indicator showed 100% charged.
  • Observed that battery is no longer hotter than I expected.

Result:

  • Phone is charging again, and soon reached 100%.
  • Phone is not shutting down unexpectedly.
  • Phone seems appropriately warm and no longer seems to be overheating (like too hot to touch).
  • My satisfaction is back to 100% with my new L5.

A few comments:

I never expected to move fast with the L5, I knew that the L5 is “evergreen” version, and that Purism’s process is to put this revolutionary hardware and software into the hands of real customers as early as possible.

I know that I am not (yet) a gnu/linux expert - so I knew I would be learning as I go.

In hindsight, I was way too excited about receiving my L5 and jumped way to quickly from the excitement of first charging for 1hour, then turning it on - to - this is defective, I have been mislead - I want my money back.

Thanks to the community here, I was able to calm down, ask for help, follow the guidance and get back on track.

I hope to become as experienced and helpful to others as all of you have been for me.

-qx

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Buzz, I hope yous arrives soon.

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I’ll veer off topic too. Couldn’t resist. One of the L5s on ebay sold for $1727 and the one I seen a minute ago the current bid is $929 ! Sounds like an investment? Sorta. I only paid $599 and I hope I can wait till mine arrives and not go hog wild and buy an investment model on ebay. A rather enjoyable time period this has been.
I have too much time invested to even think about quitting this quest.

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Glad to hear you’re back on track! About updating in the store, the final button requires a double-tap at the moment. For the WiFi, you might experiment with setting different bands for either your 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz networks in your router settings. I think someone previously posted about that. I use “Auto” in my router settings and haven’t had any issues.

Keep posting about your experiences. We all find it helpful.

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Run a sudo apt full-upgrade just to be sure.

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