Ubuntu
gnome-power-manager package

'do nothing' option for critical battery removed - prevents battery calibration

Bug #678265 reported by notoriousdbp
36
This bug affects 7 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
gnome-power-manager (Ubuntu)
Confirmed
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: gnome-power-manager

The option to 'do nothing' when the battery reaches critical level has been removed. This means I am unable in Ubuntu to run my battery down to 0% to recalibrate it. This was introduced in version 10.04 which means I haven't been able to re-calibrate my battery in months and it's starting to suffer as a result with the capacity constantly reducing.

Please can you re-instate the option so I can properly re-calibrate my battery once again.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
Package: gnome-power-manager 2.32.0-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-22.35-generic 2.6.35.4
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-22-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Nov 21 19:40:33 2010
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/gnome-power-manager
GnomeSessionIdleInhibited: No
GnomeSessionInhibitors: None
GnomeSessionSuspendInhibited: No
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100429)
MachineType: Acer Aspire 5535
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=0ad95af5-d131-426f-876a-6a9924ac89d3 ro quiet splash nomodeset video=uvesafb:mode_option=1024x768-24,mtrr=3,scroll=ywrap
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_GB.utf8
SourcePackage: gnome-power-manager
dmi.bios.date: 11/04/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies LTD
dmi.bios.version: V1.04
dmi.board.name: Aspire 5535
dmi.board.vendor: Acer
dmi.board.version: Rev
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Acer
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologiesLTD:bvrV1.04:bd11/04/2008:svnAcer:pnAspire5535:pvr0100:rvnAcer:rnAspire5535:rvrRev:cvnAcer:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: Aspire 5535
dmi.product.version: 0100
dmi.sys.vendor: Acer

Revision history for this message
notoriousdbp (david-baird-parker) wrote :
Revision history for this message
flipefr (flipefr) wrote :

Of course it dissapeared, i think it should be a good idea to restore that option, if i am sincerely i have never recalibrated my battery, but i think this is not a bug.
   Anyway thank you for taking the time to make Ubuntu better. You are invited to post your idea in Ubuntu Brainstorm at http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/ where it can be discussed, voted by the community and reviewed by developers. Thanks for taking the time to share your opinion!

Changed in gnome-power-manager (Ubuntu):
status: New → Opinion
Revision history for this message
jimmy the saint (lowid95) wrote :

With all due respect flipefr, the fact that you haven't needed to do something by no means that others do not.

Personally, I have never been in a car accident of the type that I can say a seatbelt saved my life. If someone pointed out that a car had no seatbelts, I wouldn't blow them off as you did the bug reporter.

The absence of a previously available feature, which had a definite use, is certainly a reportable bug on Launchpad. You brainstorm NEW ideas. You report broken or inappropriately unavailable features.

Whether this is a bug, a mistake or a really misguided decision, it has been reported and should be respected.

This affects me as well. Perhaps you will next suggest that I get an ARCH live-cd to accomplish what was easily done in Ubuntu last year?

Changed in gnome-power-manager (Ubuntu):
status: Opinion → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Security XIII (securityxiii) wrote :

I would also like to get the option to ignore the charging state since my battery on Packard Bell DOT S2/RU is sometimes shows weird time and I want to re-calibrate. Have to enter BIOS to discharge the battery at the moment, but it takes way too much time.

Revision history for this message
Tuomo Kohvakka (tuomo-kohvakka) wrote :

Yep, this is more like a regression bug than anything else. I can see that the choice has been made to protect stupid user from losing data, but this isn't how it should have been done. Add a warning dialog or something if you need to, but please let user decide on this.

It's really annoying to have a brick on your lap while knowing that there's actually 4 hours juice left on battery, it's just the $0.01 dumb chip on a two year old battery that says it's critical. Regular user shouldn't need to go to gconf-editor to work around this.

Calibrating doesn't seem to be long term solution either for some batteries, and there's no easy fix for that.

A workaround (at least on 10.04):

Using gconf-editor, change /apps/gnome-power-manager/actions/critical_battery to "nothing". Power manager GUI does recognize this, too, unless you change it back.

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