After doing some research the problem makes me remind of a previous issue, when the udev had some conflict w optiarc drives, and produced far too many events: https://bugs.launchpad.net/linux/+bug/379780 Actually when the battery is in the netbook, the monitors of upower and udev report a tons of events. Here’s the battery info of my netbook $ cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/* alarm: unsupported present: yes design capacity: 2200 mAh last full capacity: 2167 mAh battery technology: rechargeable design voltage: 11100 mV design capacity warning: 220 mAh design capacity low: 21 mAh cycle count: 0 capacity granularity 1: 0 mAh capacity granularity 2: -1 mAh model number: Battery serial number: 200000 battery type: LION OEM info: Manufacture present: yes capacity state: ok charging state: charged present rate: 0 mA remaining capacity: 2144 mAh present voltage: 12499 mV Here's the output of the upower monitor $ upower --monitor Monitoring activity from the power daemon. Press Ctrl+C to cancel. [08:40:45.158] device changed: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0 [08:40:45.165] device changed: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0 [08:40:45.196] device removed: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0 [08:40:46.224] device added: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0 [08:40:46.235] device changed: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0 [08:40:46.245] device changed: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0 [08:40:46.256] device changed: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0 [08:40:46.257] device changed: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/line_power_AC0 [08:40:47.120] device changed: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0 [08:40:47.286] device changed: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0 [08:40:47.344] device removed: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0 [08:40:48.337] device added: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0 [08:40:48.351] device changed: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0 [08:40:48.362] device changed: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0 [08:40:48.372] device changed: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0 [08:40:48.372] device changed: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/line_power_AC0 ... The output of the udev monitor $ udevadm monitor monitor will print the received events for: UDEV - the event which udev sends out after rule processing KERNEL - the kernel uevent KERNEL[350.765144] change /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:02/PNP0C09:00/PNP0C0A:00/power_supply/BAT0 (power_supply) UDEV [350.768243] change /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:02/PNP0C09:00/PNP0C0A:00/power_supply/BAT0 (power_supply) KERNEL[350.829713] remove /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:02/PNP0C09:00/PNP0C0A:00/power_supply/BAT0 (power_supply) KERNEL[350.829896] add /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:02/PNP0C09:00/PNP0C0A:00/power_supply/BAT0 (power_supply) KERNEL[350.830243] change /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:02/PNP0C09:00/PNP0C0A:00/power_supply/BAT0 (power_supply) UDEV [350.833709] remove /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:02/PNP0C09:00/PNP0C0A:00/power_supply/BAT0 (power_supply) UDEV [350.844231] add /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:02/PNP0C09:00/PNP0C0A:00/power_supply/BAT0 (power_supply) UDEV [350.853118] change /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:02/PNP0C09:00/PNP0C0A:00/power_supply/BAT0 (power_supply) KERNEL[350.871278] change /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/ACPI0003:00/power_supply/AC0 (power_supply) UDEV [350.876821] change /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/ACPI0003:00/power_supply/AC0 (power_supply) KERNEL[352.885204] change /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:02/PNP0C09:00/PNP0C0A:00/power_supply/BAT0 (power_supply) UDEV [352.889076] change /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:02/PNP0C09:00/PNP0C0A:00/power_supply/BAT0 (power_supply) KERNEL[352.967214] remove /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:02/PNP0C09:00/PNP0C0A:00/power_supply/BAT0 (power_supply) KERNEL[352.967453] add /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:02/PNP0C09:00/PNP0C0A:00/power_supply/BAT0 (power_supply) KERNEL[352.967716] change /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:02/PNP0C09:00/PNP0C0A:00/power_supply/BAT0 (power_supply) UDEV [352.970506] remove /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:02/PNP0C09:00/PNP0C0A:00/power_supply/BAT0 (power_supply) UDEV [352.984979] add /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:02/PNP0C09:00/PNP0C0A:00/power_supply/BAT0 (power_supply) UDEV [352.994303] change /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:02/PNP0C09:00/PNP0C0A:00/power_supply/BAT0 (power_supply) KERNEL[353.006645] change /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/ACPI0003:00/power_supply/AC0 (power_supply) UDEV [353.012196] change /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/ACPI0003:00/power_supply/AC0 (power_supply) … As a comparison here’s the battery info of a Dell Inspiron that works well with udev/upower $ cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/* alarm: unsupported present: yes design capacity: 4400 mAh last full capacity: 4609 mAh battery technology: rechargeable design voltage: 11100 mV design capacity warning: 440 mAh design capacity low: 133 mAh cycle count: 0 capacity granularity 1: 44 mAh capacity granularity 2: 44 mAh model number: DELL 8NH5512 serial number: 3491 battery type: LION OEM info: SMP present: yes capacity state: ok charging state: charged present rate: 1 mA remaining capacity: 4609 mAh present voltage: 12449 mV For the first sight the main difference between these batteries is the capacity granularity values; i'd say the values (0 and -1) could cause problems (division by zero, non managed interval...?)