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Thinkpad help - firmware update bricked battery? (feddit.org)
submitted 1 day ago* by to c/linux@programming.dev
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(I hope this fits this community, if not I'd be glad to know where I can post it)

Updated my firmware on my thinkpad t580. This made my external battery (3rd party) jump from 64.8 Wh design capacity to 40.4 Wh design capacity (but the computer doesnt turn off when it is "empty", this is a software bug).

AI's theory: The firmware update made the system stricter towards 3rd party batteries, blocking it and reporting a dummy number. This is plausible because after the firmware update the battery is no longer reporting its mAh (used to display 6000 mAh).

Rolling back to my previous firmware version (which is supported on thinkpads via fwupd downgrade) didn't fix it...

Has anyone experienced something similar? I also tried downgrading my kernel (hoping that an older kernel wouldn't suffer from this for some reason) but it didn't fix it.

Guesses or fix ideas that might break something are also welcome, I'm using NixOS.

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[–] 13 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I would
a) Use the reset button to fully reset the ThinkPad using the Emergency Reset Button - this has solved more than one weird hardware error for me in the past.

b) Let the battery discharge completely, or at least to below 10% and then let it charge overnight to ensure it gets completely topped up.

If neither of those helps I would probably unseat the battery and plug it back in again just to check.

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    • [–] 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

    run tlp recalibrate? Rolling back firmware probably doesn’t help because it might not be reverting the EC firmware, which is used with the battery

    btw battery information is in /sys/class/power_supply/BAT* if you want to check the raw values

    It might also help if you report the BIOS and EC versions you see in the BIOS setup.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 14 hours ago (1 child)

    Thanks, will try that today.

    BIOS: N27ET51W (0.1.37), the one I upgraded to was 0.1.41, then rolled back again.

    EC: N27HT26W (0.1.15), don't know if it rolled back too

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  • [–] 2 points 14 hours ago (1 child)
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  • [–] [S] 1 point 13 hours ago (1 child)

    Thanks, this tells me my EC didn't update which is great. I'll report back what happened after recalibration of the battery, if that doesnt help could it fix it to reinstall BIOS using one of those ISOs?

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    • [–] 6 points 1 day ago (1 child)

    Have you checked if the battery life has actually been reduced? I wouldn't put too much trust in the number reported by the system anyways.

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