Battery Life on Lenovo s20-30

Support & Help Requests
1

Hello!

I wanted to buy a laptop to use Linux exclusively. For that, I spent a couple of weeks researching about a good laptop, hardware compatibility and Linux Distributions. I am not a Linux expert, in fact I barely know a thing about Linux (just what distros are, GUIs, etc). Well, anyway, I came to conclude that the Lenovo s20-30 was a good choice for my needs. A small, affordable and compatible laptop to have Linux on it. I bought it, tested it (it came with Windows 8 pre-installed) and I used it for a couple of days to make sure everything was okay before changing to Linux.
Everything worked just fine, so I figured it was time to install Ubuntu Mate (the distro I carefully selected for the laptop). I installed the distro, everything but the wifi worked out of the box (as I already knew what would happen). I fixed the wifi problem and finally the system was working flawlessly.
However, the battery life is very very bad. On Windows, web browsing + listening music lasted me around 3 hours and a half, almost 4. Unfortunately, on Ubuntu, it is lasting 1 hour and a half, 2 hours top (if I barely touch it).
I did some research and I installed the recommended ‘TLP’, however nothing changed.

Anyway, does anyone know any ways to improve the battery life? Could it be some hardware incompatibility or it is just poor drivers?

Also, sorry for the long post, I just like to explain everything and I don’t like short unfounded posts, specially if you are asking for help!

Thanks in advance,
Xamineh

2

Hi,

there are zillions of tips out there, simply Google it and you will get results like this (great website btw!):

Hope it helps. :smiley:

3

Hi,

Thanks for answering!
I did tried all these options and nothing seemed to make any difference to the battery life significantly. The improved time after the settings was about 5~10 minutes. I still believe it is something driver related.

4

Hi,

if you think it could be a driver problem, try running the following terminal command and restart if anything updates:

sudo apt-get --fix-missing install && sudo apt-get --fix-broken install

The above command downloads and installs any missing packages and installs any broken dependencies on your system.

Hope it helps!. :smiley:

5

Hi,

Thanks for answering. Do you think this command might break my wifi fix? I spent a couple of hours to make it work normally.

6

Did you start the tlp service?

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linrunner/tlp
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tlp tlp-rdw
# here the magic:
sudo tlp start

Also, you can check if it is enabled with:

sudo tlp-stat

Here is the documentation: http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-linux-advanced-power-management.html

7

Yes, I started the TLP service, but I will double check its status as soon as I get home.

8

I really can’t answer that!. It might actually help you as you stated you had problems with WiFi and it may well install missing dependencies that you need, I can’t be sure though!. :frowning:

9

Okay, I checked the TLP status and it was up and running. Then, I tried the command:

Nothing was fixed/installed. It was stated that nothing was wrong with any file.
I guess there is nothing more I can do :frowning:

10

Hi,

Just FYI, I am attaching here the TLP status:

--- TLP 0.8 --------------------------------------------

+++ Configured Settings: /etc/default/tlp
TLP_ENABLE=1
TLP_DEFAULT_MODE=AC
DISK_IDLE_SECS_ON_AC=0
DISK_IDLE_SECS_ON_BAT=2
MAX_LOST_WORK_SECS_ON_AC=15
MAX_LOST_WORK_SECS_ON_BAT=60
SCHED_POWERSAVE_ON_AC=0
SCHED_POWERSAVE_ON_BAT=1
NMI_WATCHDOG=0
ENERGY_PERF_POLICY_ON_AC=performance
ENERGY_PERF_POLICY_ON_BAT=powersave
DISK_DEVICES="sda sdb"
DISK_APM_LEVEL_ON_AC="254 254"
DISK_APM_LEVEL_ON_BAT="128 128"
SATA_LINKPWR_ON_AC=max_performance
SATA_LINKPWR_ON_BAT=min_power
PCIE_ASPM_ON_AC=performance
PCIE_ASPM_ON_BAT=powersave
RADEON_POWER_PROFILE_ON_AC=high
RADEON_POWER_PROFILE_ON_BAT=low
RADEON_DPM_STATE_ON_AC=performance
RADEON_DPM_STATE_ON_BAT=battery
RADEON_DPM_PERF_LEVEL_ON_AC=auto
RADEON_DPM_PERF_LEVEL_ON_BAT=auto
WIFI_PWR_ON_AC=1
WIFI_PWR_ON_BAT=5
WOL_DISABLE=Y
SOUND_POWER_SAVE_ON_AC=0
SOUND_POWER_SAVE_ON_BAT=1
SOUND_POWER_SAVE_CONTROLLER=Y
BAY_POWEROFF_ON_BAT=0
BAY_DEVICE="sr0"
RUNTIME_PM_ON_AC=on
RUNTIME_PM_ON_BAT=auto
RUNTIME_PM_ALL=1
RUNTIME_PM_DRIVER_BLACKLIST="radeon nouveau"
USB_AUTOSUSPEND=1
USB_BLACKLIST_WWAN=1
RESTORE_DEVICE_STATE_ON_STARTUP=0

+++ System Info
System = LENOVO Lenovo S20-30 20421
BIOS = ACCN26WW
Release = Ubuntu 15.10
Kernel = 4.2.0-19-generic #23-Ubuntu SMP Wed Nov 11 11:39:30 UTC 2015 x86_64
/proc/cmdline = BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.2.0-19-generic root=UUID=ed9eaae0-1f49-412b-90d4-1baa353009a7 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
Init system = systemd

+++ System Status
TLP power save = enabled
power source = battery

+++ Processor
CPU Model = Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU N2840 @ 2.16GHz

/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_driver = intel_pstate
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor = powersave
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq = 499800 [kHz]
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq = 2582300 [kHz]

/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_driver = intel_pstate
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_governor = powersave
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq = 499800 [kHz]
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq = 2582300 [kHz]

/sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/min_perf_pct = 19
/sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/max_perf_pct = 100
/sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/no_turbo = 0

x86_energy_perf_policy: program not installed.

/proc/sys/kernel/nmi_watchdog = 0

+++ Undervolting
PHC kernel not available.

+++ Temperatures
CPU temp = 44 [°C]
Fan speed (fan1) = 7 [/min]

+++ File System
/proc/sys/vm/laptop_mode = 2
/proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs = 6000
/proc/sys/vm/dirty_expire_centisecs = 6000
/proc/sys/vm/dirty_ratio = 20
/proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_ratio = 10
/proc/sys/fs/xfs/age_buffer_centisecs = (not available)
/proc/sys/fs/xfs/xfssyncd_centisecs = (not available)
/proc/sys/fs/xfs/xfsbufd_centisecs = (not available)

+++ Storage Devices
/dev/sda:
Model = WDC WD3200LPCX-24C6HT0
Firmware = 02.01A02
APM Level = 128
Status = active/idle
Scheduler = deadline

+++ SATA Aggressive Link Power Management
/sys/class/scsi_host/host0/link_power_management_policy = min_power
/sys/class/scsi_host/host1/link_power_management_policy = min_power

+++ PCIe Active State Power Management
/sys/module/pcie_aspm/parameters/policy = default (using bios preferences)

+++ Intel Graphics
/sys/module/i915/parameters/powersave = (not available)
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_rc6 = 1 (enabled)
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_fbc = -1 (use per-chip default)
/sys/module/i915/parameters/lvds_downclock = 0 (disabled)
/sys/module/i915/parameters/semaphores = -1 (use per-chip default)

+++ Wireless
bluetooth = on
wifi = on
wwan = none (no device)

wlp2s0(wl) : connected, power management = on

+++ Audio
/sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save = 1
/sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save_controller = Y

+++ Runtime Power Management
device classes = all
device blacklist = (not configured)
driver blacklist = radeon nouveau

/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:00.0/power/control = auto (0x060000, Host bridge, iosf_mbi_pci)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:02.0/power/control = auto (0x030000, VGA compatible controller, i915)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:13.0/power/control = auto (0x010601, SATA controller, ahci)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:14.0/power/control = auto (0x0c0330, USB controller, xhci_hcd)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:17.0/power/control = auto (0x080501, SD Host controller, sdhci-pci)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1a.0/power/control = auto (0x108000, Encryption controller, mei_txe)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1b.0/power/control = auto (0x040300, Audio device, snd_hda_intel)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1c.0/power/control = auto (0x060400, PCI bridge, pcieport)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1c.1/power/control = auto (0x060400, PCI bridge, pcieport)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1f.0/power/control = auto (0x060100, ISA bridge, lpc_ich)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1f.3/power/control = auto (0x0c0500, SMBus, no driver)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:01:00.0/power/control = auto (0x020000, Ethernet controller, r8169)
/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:02:00.0/power/control = auto (0x028000, Network controller, wl)

+++ USB
autosuspend = enabled
device whitelist = (not configured)
device blacklist = (not configured)
wwan blacklist = enabled

Bus 002 Device 001 ID 1d6b:0003 control = auto, autosuspend_delay_ms = 0 -- Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub (hub)
Bus 001 Device 005 ID 0bda:0129 control = auto, autosuspend_delay_ms = 2000 -- Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTS5129 Card Reader Controller (rtsx_usb)
Bus 001 Device 004 ID 105b:e065 control = auto, autosuspend_delay_ms = 2000 -- Foxconn International, Inc. BCM43142A0 Bluetooth module (no driver)
Bus 001 Device 003 ID 05e3:0610 control = auto, autosuspend_delay_ms = 0 -- Genesys Logic, Inc. 4-port hub (hub)
Bus 001 Device 002 ID 13d3:5615 control = auto, autosuspend_delay_ms = 2000 -- IMC Networks (uvcvideo)
Bus 001 Device 001 ID 1d6b:0002 control = auto, autosuspend_delay_ms = 0 -- Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub (hub)

+++ Battery Status
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT1/manufacturer = CPT-ES3
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT1/model_name = LNV-L12C3A01
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT1/cycle_count = 16
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT1/energy_full_design = 23760 [mWh]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT1/energy_full = 16430 [mWh]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT1/energy_now = 10380 [mWh]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT1/power_now = 7150 [mW]
/sys/class/power_supply/BAT1/status = Discharging

11

I personally don’t have a clue, maybe someone else can you with that!. :frowning: