R51 will run from battery for memtest, but not Windows/Linux

[danohuiginn]

I have a Thinkpad R51 1830, which is having an annoying issue with power. It is shutting when ac power is removed, even though the battery is charged.

This happens both in Windows and Ubuntu -- when I remove the power cord, the system will suddenly turn off after 1-5 seconds. that's totally losing power, not going through any OS shutdown process. However:

- memtest will run on battery power
- If I leave the power cord plugged in, but force the system to run from battery power*, it will happily run from the battery for upwards of 2 hours

I've tried changing every power-management setting I've found, underclocking the CPU, etc.

This happens with 2 different batteries.

I'm wondering if there's any way to work around this. e.g.
a) adding an ultrabay battery
b) changing some setting so that the machine will keep running even when it believes it has no power

Has anybody experienced anything similar?

* I do this on linux using tp_smapi
# modprobe tp_smapi
# echo 1 > /sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/force_discharge

Below is battery info taken from /sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/, while running on AC

--------------------
.
-------------------
--------------------
./start_charge_thresh
-------------------
96
--------------------
./stop_charge_thresh
-------------------
--------------------
./inhibit_charge_minutes
-------------------
0
--------------------
./force_discharge
-------------------
0
--------------------
./installed
-------------------
1
--------------------
./state
-------------------
charging
--------------------
./manufacturer
-------------------
BATSZ
--------------------
./model
-------------------
IBM-COMPATIBLE
--------------------
./barcoding
-------------------
1Z10D02109U
--------------------
./chemistry
-------------------
LION
--------------------
./voltage
-------------------
11852
--------------------
./group0_voltage
-------------------
3956
--------------------
./group1_voltage
-------------------
3927
--------------------
./group2_voltage
-------------------
3969
--------------------
./group3_voltage
-------------------
0
--------------------
./current_now
-------------------
2584
--------------------
./current_avg
-------------------
2584
--------------------
./charging_max_current
-------------------
3000
--------------------
./power_now
-------------------
30625
--------------------
./power_avg
-------------------
30625
--------------------
./remaining_percent
-------------------
46
--------------------
./remaining_percent_error
-------------------
2
--------------------
./remaining_charging_time
-------------------
77
--------------------
./remaining_running_time
-------------------
not_discharging
--------------------
./remaining_running_time_now
-------------------
not_discharging
--------------------
./remaining_capacity
-------------------
30720
--------------------
./last_full_capacity
-------------------
67570
--------------------
./design_voltage
-------------------
11100
--------------------
./charging_max_voltage
-------------------
0
--------------------
./design_capacity
-------------------
73260
--------------------
./cycle_count
-------------------
3
--------------------
./temperature
-------------------
32900
--------------------
./serial
-------------------
4743
--------------------
./manufacture_date
-------------------
2010-10-26
--------------------
./first_use_date
-------------------
2010-08-27
--------------------
./dump
-------------------
c0 80 01 00 80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
c0 e0 00 80 f4 0b 4c 2e 18 0a 18 0a 2e 00 00 0c
c0 e0 65 1a ff ff ff ff 4d 00 80 00 03 00 -- 00
c0 e0 9e 1c 5c 2b 31 00 5a 3d 87 12 -- -- -- 00
c0 e0 42 41 54 53 5a 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
c0 e0 49 42 4d 2d 43 4f 4d 50 41 54 49 42 4c 45
c0 e0 4c 49 4f 4e 00 17 24 05 00 00 00 00 00 00
c0 e0 31 5a 31 30 44 30 32 31 30 39 55 00 00 00
c0 e0 1b 3d -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 00
c0 e0 18 00 02 00 b8 0b 00 00 -- -- -- -- -- 00
c0 e0 42 17 24 05 00 00 81 0f 57 0f 74 0f 04 50

[roguetrooper]

Are they third-party batteries?
Could that be the issue?

Actually looking at:
./model
-------------------
IBM-COMPATIBLE

It seems they are?
I'm pretty certain that may be the root of your problem!

[RealBlackStuff]

Your battery is indeed a Chinese knockoff.
These bats show up occasionally in the forum, mostly with problems of bad fitting, not charging properly, etc.
A question though: how do you force a laptop to run off battery, while still plugged into the mains?