# Ubuntu drains battery when shut down.



## earthman (Jan 13, 2007)

I installed Ubuntu on an old laptop, it's still got XP installed on the hard drive too so I can choose which software to use on start up. If I shut down after using Ubuntu, the battery is depleted in 3 or 4 days, if I shut down in XP the battery is still good, 85 to 90% charge still left.

I mainly use a Win7 desktop, this old laptop would be good for holidays etc, I guess that XP is not that safe to use on line now a days, Ubuntu a safer option?? Anyone know how to stop it draining my battery?


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## managed (May 24, 2003)

As a temporary solution you could remove the battery.


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## earthman (Jan 13, 2007)

managed said:


> As a temporary solution you could remove the battery.


Yes, that's an idea.

I've only ever used Win98, XP and now Win7 so I tend to boot the laptop up in XP most of the time anyway, just thinking about when/if I want to get on-line whilst on holiday etc, I'm guessing that it's safer to use a version of Ubuntu?
Should I be using an anti virus software with this OS?


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## prunejuice (Apr 3, 2002)

Is this an HP laptop by chance? This is a known problem with WOL draining the battery, even when the machine is off...

I can post a fix for you if it's an HP.


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## earthman (Jan 13, 2007)

prunejuice said:


> Is this an HP laptop by chance? This is a known problem with WOL draining the battery, even when the machine is off...
> 
> I can post a fix for you if it's an HP.


No it's a Toshiba, this one: http://www.toshiba.co.uk/discontinued-products/satellite-u200-115/

What does WOL mean? How's it fixed on the HP,....I bet that it's a long complicated procedure which I probably won't understand anyhow.


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## managed (May 24, 2003)

WOL = Wake On Lan, it's a way to turn a computer fully on by sending a special 'packet' over a wired network connection. For that to work the computer has to be in a sort of standby state so the network card can react to the special packet and that means the computer is using power.

Ubuntu and/or HP are mentioned a lot on-line in this regard. It seems Ubuntu can have a bug that causes a laptop battery to discharge too quickly when WOL is enabled in the Bios. Apparently some HP laptops can be affected more than other makes.

So try turning WOL off in the Bios if there is a setting for that. Also try turning the laptop's wireless switch on your laptop to off.


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## earthman (Jan 13, 2007)

managed said:


> WOL = Wake On Lan, it's a way to turn a computer fully on by sending a special 'packet' over a wired network connection. For that to work the computer has to be in a sort of standby state so the network card can react to the special packet and that means the computer is using power.
> 
> Ubuntu and/or HP are mentioned a lot on-line in this regard. It seems Ubuntu can have a bug that causes a laptop battery to discharge too quickly when WOL is enabled in the Bios. Apparently some HP laptops can be affected more than other makes.
> 
> So try turning WOL off in the Bios if there is a setting for that. Also try turning the laptop's wireless switch on your laptop to off.


Ah, thanks for the explanation, I don't have any experience of Bios or fancy my chances of messing with it though.


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## managed (May 24, 2003)

Ok, I'm not sure if moving the wireless switch to off would slow down the discharging but give it a try to find out.

If it doesn't help the easiest thing would be to remove the battery when not using the laptop.


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## earthman (Jan 13, 2007)

The switch on the side is in the off position, I don't connect to WiFi often.


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## managed (May 24, 2003)

Ok, perhaps the best thing would be to always go into XP before you shut it down then.


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## earthman (Jan 13, 2007)

managed said:


> Ok, perhaps the best thing would be to always go into XP before you shut it down then.


Yep, that's what I've been doing. I'm hoping that the latest version of Ubuntu doesn't cause this problem, I haven't downloaded it yet.


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## prunejuice (Apr 3, 2002)

Here's the problem you're likely facing:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2052582

Worth a read.


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## prunejuice (Apr 3, 2002)

...and a possible fix:

http://www.hecticgeek.com/2012/09/d...ight-save-a-tiny-bit-of-power-on-your-laptop/


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## earthman (Jan 13, 2007)

prunejuice said:


> Here's the problem you're likely facing:
> 
> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2052582
> 
> Worth a read.


Thanks.


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## managed (May 24, 2003)

If you're willing to experiment with this then a good test would be if you installed linux Mint Debian from here :- http://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php

That's based on Debian rather than Ubuntu and it would be interesting to see if the battery drain stops when you use it.

Just a suggestion, if you don't want to try it that's fine.


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## earthman (Jan 13, 2007)

Er thanks, I'll look into giving it a go, just seen the 'cons' though, I'm far from the best person to attempt it, I've only really used 98, XP and Win7.


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## managed (May 24, 2003)

You can run Mint from a DVD, no need to install it and nothing on your hard drive would be changed. I shouldn't have said 'install' before.


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## earthman (Jan 13, 2007)

Oh thanks, that's interesting, never knew that, ....I'm guessing that any documents/files that you create would be stored on the hard drive though.


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## managed (May 24, 2003)

No, they are lost when you shutdown unless you deliberately save them to the hard drive yourself.


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## prunejuice (Apr 3, 2002)

earthman said:


> Thanks.


Just to let you know, this fix worked on my HP Pavilion G6 when I installed Linux Mint 13 2 years ago.

Running Ubuntu Studio 14.04 on it right now. I applied the fix again, just in case the newer kernel didn't address this problem with WOL battery drain. No problems.


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## managed (May 24, 2003)

prunejuice said:


> ...and a possible fix:
> 
> http://www.hecticgeek.com/2012/09/d...ight-save-a-tiny-bit-of-power-on-your-laptop/


There you go then, I would try that first.


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## earthman (Jan 13, 2007)

Many thanks Prunejuice and Managed, I'll tackle it one day that I am feeling brave, I'll then report back here with my findings.


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## prunejuice (Apr 3, 2002)

earthman said:


> Many thanks Prunejuice and Managed, I'll tackle it one day that I am feeling brave, I'll then report back here with my findings.


It's not that "complicated" a procedure.

If you need assistance, I can walk you through it here...


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