12.04 No Battery Indicator, No Battery Detected

[mgiarc]

I've just installed ubuntu 12.04 on a (old) Dell Inspiron 1520. When I unplug the AC power supply, the computer continues to run for up to 30 minutes, but no battery status indicator is displayed. In the System Settings>Power menu, it is set to display in the panel.

Additionally, no battery is detected by ubuntu in Power Statistics.

Thanks for any support/ideas you can give. I've been searching for several hours now...

(From looking at other threads, I thought it may be helpful to know:

-I only run on one factory DELL battery.
-the laptop's power indicator light comes on red when on battery power, but still runs for 30ish minutes.)

[wendar]

For some reason, the upgrade to Precise uninstalled the 'indicator-power' package from my Asus EeePC netbook. Installing that package brought the indicator back. No guarantees, but it wouldn't hurt to try installing 'indicator-power', if it's already installed, it'll just tell you "indicator-power is already the newest version".

[mgiarc]

wendar - thanks for the response.

'indicator-power' is installed, according to the U software center. I thought I got lucky because in the soft. center there was an add-on called 'gnome panel indicator applet (indicator-applet). I marked the box rebooted, etc. No luck yet. Still no battery indicator. :/

[mgiarc]

Ok. After a lot of searching and trial and error, I think I have determined that the problem is not with the indicator, but with Precise detecting that a battery is even attached.

This is strange, because it certainly will run on battery power. However, if I run:

cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/info

I get: "present: no"

Maybe that is not the correct code to run, but it agrees with the Power Statistics app which does not even register a battery as present.

I will keep looking.

[mgiarc]

Closer... ever closer.

Per a suggestion I ran the BIOS setup menu on my Inspiron 1520 and in the Battery Info category, it said "battery not installed." The battery is most certainly connected because it still runs.

Do I need to do a BIOS update? If so, how? Will it wipe my files?

[little_penguin]

I have just had the "no battery present" message on my Netbook but after I took the battery out then reinserted it, it's working again. You've probably already tried it, but just in case you haven't.

[NikTh]

Do I need to do a BIOS update? If so, how? Will it wipe my files?

This is a good idea. Not only for battery . No it will not wipe your files except if you do something wrong.
If you have windows , then do it via windows .
If you don't have windows then take a look here --> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1901977

[stegal]

Hello Folks,
I have recently installed U12.04 64bit, great stuff, but as for you at one point, playing with screenlets and other stuff I have lost the battery indicator.

I have solved my problem this way

- right-click on the status bar -> add to pannel
- I have added "Indicator applet complete"

voila I had my original stuff on top of the bar, battery included

I hope that might help you I was about to re-install the whole system