Binary package hint: upower
Ubuntu release: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Desktop i386 (final)
upower version: 0.9.1-1
Kernel version: 2.6.32-21-generic
Expected behaviour: Correct battery charge information shown in battery indicator in notification area.
Actual behaviour: -
The battery charge information shown in the battery indicator in the notification area (GNOME) is sometimes correct and sometimes incorrect. The displayed remaining time till the battery is fully discharged or fully charged keeps varying incorrectly. It increases for some time (e.g., 20 minutes remaining at time t, 35 minutes remaining at time t + x), then appears correct for some time (or maybe still incorrect but it decreases), and then may again begin increasing. Looking at bug #495439, which is similar but may not be the same, it appears that devicekit-power or upower is the source of the problem. But isn't upower used in Kubuntu too? The problem does not seem to appear in Kubuntu, although I have not checked thoroughly. The dmidecode output which I have attached shows a maximum error of 22% and the screenshots of Power Statistics obtained by clicking the battery charge information in the battery indicator show violent fluctuations in the charge profiles and accuracy. My hardware is a Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop with a six-cell battery with a backup time of about 2 hours and 30 minutes on full charge. When I have just reached the desktop after booting and the system is on a fully charged battery without AC power, for the first few minutes the battery indicator shows 3 hours and 5 minutes remaining, which is beyond the limits of the battery.
This is an upstream bug but I can't find out how to mark this as such. If I try to add another project to the list of affected projects, I can't find any upower project to link to upstream.