Computer reboots when plugging it... [Solved]

kay-dee

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Got a bit of annoying problem with my ThinkPad X230. When I plug in the charger, after about three minutes with the lid closed, the computer reboots. I had Zorin/Gnome installed and a change to Mint/Cinnamon didn’t solve the problem. I checked Bios and the Wake on LAN feature is disabled. I shutdown using Cairo Dock, but using the shutdown button from the Mint Menu makes no difference. The new Zorin setup on my Clevo works perfectly with Cairo.

I’ve looked around for an answer and this doesn’t seem to be a rare problem but most ‘fixes’ are Windows based.

Any ideas, as always, most appreciated.

Katie
 


Good morning Katie :)

I am moving this Thread to Laptops/Netbooks, as it is more related to that area, and you may get better assistance there.

If I find anything useful I will report back, otherwise good luck.

Wiz
 
Have you checked the settings for what to do when the lid is closed? Rather obvious, I know, but I thought it worth mentioning.
I believe the Mint Cinnamon desktop has a settings pane with power options offering choices of what to do when the power button is pushed and when the lid is closed. I will check when I am my laptop again.
 
Hello, Katie. Sorry for my English, please. Could you try to use you're laptop without a battery? It seems to me that the battery on you're laptop is bad. Try to disconnect it and start laptop via power adapter. If it will work and not gonna to reboot - i suppose that you should replace the battery with a new one.
 
Oh, Vrai, if it were that easy...

Went into Power Settings and the Close Lid settings. Tried all three settings in Battery and AC. That made no difference. I tried unplugging the power cord (12V adapter), and used the Terminal Command: shutdown. The computer responds as expected but as soon as I plug the power cord back in, about a couple of minutes later, the computer boots up. This with the lid open or closed. I tried the command poweroff. (Does “poweroff” allow the computer to go through the shutting-down sequence? Or is it like doing a hard shutdown?) Results the same.

The only way I can kill the computer is to do a hard power off with the switch or the commands Shutdown/Poweroff with the power cable unplugged.

Kinda interesting, don’t you think?

Katie
 
Thanks, @zg_nico.
I didn't want to hear that. This battery is only two months old! But I'll try your suggestion and get back to you with the results.
Katie
 
Hey Wiz.

Thanks for everything.

Just curious, but you ever figure out who the guy was who posted the photos? I mean, I guess I should be flattered that he would take the time and effort to delve into my personal life, but hell… it’s still kinda creepy.

Katie
 
Oh, Vrai, if it were that easy...

Went into Power Settings and the Close Lid settings. Tried all three settings in Battery and AC. That made no difference. I tried unplugging the power cord (12V adapter), and used the Terminal Command: shutdown. The computer responds as expected but as soon as I plug the power cord back in, about a couple of minutes later, the computer boots up. This with the lid open or closed. I tried the command poweroff. (Does “poweroff” allow the computer to go through the shutting-down sequence? Or is it like doing a hard shutdown?) Results the same.

The only way I can kill the computer is to do a hard power off with the switch or the commands Shutdown/Poweroff with the power cable unplugged.

Kinda interesting, don’t you think?

Katie
Very interesting! :)
 
Hey Wiz.

Thanks for everything.

Just curious, but you ever figure out who the guy was who posted the photos? I mean, I guess I should be flattered that he would take the time and effort to delve into my personal life, but hell… it’s still kinda creepy.

Katie
Very weird :/
 
but hell… it’s still kinda creepy.

Yeah I thought so too - hoped you didn't mind my acting on your behalf - because of the timezone differences I felt I needed to act as soon as I learned. More in a conversation, soon :)

Chris
 
Kinda interesting, don’t you think?
Hey @kay-dee , just out of curiosity, is the AC adapter (power brick) the original one which came with the machine? I can't imagine why it should make a difference but some laptop manufacturers are very fussy about which power adapter is used. Dell is one example.
I ask because I once purchased an *aftermarket* power adapter off ebay - I think it came straight from China - and after cracking that thing open when it stopped working what I found was downright scary!
 
The computer responds as expected but as soon as I plug the power cord back in, about a couple of minutes later, the computer boots up. This with the lid open or closed.
I'm sorry, but to my mind it's no software, but hardware problem. Maybe not a battery but a motherboard :(
 
You were partially right, zg_nico. Pulling the battery and plugging-in stops the re-boot problem. But the battery seems good; charges and runs the Lenovo X230 for a couple of hours. I have to look up the command to test the battery in the Terminal. I’m sure there is one.

When plugged in and after the machine re-boots itself, the command “poweroff” in the Terminal seems to work. I hope it isn’t a HARD poweroff that could damage the computer. One other thing I have noticed, when moving the machine, it re-boots. The barrel connector for the power cord isn’t a tight fit.

And no, Vari. Bought the notebook used on Amazon for $150 a couple of years back. This is not an AC adapter but a 12V DC PWR+ adapter (I live on a boat, remember? No AC.). I have used PWR+ chargers for many years and find them to be the best available on Amazon. Never had a problem. BUT if you can recommend another supplier of chargers, I’m very interested. PWR+ can not supply a DC charger for my Clevo computer and I really need one.

And thank you Wiz. As always, you did right by me. Good to have you at my back.

Thank you, all of you...

Katie
 
I hope it isn’t a HARD poweroff that could damage the computer.
Hi @kay-dee , your comment made me curious so I went snooping around the 'inter-tubes' looking for more info. (I love that about the linux.org forums - it causes me to learn something every time!)
As far as I have been able to determine the "poweroff" command will do a 'graceful' shutdown of your system. Your filesystem should be safe :) Unless you invoke the --force option.
From the "poweroff" man page;
Code:
-f, --force
           Force immediate halt, power-off, or reboot. When specified once,
           this results in an immediate but clean shutdown by the system
           manager. When specified twice, this results in an immediate
           shutdown without contacting the system manager. See the description
           of --force in systemctl(1) for more details.
Also, it seems that systems with 'systemd' init handle things a little differently than systems with 'SysV' init. This StackExchange post was informative; https://unix.stackexchange.com/ques...or-bringing-down-a-linux-server/196014#196014
 
But the battery seems good
Hello, Katie! I'm not pretty shure, but may be recallibration of battery will be usefull. Zorin OS and Linux Mint are ubuntu-based if i'm not mistaken. So you can try:
Code:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install tlp -y
and when installation will be done try to recallibrate the battery:
Code:
sudo tlp recalibrate
 
Thanks @zg_nico ...I don't have the Lenovo X230 with me right now, but as soon as I get back to the boat I'll try those commands.
Thank you for looking...
Katie
 
Thanks @zg_nico ...I don't have the Lenovo X230 with me right now, but as soon as I get back to the boat I'll try those commands.
Just one more thing. Before recalibrate the battery via tlp, please check again BIOS/UEFI settings (In your case, F1 at boot, if I'm not mistaken). All BIOS/UEFI options, witch names contain anything about power on by or wake on by should be disabled. If something of them is enabled - try to change this setting in BIOS, then save changes, reboot to the system and watching for a behavior.
First of all check this options (names taken from user manual of X230i):
Power -> Power On with AC Attach (should be Disabled) - check it first of all, and if it enabled try it first of all. If it disabled - try to set it to enabled, then save settings, then restart laptop, go to bios again, set it to disabled again and save settings again (sometimes visible is not equal to the actual), then check a behavior of laptop in OS.
USB -> Always on USB Charge in off mode (try to Disabled)
USB -> Always on USB (try to Disabled)
Perhaps this will be enough, and recalibration will not be needed.
 
Last edited:
Hi @zg_nico , just to update you on my progress. And thank you for your help. I think you solved my problem with “Power On with AC Attach” it was disabled. I took your advice and toggled back and forth from disabled to enabled and back again, several times. It is now, once again set to disabled, but on testing, the computer does not re-boot when the power cord is plugged in.

All your other suggestions were already set up as you suggested except for “Always on USB” which I disabled.

Anyway, the Lenovo X320 is running as it should and I have made notes for the future.

Thanks so much, @zg_nico . And I have your commands for re-calibrating the battery if the problem reoccurs in the future.

Much, much thanks,

Katie
 
That's wonderful news Katie, and excellent input from @zg_nico :)

Welcome to linux.org @zg_nico

Enjoy your Linux and

Avagudweegend

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 

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