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[T480] [Linux] Battery installed not supported by this system and will not charge - LGC 11 01AV424 (self.thinkpad)

submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by promitheas to c/[email protected]

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Hello everyone. I just got a new battery for my T480 from my work supplier. It is a Greencell LGC 11 Model: 01AV424 and I get a BIOS message before my bootloader:

The battery installed is not supported by this system and will not charge. Please replace the battery with the correct Lenovo battery for this system. Press the ESC key to continue.

Once I plugged it in and booted up the battery had 74% charge, and I let it discharge until 6% without the AC adaptor plugged in as per the instructions, so that I could then fully charge it (and repeat the process 3-5 times). However, once it reached 6% and I plugged it in it wasn't charging and ended up dropping to 1% where it remains even now. Below I'll include outputs from some commands.

Everything I read online mentions flashing the EC chip to whitelist the battery, or changing the BIOS to something like coreboot. I'd like to avoid flashing any chips unless absolutely the only option, in case something goes wrong and I brick my motherboard. I've tried also resetting the EC chip by pushing the button in the pinhole at the bottom of the laptop with a paper clip, but with no effect.

$ upower -e          
/org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/line_power_AC
/org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT1
/org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/line_power_ucsi_source_psy_USBC000o001
/org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/line_power_ucsi_source_psy_USBC000o002
/org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/DisplayDevice

$ upower -i /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT1            
  native-path:          BAT1
  vendor:               LGC 11
  model:                01AV424
  serial:               14050
  power supply:         yes
  updated:              Tue 11 Jun 2024 12:46:25 EEST (19 seconds ago)
  has history:          yes
  has statistics:       yes
  battery
    present:             yes
    rechargeable:        yes
    state:               pending-charge
    warning-level:       none
    energy:              0.41 Wh
    energy-empty:        0 Wh
    energy-full:         22.23 Wh
    energy-full-design:  22.23 Wh
    energy-rate:         0 W
    voltage:             10.296 V
    charge-cycles:       1
    percentage:          1%
    capacity:            100%
    technology:          lithium-ion
    icon-name:          'battery-caution-charging-symbolic'

As you can see the state it is stuck in is "pending-charge"

Any help would be appreciated. Also, if you need any additional info please let me know and I will provide it.

EDIT: Supplier will pick it up from my work in a couple days and try to solve the issue. Hopefully that works, otherwise I'll have to see about flashing the EC chip with the patched firmware to remove the whitelist.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I assume you have tried the BIOS reset procedure? I think it's holding FN + S + V while the system is powered off.

AFAIK the only way around this is to replace the BIOS, so you will need to start flashing chips.

Coreboot however isn't an option for this laptop.

[–] promitheas 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I assume you have tried the BIOS reset procedure? I think it’s holding FN + S + V while the system is powered off.

Is this the same as what @[email protected] mentioned?

Also there is a reset button in the bottom of the laptop near ThinkEngine controller: Power off the laptop, disconnect both batteries and CMOS and hold reset button for a minute.

If yes I'm going to try it now and get back to you

EDIT: I tried the Fn + S + V but wasn't sure if I need to do it while batteries are disconnected, or if I needed to hold it for the full 1 minute, so I held it down for about 20 seconds with the battery plugged in. Didn't seem to fix it.

As for the BIOS, some stuff I read in forum posts etc leads me to think that the the check isn't actually in the BIOS but in the EC chip, so replacing the BIOS wouldn't do much. Is this truly the case, or does a replacement BIOS also circumvent the EC check? Many thanks for your help.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I think you need to hold down Fn + S + V while the thing is off for a full minute. Then after that hold the power button for a full minute. The battery needs to be plugged in.

But from what I read that's on older models, so it might not be the same for the newer system. There's a chance this is simply unfixable, Lenovo are assholes to put DRM on their batteries.

You would need to try updating the BIOS to the latest version. The whitelist of batteries is in there and there's a chance your battery is on that whitelist.

[–] promitheas 1 points 5 months ago

I think it might be for the older models, I'll check the manual for it.

I tried updating the BIOS but you need a battery with at least 25% charge plugged in as well as the AC adapter for it to let you even begin the update process (actually an amazing safety feature). Since mine has 0% I cant do that xD

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

@promitheas Never heard about battery whitelists on T480. What BIOS version do you have?

Also there is a reset button in the bottom of the laptop near ThinkEngine controller: Power off the laptop, disconnect both batteries and CMOS and hold reset button for a minute.

[–] promitheas 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

@promitheas Never heard about battery whitelists. What BIOS version do you have?

$ dmidecode -s bios-version
N24ET72W (1.47 )

Also there is a reset button in the bottom of the laptop near ThinkEngine controller: Power off the laptop, disconnect both batteries and CMOS and hold reset button for a minute.

Will try this now and update this comment once I'm done

EDIT: I tried that but it doesn't seem to work. Note that I don't seem to have the internal battery, just its cover. After setting the date and time correctly in the BIOS it boots but still shows the message about the battery not being genuine.