Battery killed?

Alastair Johnson alastair at truebox.co.uk
Wed Nov 12 11:14:54 CET 2008


I'll try not to send before I've finished this time ;-)

Joachim Ott wrote:
> Looks like I have killed the battery of my gat02v6. While I was working 
> on the PC and having the FR laying besides (running Om2007.2), I noticed 
> the red LED flashing once in a second. I took out the battery because I 
> couldn't reboot. I booted from flash (currently with the newest FSO), 
> all looked normal. When the system was up, I plugged in USB, the screen 
> went black and the red LED began flashing like above. I took out the 
> battery, measured and it showed only 2.99V. Then I attached external 
> power, booted Om2007.2 from SD card, when it was up I connected USB, 
> removed external power and put in the battery - shortly after the screen 
> went black bla bla rhabarbar...

The flashing red LED is (or used to be) an indication of a kernel panic
which would explain why it was unresponsive.

> With the battery from the other FR (fully loaded, shows 4.35V) 
> everything is fine again. Have I killed the battery by over-using the 
> device? I boot about 10 times a day, from flash or SD, playing with GSM, 
> GPS and WLAN. Is it possible to charge that battery ever again?

It should be possible to charge the 'dead' battery. Boot with the 
working one, attach the mains charger or USB so you have external power 
to keep it going, then pull the working battery and insert the 'dead' 
one. It should be detected and start charging, and you should be able to 
monitor its progress using the usual /sys entries:
http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/GTA02_sysfs#power_supply_battery_information

> This are the last messages before Om2007.2 died (the last try from above):
> 
> Nov 12 02:00:36 om-gta02 user.info <http://user.info> kernel: usb0: full 
> speed config #1: 500 mA, Ethernet Gadget, using CDC Ethernet
> Nov 12 02:00:36 om-gta02 user.err kernel: power_supply bat: driver 
> failed to report `voltage_now' property
> Nov 12 02:00:37 om-gta02 user.err kernel: power_supply bat: driver 
> failed to report `voltage_now' property
> Nov 12 02:00:37 om-gta02 user.info <http://user.info> kernel: 
> ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): usb0: link becomes ready
> Nov 12 02:00:45 om-gta02 user.err kernel: power_supply bat: driver 
> failed to report `voltage_now' property
> Nov 12 02:00:46 om-gta02 user.debug kernel: modem wakeup interrupt
> Nov 12 02:00:46 om-gta02 user.err kernel: power_supply bat: driver 
> failed to report `voltage_now' property
> Nov 12 02:00:47 om-gta02 user.debug kernel: usb0: no IPv6 routers present
> Nov 12 02:01:37 om-gta02 user.warn kernel: AR6000 disconnected
> Nov 12 02:01:46 om-gta02 local0.info <http://local0.info> 
> /usr/sbin/gsm0710muxd[1394]: gsm0710muxd.c:609:pseudo_device_read(): 
> Logical channel 1 for (null) closed
> Nov 12 02:23:27 om-gta02 syslog.info <http://syslog.info> syslogd 
> started: BusyBox v1.11.1
> Nov 12 02:23:27 om-gta02 user.notice kernel: klogd started: BusyBox 
> v1.11.1 (2008-08-05 02:00:09 CEST)
> Nov 12 02:23:27 om-gta02 user.notice kernel: Linux version 2.6.24 
> (oe at buildhost.openmoko.org <mailto:oe at buildhost.openmoko.org>) (gcc 
> version 4.1.2) #1 PREEMPT Thu Aug 28 01:48
> 
> The "driver failed to report `voltage_now' property" is because at that 
> time it was on external power. No messages were logged after I put in 
> the battery.



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