This is my update so far dealing with this battery problem on X1 Carbon Gen-7.

I had these battery problems occurring randomly since January, observed both in

Windows and Linux (also mentioned in an earlier post). Initially I waited for driver/bios

updates to get these problems sorted out. Meanwhile I had been taking desktop snapshots

to document the problem. Since any of the updates didn't fix anything, so I sent my laptop

to Lenovo repair along with those snapshots. Since this laptop is provided by an organization

so I had to send the laptop back to Lenovo through my organization.

Lenovo repair personnel did a test with one charge-discharge cycle, reinstalled drivers

which were already up to date and sent the laptop back, citing no problems found.

I encountered these battery problems again and took more desktop snapshots (both Windows

and Linux). Sent the laptop to Lenovo Repair again including these new snapshots. They again

did charge-discharge for 10 times(mentioned in their report) and sent back the laptop  

quoting they didn't find any problems and to keep drivers updated through Lenovo Vantage.

Now I am wondering if they have any other diagnostic methods available.

I have not been able to use the laptop for almost two months now. I received it back yesterday

(there were some delays due to COVID-19 stuff). Today while working in Linux, I got battery 0%

error again and it turned off.

In my experience so far, Lenovo staff are still not acknowledging the problem. Since the problem

is occurring randomly, I don't have a way to replicate it while reporting (as Lenovo staff conveniently

ignored my timestamped snapshots). I will try some of the solutions mentioned here to see if any

of them works.

@lwpz I agree that the problem is either with their battery or bios since it is happening both in Linux

and Windows.

Disconnecting and connecting back the battery seemed to have fixed the problem, which hasn't occurred for a week (I have the latest BIOS version).

"I won't be back -- my last Lenovo product." +1

@alifamzari 's fix worked for me (disconnecting and reconnecting the battery). Thank you! After a few weeks of noticing sleep issues / sudden shutdowns / poor battery life as others have described in this thread, I woke up this morning and the battery quit working all together (couldn't power on the machine at all without AC attached). I removed and re-attached the battery per your suggestion and it now seems to be working again. Hopefully this resolves the shutdowns and sleep problems as well! I worry though if I'm only delaying the inevitable and issues will re-emerge down the road once I'm outside of my warranty period...

I find the lack of participation of Lenovo most disturbing. Has the issue been localized or not? Is a new motherboard necessary or is it sufficient to disconnect and re-connect the battery?

Is it still necessary to update the BIOS? What versions are affected? Does the problem motherboard (if it's the motherboard) have an ID?

I have had my X1 Carbon Gen 7, which came with a 4K display, for almost 3 months. A few days after receiving the notebook I left it turned off for about a week without power. When I wanted to power it up, the battery was totally flat. At the time I didn't realize this was an issue and thought I may have something miss-configured in Windows. I verified all my settings, which were all correct, and then modified the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlPower -> CsEnabled to 0, just to be on the safe side. Since then the notebook has worked fine, and I'm hoping it stays that way. I do realize, however, that the registry is not the source of these issues which also show up in linux.

My question is, however, which models ere experiencing these dead battery problems? Has anyone had problems with the 4K versions, and what is the difference between a 4K and a 1080p motherboard? FWIW, the first thing I did after receiving my notebook was to replace the "disk" with a Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 2280 2 TB - not that it makes a difference, or does it?

I am also most unhappy with Lenovo's RJ45 network adapter which needs filing down in order to free the USB port next to it. I find this an extremely bad design. I don't want to connect a docking station in order to use the network port and have one free USB type C (the other one is used by the power supply).

Although not related to the empty battery problem, there is an article in the latest German c't magazine (c't 10/2020, page 58) about the lousy Lenovo support offered to a lawyer. Not very encouraging...

I will be very hesitant to recommend Lenovo in the future and very, very much hope they will stand up to all the problems they seem to be having with this very serious battery issue.

We need an explanation - come on Lenovo.

@alifamzari disconnecting the battery probably only works for the shorter term. My battery was disconnected for a repair 6 months ago, before and after that I have encountered these battery indicator issues. Though if I think about it: it is possible that the probably disappeared for a while after the repair.

@ Peter-C wrote:
 

 

I find the lack of participation of Lenovo most disturbing. Has the issue been localized or not? Is a new motherboard necessary or is it sufficient to disconnect and re-connect the battery?

Is it still necessary to update the BIOS? What versions are affected? Does the problem motherboard (if it's the motherboard) have an ID?

 

I have had my X1 Carbon Gen 7, which came with a 4K display, for almost 3 months. A few days after receiving the notebook I left it turned off for about a week without power. When I wanted to power it up, the battery was totally flat. At the time I didn't realize this was an issue and thought I may have something miss-configured in Windows. I verified all my settings, which were all correct, and then modified the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlPower -> CsEnabled to 0, just to be on the safe side. Since then the notebook has worked fine, and I'm hoping it stays that way. I do realize, however, that the registry is not the source of these issues which also show up in linux.

 

My question is, however, which models ere experiencing these dead battery problems? Has anyone had problems with the 4K versions, and what is the difference between a 4K and a 1080p motherboard? FWIW, the first thing I did after receiving my notebook was to replace the "disk" with a Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 2280 2 TB - not that it makes a difference, or does it?

 

I am also most unhappy with Lenovo's RJ45 network adapter which needs filing down in order to free the USB port next to it. I find this an extremely bad design. I don't want to connect a docking station in order to use the network port and have one free USB type C (the other one is used by the power supply).

 

Although not related to the empty battery problem, there is an article in the latest German c't magazine (c't 10/2020, page 58) about the lousy Lenovo support offered to a lawyer. Not very encouraging...

 

I will be very hesitant to recommend Lenovo in the future and very, very much hope they will stand up to all the problems they seem to be having with this very serious battery issue.

 

We need an explanation - come on Lenovo.

Hi Peter-C, 

It doesn't sound like you're seeing the problem under discussion in this thread. Leaving your X1C7 for a week without power WILL drain the battery in the default Windows 10 Modern Standby mode. To stop the battery draining, hold down the Shift key when shutting down.

Lenovo posted a link earlier in this thread to the BIOS which solved the shut down problem under discussion in this thread. Worked on my X1C7.

@ bananaman wrote:
 

Hi Peter-C, 

 

It doesn't sound like you're seeing the problem under discussion in this thread. Leaving your X1C7 for a week without power WILL drain the battery in the default Windows 10 Modern Standby mode. To stop the battery draining, hold down the Shift key when shutting down.

 

Lenovo posted a link earlier in this thread to the BIOS which solved the shut down problem under discussion in this thread. Worked on my X1C7.

Hi @ bananaman,

I run a good number of PCs and never, ever shutdown into Standby mode. I always want a clean boot and don't mind in the least if I have to wait a little longer.

Apparently the issue has not been fixed in the latest BIOS 1.30. See https://forums.lenovo.com/topic/findpost/1301/4561156/5024178 or https://forums.lenovo.com/topic/findpost/1301/4561156/5026439 or https://forums.lenovo.com/topic/findpost/1301/4561156/5030551 and later posts. It has also been posted that the issue only started AFTER updating to the latest BIOS (1.30), see message #111!

Confirming I also had no issues PRIOR to the bios update. Only after the update did I start seeing issues with the battery (which now seem to be in remission after I disconnected and reconnected the battery). Hmm... Just a thought, but I wonder if disconnecting/reconnecting the battery is perhaps an unforeseen requirement of the latest BIOS update? 

Hi everyone, 

I recently started observing weird battery issues, I think it was around the time I updated to BIOS 1.30 but since it was also a time when I was playing with beta ubuntu 19.10 kernels to get the microphone working properly I didn't think much of it. Now I recently upgraded to ubuntu 20.04 and started using a mainline kernel again. 

I was very surprised to keep seeing bad battery behaviour: 

• battery reporting empty very quickly after disconnect from AC
• battery stuck on "estimating"
• battery stuck on a specific percentage
• battery alternating between "estimating" and stuck at a specific percentage (today it's 44%, but I have had days at 24%, at 32% etc the percentage itself is not fixed forever, just for a period of time)

thinking it was a linux issue I dug a bit into this and what I can see is that the "estimating" state corresponds to 

Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0

 native-path:          BAT0

 vendor:               LGC

 model:                02DL004

 serial:               <redacted>

 power supply:         yes

 updated:              mer. 29 avril 2020 16:46:00 (46 seconds ago)

 has history:          yes

 has statistics:       yes

 battery

   present:             yes

   rechargeable:        yes

   state:               charging

   warning-level:       none

   energy:              0 Wh

   energy-empty:        0 Wh

   energy-full:         51,99 Wh

   energy-full-design:  51 Wh

   energy-rate:         0 W

   percentage:          0%

   capacity:            100%

   technology:          lithium-polymer

   icon-name:          'battery-caution-charging-symbolic'

so here it thinks the battery is empty and not charging, while I was reading the thread the indicator switched to charging state and the report was saying 

Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0

 native-path:          BAT0

 vendor:               LGC

 model:                02DL004

 serial:               <redacted>

 power supply:         yes

 updated:              mer. 29 avril 2020 17:01:38 (39 seconds ago)

 has history:          yes

 has statistics:       yes

 battery

   present:             yes

   rechargeable:        yes

   state:               charging

   warning-level:       none

   energy:              23,3 Wh

   energy-empty:        0 Wh

   energy-full:         51,99 Wh

   energy-full-design:  51 Wh

   energy-rate:         10,931 W

   voltage:             15,41 V

   time to full:        2,6 hours

   percentage:          44%

   capacity:            100%

   technology:          lithium-polymer

   icon-name:          'battery-good-charging-symbolic'

   icon-name:          'battery-good-charging-symbolic'

i ran the report regularly and always got the same result 

Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0

 native-path:          BAT0

 vendor:               LGC

 model:                02DL004

 serial:               <redacted>

 power supply:         yes

 updated:              mer. 29 avril 2020 17:05:58 (1 seconds ago)

 has history:          yes

 has statistics:       yes

 battery

   present:             yes

   rechargeable:        yes

   state:               discharging

   warning-level:       none

   energy:              23,3 Wh

   energy-empty:        0 Wh

   energy-full:         51,99 Wh

   energy-full-design:  51 Wh

   energy-rate:         10,931 W

   voltage:             15,41 V

   time to empty:       2,1 hours

   percentage:          44%

   capacity:            100%

   technology:          lithium-polymer

   icon-name:          'battery-good-symbolic'

   icon-name:          'battery-good-symbolic'

I unplugged it to see if it changed anything, and quickly got an energy warning

Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0

 native-path:          BAT0

 vendor:               LGC

 model:                02DL004

 serial:               <redacted>

 power supply:         yes

 updated:              mer. 29 avril 2020 17:06:16 (1 seconds ago)

 has history:          yes

 has statistics:       yes

 battery

   present:             yes

   rechargeable:        yes

   state:               charging

   warning-level:       none

   energy:              0 Wh

   energy-empty:        0 Wh

   energy-full:         51,99 Wh

   energy-full-design:  51 Wh

   energy-rate:         0 W

   percentage:          0%

   capacity:            100%

   technology:          lithium-polymer

   icon-name:          'battery-caution-charging-symbolic'

 History (charge):

   1588172771 0,000 discharging

 History (rate):

   1588172772 0,000 discharging

I replugged the AC

Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0

 native-path:          BAT0

 vendor:               LGC

 model:                02DL004

 serial:               <redacted>

 power supply:         yes

 updated:              mer. 29 avril 2020 17:10:18 (76 seconds ago)

 has history:          yes

 has statistics:       yes

 battery

   present:             yes

   rechargeable:        yes

   state:               charging

   warning-level:       none

   energy:              0 Wh

   energy-empty:        0 Wh

   energy-full:         51,99 Wh

   energy-full-design:  51 Wh

   energy-rate:         0 W

   percentage:          0%

   capacity:            100%

   technology:          lithium-polymer

   icon-name:          'battery-caution-charging-symbolic'

and as I was writing this post it switched back to charging but stuck at 44% but notice that the "energy" field has decreased from 23.3 to 22.91 Wh

Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0

 native-path:          BAT0

 vendor:               LGC

 model:                02DL004

 serial:               <redacted>

 power supply:         yes

 updated:              mer. 29 avril 2020 17:18:33 (100 seconds ago)

 has history:          yes

 has statistics:       yes

 battery

   present:             yes

   rechargeable:        yes

   state:               charging

   warning-level:       none

   energy:              22,91 Wh

   energy-empty:        0 Wh

   energy-full:         51,99 Wh

   energy-full-design:  51 Wh

   energy-rate:         10,931 W

   voltage:             15,393 V

   time to full:        2,7 hours

   percentage:          44%

   capacity:            100%

   technology:          lithium-polymer

   icon-name:          'battery-good-charging-symbolic'

 History (charge):

   1588173513 44,000 charging

 History (rate):

   1588173513 10,931 charging

yet after 30 minutes of charging the energy reported by the battery has not increased one bit.

Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0

 native-path:          BAT0

 vendor:               LGC

 model:                02DL004

 serial:               <redacted>

 power supply:         yes

 updated:              mer. 29 avril 2020 17:40:33 (28 seconds ago)

 has history:          yes

 has statistics:       yes

 battery

   present:             yes

   rechargeable:        yes

   state:               charging

   warning-level:       none

   energy:              22,91 Wh

   energy-empty:        0 Wh

   energy-full:         51,99 Wh

   energy-full-design:  51 Wh

   energy-rate:         10,931 W

   voltage:             15,393 V

   time to full:        2,7 hours

   percentage:          44%

   capacity:            100%

   technology:          lithium-polymer

   icon-name:          'battery-good-charging-symbolic'

lastly while investigating the issue from the linux angle, I came across this post 

The ThinkPad systems that are on the Windows 10 supported system list here all have dual-mode battery firmware.  The battery firmware itself will recognize the scenario where the battery is ALWAYS fully charged 100% (over a period of many weeks) and adjust the full charge capacity downwards in a way to maintain maximum battery health.  This is something that happens automatically in the battery firmware.  There is nothing that a user needs to do manually, to maximize battery health on these batteries.  For this reason, we don't provide any utility to manually manage battery charge thresholds on Windows 10.

I can't help but speculate that there might be a bug in the dual-mode battery firmware which either reports incorrect values to the OS or prevents the battery from charging when it needs to. 

Further speculation would say that unplugging the battery totally resets the charge thresolds and thus "resolves" the issue. Then depending on how people actually use the latop the issue will trigger again or not. This is consistent with many people saying that disconnecting the battery fixed the issue but some of them started having it again fairly quickly and others didn't. 

As many others I hope this gets fixed soon. Locked down in France, I'll survive on A/C until the lockdown is over before calling in to apply for a warranty repair but this is quite painful :(

Also running the battery diagnostics from the boot screen I get a weird warning message which says  (I haven't been able to copy paste it so from memory) that due to battery being in RT mode instead of LS1_5 mode lifespan diagnostic may not be accurate.I'll try to rerun the diagnostic tonight and write down the exact message. I'm wondering if any others have the warning and if it correlates with battery issues...

-- edit --

it may be possible to reset the battery without opening the lid using the emergency reset hole instead : http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/display/istcontrib/Lenovo+X1+Carbon+does+not+POST I haven' seen it mentionned here but maybe just missed it.