question about lshw

[Doron Shikmoni]

On Wed, Oct 10, 2012 at 5:08 PM, sara fink <sara.fink at gmail.com> wrote:

> Finally got to this issue. Here is the output of dmidecode regarding the
> battery. It shows  4 times portable battery
> (...)
> Looks like pretty much the same. Now how do I check if this is indeed a 6
> cell battery or less?
>

Yeah, they read off the same data, this was just a cross-check.

So if I had to guess I'd say that the battery mis-reports its attributes
via DMI data, big time (see all the fields that are filled with junk
placeholders rather than actual info).

Could it be that the battery you're holding is listed as "Samsung
AA-PB9NC6B *replacement* battery" (emphasis on "replacement" if you don't
read HTML mail)? This would mean it's a low cost aftermarket vendor rather
than original Samsung, which can explain why its firmware is broken so
profoundly.

At any rate, what you really care about is the battery's capacity - and
that is the 4400mAh figure. Number of cells per se is not important (though
relatively speaking, it translates into capacity). From a casual look
around, the typical 4400mAh replacements for this particular Samsung
battery are 6-cell, Li-Ion.

Doron





>
>
> On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 10:18 PM, Doron Shikmoni <doron at isoc.org.il>wrote:
>
>> Hello Sara,
>>
>> A couple comments:
>>
>> 1. lshw takes (most of) its data out of DMI, and interprets some of it
>> based on hardcoded constants. This might translate into incorrect
>> interpretation for some of the info, in this case, the battery's chemistry
>> or the number of batteries. Another possibility is that the battery or the
>> laptop wrongly reports its own attributes, or some similar discrepancy.
>>
>> It might be interesting to take the output of dmidecode and compare notes
>> with lshw.
>>
>> 2. The fact that you get a report for more than one battery is orthogonal
>> and unrelated to the number of cells. The cells (4,6, or 9 of them) are all
>> part of one battery, and do not represent separate batteries. In other
>> words, for one 6-cell battery, the correct report should have been one
>> battery, not 6.
>> So the fact that you received a report about batteries 0-3 does not
>> indicate 4 cells, but rather, incorrect counting of battery instances by
>> lshw (or incorrect DMI reporting by Mr. MoBo).
>>
>> Hope this helps,
>> Doron
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Sep 9, 2012 at 5:29 PM, sara fink <sara.fink at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I ran lshw and found out about the battery of the laptop that it has 4
>>> cells. It appears as battery 0, battery 1, battery 2, battery 3. However,
>>> based on the model of the battery it is supposed to be 6 cells. I was
>>> wondering which one is correct.
>>>
>>> The model of the battery is Samsung AA-PB9NC6B  11.1V, 4400 mAh. On the
>>> battery it shows it's Li-Ion battery. lshw shows it's nickel cadmium.
>>>
>>>   *-battery:0
>>>        description: Nickel Cadmium Battery
>>>        product: Battery Name
>>>        vendor: Battery Manufacturer
>>>        physical id: 1
>>>        version: 01/01/2012
>>>        serial: Serial Number
>>>        slot: Location of the battery
>>>   *-battery:1
>>>        description: Nickel Cadmium Battery
>>>        product: Battery Name
>>>        vendor: Battery Manufacturer
>>>        physical id: 2
>>>        version: 01/01/2012
>>>        serial: Serial Number
>>>        slot: Location of the battery
>>>   *-battery:2
>>>        description: Nickel Cadmium Battery
>>>        product: Battery Name
>>>        vendor: Battery Manufacturer
>>>        physical id: 3
>>>        version: 01/01/2012
>>>        serial: Serial Number
>>>        slot: Location of the battery
>>>   *-battery:3
>>>        description: Nickel Cadmium Battery
>>>        product: Battery Name
>>>        vendor: Battery Manufacturer
>>>        physical id: 4
>>>        version: 01/01/2012
>>>        serial: Serial Number
>>>        slot: Location of the battery
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> Linux-il at cs.huji.ac.il
>>> http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
>>>
>>>
>>
>
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