PR1.1 and unusual battery drain (not wifi related)
 

I installed PR1.1 via OTA this morning then fully recharged and rebooted 2-3 times. I do have the browse portrait easter egg enabled bu the browse was not open/running at the time

-no wifi
- using at&t 2G
- no apps running(or in background), only xterminal, phone is pretty much idle
- configured for nokia messaging, 30 mins update
- logged into google/skpye accounts

I've been tracking my battery life over the last 7 days and today I've noticed a huge battery drain. It went from 78% - 62% free in 1.5 hours. I would usually only drain 2-3% in 1.5 hours.

My phone is completely stock, no apps installed. I was tracking the battery from 09:30 - 12:30, everything looked great


at 13:00 I noticed the red exclaimation circle telling me I'm unable to login to google IM. I left it for 15 mins and then checked battery. drained to 72%. Noticed the phone warmer than usual

I then disabled both google/skpye IM account. Noted the availability circle gone, assumed I have logged out.
30 mins later, the battery drops from 72% to 62%. I try to log in to google IM again.. no luck

- 12:30 I had 78% battery left
- 13:00 I had 72% battery left
- 13:30 I had 62% battery left

I reboot and can immediately login to google IM.

There is no change to my usage pattern or location, I can say for sure that PR1.1 or the prior minor firmware has caused this battery drain bug. Not sure if it only happens once IM accounts cannot login or something has caused the IM account unable to login and needs a reboot.

Looks like we have a new drain bug which occurs outside of wifi! horrible!
This needs to be investigated ASAP!

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

Have you ran the top command at the terminal? Which are the top programs running and their percentage of CPU?

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

unfortunately I did not. If it happens again I will..
I'm sure it will happen again as I've had the device 2 weeks and have beein doing the exact same routine.. no problems until today after the update.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

It sounds to me there is nothing unusual going on, except unable to login for some reason. Direct result of that is constant use of bandwidth and cell modem, plus CPU usage to run IM login all the time. Those "drain" battery by causing device not being able to reach deep sleep states, plus the cell modem usage.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

I advice too install an widget that shows cpu and memory usage.
Once i had a program that stuck at background when i saw that i did an reboot.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

Could be true, but I could login when I rebooted. So something still caused the IM to deny login (confirmed login was fine in PC and then logged out).

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

I have been told that Nokia Headquarter have been secretly checking on your front cam....to observe human distress behavior...that'll explain why the battery drain.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

filed bug: 8004 to keep track of this...

https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8004

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

This does not sound like a bug. Disable gmail client and see if the drain continues. If it doesn't then as you say it is related to failed login attempts. There are numerous reasons on why it might not have connected. I would try to delete your google talk account and then re-add it and see if you have the same issues. I'm betting your account info might have been corrupted during your update. That is a stretch though, just a thought.

2d

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

Must be a pretty aggressive retry algorithm...
I'm going to keep both IM account open to see if the issue happens again (and this time get a 'top' output). If it is corruption, it could only be 'memory' related as logged in successfully after a reboot.

I've been tracking the battery life for the last 9 days, every 2-4 hours keeping a log. Wanted to see how good the battery really is before I install more apps.

Thats why I noticed this problem immediately.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

I agree!
A process stuck using high CPU will definitely drain the battery faster than expected.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

Assuming the bug is gtalk could not connect and not the battery drain....

Does that mean if skype or gtalk goes down for several hours and you're logged in and don't notice.. you'll have a dead battery in 3-4 hours? Sounds like a design flaw....

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

Mine is discharged at 9am then using wifi to talk.maemo.org until 11:46am and my battery down from 97% -> 55% leave the phone unused for a bit and then watch some Youtube and movie for 20mins and it's down to 37%

now only 1:10pm my battery is 32% left. 4hours after the full charged, it only 32%?? 44.11 firmware did better than that.

The new firmware is sluggish and laggy. Clicked on closing tasks and it delayed 2seconds later. Music player doesn't do a live run when you press multitasking button. Seem to be not updating the status. When you clicked on it, then it reload and update. So this update destroying the Multitasking that Nokia claimed to have?

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

I have charged the phone overnight and unplugged it at 11AM. Drove around (2G/3G switching while driving). Connected to wifi / back to 2g multiple times later. Did extensive usage - browsing, emailing, GPS, supertux. Made several phonecalls and sms messages. Around 6PM noticed battery was getting drained so disabled IM accounts and switched to 2g only. It's 7:22PM and my battery was till holding on.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

I have none of those issues. It's not the update, maybe an app that is incompatible? Installed daemon?

I removed most of my unstable apps before OTA, then readded.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

i have the same problem: battery get drained very fast, and the phone is very warm... i have no skype/google running, no background apps, cpu idle as usual; only connected to my home-wifi (but this was no problem before the update).. hmmm...

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

I have similar issue too. nothing requires constant internet connection installed, no im or email accounts setup yet, didn't use wifi. the battery does seem to get use up faster since the update.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

Hi Bugelrex,

Why do you have 30min update set on Nokia Messaging? I assuming that you have automatic update set for Nokia Messaging, I don't think that it is needed when using messaging, I have it disabled as messaging is push mail and shouldn't need an update timer, messaging is working fine like this and only push/retreiving.my mail between 8am-12pm. I'm not suggesting that this is the cause just a possible way to reduce power consumption a bit more.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

me too - I have cpu monitor on and nothing shows. Nor does top. However before this update I was getting 14/15 hrs out of the battery. The way its going today it will be dead by 9 hrs.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

Same here, nothing special running, before the update I could easily do 14+ hours, but today I barely made it 6 hours!!

is there a way to see which process is using all my battery-power??

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

Borreltje, type in "top" without the quotations into the terminal (x-terminal).

I'm testing this myself, so far 4 hours from odd charger. Battery is down to 3/4th indicator. No CPU eating processes I can see are running (though top won't list drivers that are in use or not). WiFi shouldn't be powered on since I rebooted the N900 before testing and it's been using 2.5/3G from since then.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

I actually have it set this way to save battery. From my experience using the E71 and Nokia Messaging, the battery drained about 20% more using push v.s a 30 min interval.

I'll change the setting next week to see if the N900 handles it differently regarding battery.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

I have a similar problem. N900 charged over night, got unplugged this morning 4am and I went off to work with it. Listened to some music (starting at around 5am). Around 6:30 I noticed my battery went down to nearly 50%. I did nothing else than listening to MP3s with the headset. Something I often use my N900 for, there have never been such an impressive power drain. I checked if I had any applications open, but it was only the media player for MP3.

Anyways, I pressed the power button, selected "Offline" mode and hoped the drain might stop. But that didn't do the trick, around 7:30am I stopped MP3 listening, battery was down to almost 20%. I closed the player, remained offline but after another 30 or 45 minutes the battery low sound catched my ears, battery down to 10%.

I got back online to make a last phonecall, which didn't even last four minutes (three at best!) before the phone shut down. Too bad today was the first day where I even forgot my power-charger at home... so no phone or communication for me.


So basicly my N900 managed "impressive" five and half hour battery life today, under medium use at best. Under similar conditions, it usually lasted around 10-12 hours.

My phone is currently recharging, but I updated to the new firmware yesterday evening, so I guess it might be a problem related to the update.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

I have several processes that seme to run without being opended and after a fresh reboot. I have no cions or widgets on my desktop ATM and still have the following open.

1. Two browesd tasks open taking 17% of space
2. Tracker will run for over one minute taking upto 90% of cpu with it

The device scrolls through apps better, but the battery is lasting less for me as well.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

If you were not using wifi, can u add your details to this bug:

https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8004

Hopefully dev can find some pattern or hints to the root cause. Its quite disappointing as I explicitly avoided wifi because of the wifi-battery bug and now there's another unavoidable battery drain bug ready to pounce..

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

OK, I did, here's a printscreen, what should I be looking for??

http://www.borreltje.nl/screenshot00.png

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

Look at the @CPU category. Though nothing seems out of order in that picture.

Update for me: A little below 3/4th mark, it's now 12:50 so it's been off the charger for about 6 hours. This includes minor usage (web browsing, feedingit updating during my 30 minute lunch) and gchating to girlfriend for about 30 min (not during lunch) but before work.

Edit: Around 1:50 PM I stopped and started charging it. Battery life was at 47-48% remaining. I've pretty much remained connected to 3G since arriving at work. My testing is not on a "new" N900 as in factory fresh (nothing installed).

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

I know, nothing has changed in my using the phone, just the occassional phonecall, push-email on my exchange 2007 server, and a little internet.

but since the update yesterday the battery runs empty in a hurry.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

The easiest way to actually test if a firmware related bug is causing any problem is to have a fully formatted/flashed (both the firmware and eMMC) device. In such a complex piece of technology anything could go wrong. It could very well be firmware issue or incompatibilities with a software addon etc. Using the device for a day or two with just the basic package would help in the diagnostics.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

I seem to have this issue too... my n900 after the update can't last through a single day of usage anymore and i use to at least be able to get 16-19 hours before getting down to 30%...

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

Yes, PR1.1 definitely has a battery drain bug.

I charged the battery before going to bed, and the next morning it had turned itself off. I was sleeping and not doing anything with the phone, it was JUST idling. No wifi/3G/BT connections. Not anything. Before falling asleep I checked with the top command that nothing was using the cpu too much, but nothing jumped out. All processes we're idle, or using less than 2%.

Normally, pre-update, the N900 would last through a night of idling without impacting the battery at all. Now it was empty.

I'm seriously considering reflashing to the 1.0 or 1.0.1 FW until this is fixed, because PR1.1 is unusable for me now.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

I too am experiencing a much faster battery drain then before (my usage has remained constant pre and post PR1.1 update). I would say that I'm probably getting 30% less life per charge now.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

Sorry not possible :|

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

Just to add a positive note to PR1.1: After updating I have the impression the battery lasts longer (approx. 20h compared to approx. 15h before). Hower this is just a feeling as my usage pattern is very variable. Did one day mainly on WLAN and one day mainly on 3G wih browsing, e-mail some chat and SMS.

Re: PR1.1 has introduced a battery drain bug (not wifi related)
 

****!

Then, Nokia, PLEASE! Fix this!

Re: PR1.1 and unusual battery drain (not wifi related)
 

Okay, I dunno what exactly did the trick, but uninstalling a few apps and changing the theme back to the default one (blue Nokia N-series, from the maemo.org theme) seems to keep the battery in check. I've had it idling for a few hours without any drain.

Phew.

Re: PR1.1 and unusual battery drain (not wifi related)
 

hmmm that's interesting, what apps did you uninstall exactly? i don't have anything running on the desktop, just a few contact shortcuts and icons for some apps...

i customerized wallpaper and brightness is set to the third level. the only thing i have installed is google-pinyin (for chinese input) and that's about it... i don't see how anything could affect the battery.

connection is set to 2g or 3g but places i go mostly have good 3g signal...

Re: PR1.1 and unusual battery drain (not wifi related)
 

For me, I set my skype account offline and now all is well, still 87% batt. level left after almost 12 hours of using the phone for cals, sms, internet and wifi.

I will try skype again tomorrow, and let you know how it goes.

for now, I love my phone again! :-)

Re: PR1.1 and unusual battery drain (not wifi related)
 

Does anyone know that with pre PR.1.1 the Xorg logfile /tmp/Xord.0.log was set to -logverbose? It now is and i have been seeing constant cpu usage at 6%.

Re: PR1.1 and unusual battery drain (not wifi related)
 

I really wish I'd remember :P I just began with the ones I didn't really need, or the ones I knew came from devel.

Firefox was one of the apps I remember I uninstalled. I installed it again a few hours ago, and sure enough, I THINK I'm seeing increased drainage again. I'll leave it idling overnight to see if it has drained and get back to you.

BTW, is it normal for hildon-home to use around 20% CPU constantly? It's doing it now and I don't like it!