power manager does not detect changes in power source

[koshkamau]

 * csd version ('dpkg --list | grep cinnamon-settings-daemon' in Mint/Ubuntu)
 * Distribution - (Mint 17.2, Arch, Fedora 25, etc...)
 * Graphics hardware *and* driver used
 * 32 or 64 bit

Linux mint cinnamon
17.2 x64, 18.2 x64, apparently 18.3 x64

Issue
Please, read more here: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=202512&p=1053971#p1053971
I've written three posts there as "riseman"

Linux mint remembers its power source only upon boot up or entering-leaving power settings.
So, if laptop has booted on AC and then switched on BAT - it will still think that it is on AC.
This leads to problems when you have different power plans for different power sources.
In my case - my laptop won't suspend after electricity goes down, because it has "always on" plan for AC.
The problem can be partially avoided by using screensaver, but only partially and I don't need a screensaver.

Steps to reproduce

I have these settings:

Screensaver:

• screen locker
• lock the computer when put to sleen - ON
• lock the computer when the screen turns off - OFF
• lock the computer when inactive - NEVER

Power Management main:

• Turn off screen when inactive for - NEVER(AC) / 10 min.(battery)
• Suspend when inactive for - NEVER(AC) / 30 min.(battery)
• When the lid closed - Do nothing in both cases

Power Management brightness:

• On battery, dim screen when inactive - ON
• Brightness level when inactive - 5%
• Dim screen after inactive for - 2min.

I have a strange laptop's behavior with these settings.

Examples:

(1) the laptop is turned off and external power is not connected.
(2) Switching on, logging in, connecting external power.
(3) waiting
(4) Screen NOT dimming after 2 minutes of inactivity, but display is turned off after 10 minutes and suspend after 30 minutes.

(1) the laptop is turned off and external power is connected
(2) Switching on, logging in, disconnecting external power
(3) waiting
(4) Screen dimming after 2 minutes of inactivity, but display does not turned off after 10 minutes and laptop does not go to suspend.

Expected behaviour
in the first example on step (4) display shouldn't turn off and laptop shouldn't go to sleep because power source is AC

in the second example on step (4) screen should turn off after 10 minutes and the laptop should go to sleep after 30 minutes because power source is BATTERY.

Other information

I am sorry, I do not have any linux laptop now and I can't easily give you the version number of the daemon, drivers etc.
I personally faced this horrible problem in Linux mint 17.2 64bit and it still existed in 18.2 64 bit when I erased it from my laptop.
I didn't understand that I should write about this problem here, on github, so I wrote on linuxmint forum.
When linuxmint 18.3 beta appeared I asked a question on linuxmint blog about the status of this issue. Luckily, they noticed me and told that I should create an issue here. So, apparently, problem still exists in 18.3
I personally had this problem on Thinkpad x201 and Thinkpad x240. I also asked my friend to test this on his laptop (I don't know exact model but it is based on AMD APU) and he confirmed that the problem exists.

[buck2202]

This has affected me also...my laptop would go to sleep automatically while plugged in, seemingly randomly. My settings were
screensaver: 15m
sleep (battery): 10m
sleep (ac): never

I've swapped the screensaver/sleep (battery) timeouts to test koshkamau's theory.

[koshkamau]

The "theory" about significance of screensaver timeout is not mine. I luckily found it here

Screensaver is not a good way for me to solve this problem so I've made a simple daemon, which simulates access to power-settings menu (it writes to org.cinnamon.settings-daemon.plugins.power sleep-display-battery using gsettings) and it has solved this problem completely at least on Linux Mint 18.2

[buck2202]

Just following up. Setting a screensaver timeout that is less than either the A/C or battery sleep timeout has sidestepped the issue for me. I don't really want the screensaver, but this is the most attractive workaround to me.

cinnamon-settings-daemon 3.6.2+sylvia amd64
Release: 18.3
Codename: sylvia

[andreabellitto]

The screensaver one is a really bad workarround and even less solution...

[machineghost]

I disagree, it's totally a valid solution (thanks for posting it buck2202, and thanks koshkamau for helping me understand what was happening in the first place with your excellent blog post).

But with that said, it's clearly counter to the whole idea of screensavers and power management being separate if power management has a (SECRET) dependency on the screensaver. At the very least there should be a note on the power saving dialog ("only works when screensaver is enabled and triggers at least one minute before the power saving triggers") ... but obviously a better solution would be to remove the dependency.

[koshkamau]

I beg to differ.
Screensaver solution has one significant flaw. The system checks power state only during the start of screensaver. If power state changed again after screensaver had been started - the system won't notice this.
So, the power plan which was actual on the moment of screensaver activation will be used when time comes to make decision - "to switch off or not to switch off" the whole system.

Actually, it's a poor design. It is so poor that I would cry every night if I did this.

[RecNes]

This problem is affecting my laptop too.

[xavierhd]

Just a heads-up, does the Kernel update 4.13.0-38.43 fix your problem? I know the change are Asus related, but maybe...
The changelog state :

• [Asus UX360UA] battery status in unity-panel is not changing when battery is
  being charged (LP: #1661876) // AC adapter status not detected on Asus
  ZenBook UX410UAK (LP: #1745032)

  • ACPI / battery: Add quirk for Asus UX360UA and UX410UAK

• ASUS UX305LA - Battery state not detected correctly (LP: #1482390)

  • ACPI / battery: Add quirk for Asus GL502VSK and UX305LA

[xavierhd]

I just tested 4.13.0-38.43 with the steps to reproduce, that was not it, the issue is still there.

[rschouwenburg]

The OP issue affects me too and the UX for me is very confusing. If the screensaver does not kick in before the suspend than my laptop does not suspend even when it's configured to do so after a timeout. If I switch from battery to AC power it still suspends even though it's configured to not suspend on AC power.

[clefebvre]

Hi,

Can you provide the output the command below when on AC, and then after removing the plug and switching to battery?

upower --dump

This should show us whether upower reacts to the power source change.

I'd like to know also if the power applet reacts to that change.

[rschouwenburg]

Of course - thanks for looking into this. Here are mine:

upower-dump-on-ac.txt

upower-dump-on-bat.txt

The power applet changes its icon correctly.

[clefebvre]

Cool, then it's probably on our side :)

Can you investigate the csd-power output? You can run it in verbose mode after killing it twice (cause csm restarts it once):

killall csd-power
killall csd-power
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/cinnamon-settings-daemon/csd-power --verbose

What does it output when switching power sources?

also, using d-feet, browse the session bus, go to org.cinnamon.SettingsDaemon.Power -> org/cinnamon/SettingsDaemon.Power, Methods, and double-click "GetDevices" and "GetPrimaryDevices" to run them (click the Execute button). This should list the power devices as seen by CSD and which one is considered the primary power device.

[rschouwenburg]

This is the output from csd-power - I started on AC and then to battery.

csd-power-verbose-output.txt

getDevices:
([('/org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/line_power_AC0', '', '', uint32 1, '. GThemedIcon ac-adapter-symbolic ac-adapter ', 0.0, uint32 0, uint64 0), ('/org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0', 'Kollur', 'BASE-BAT', 2, '. GThemedIcon battery-full-symbolic gpm-battery-060 battery-full ', 62.0, 2, 3930)],)

getPrimaryDevices:
(('/org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0', 'Kollur', 'BASE-BAT', uint32 2, '. GThemedIcon battery-full-symbolic gpm-battery-060 battery-full ', 61.0, uint32 2, uint64 11523),)