[Gllug] laptop battery problem

[salsaman]

Hi all,
I have a laptop which seems to be overheating, so I have decided to send 
it back for repair. On further investigation, it turns out that the 
overheating is most likely related to the battery. If I leave the laptop 
switched off but plugged in overnight, then in the morning it is very 
hot. If I leave it not charging, then it has cooled down. Also, if I 
leave it plugged in whilst using it, then it gets very hot. However if I 
keep unplugging it so that the battery is always slightly undercharged, 
the heating problems don't occur.

The other thing I notice is that, even after leaving it plugged in for a 
night, the battery display never shows 100%, it is always something like 
70%.

My theory is that the battery is getting fully charged, but the machine 
is not recognising this, and is trying to keep charging it, which leads 
to the excess power being dissipated as heat. The PSU is rather large on 
this machine, and it also gets very hot - which somewhat confirms my 
theory. This is a recent problem, the laptop is almost 3 years old (so 
the warranty expires soon), and the problems have been happening over 
the last 6 months or so.

Before I send it back though, I was wondering if it could be the fault 
of the operating system. Is it possible that Linux is misreporting the 
battery charge ? How could I possibly check for this ?

Any suggestions/advice appreciated.

Gabriel.

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