FW16 7840HS/7700S Battery Test

Laptop has a

  • 7840HS
  • 7700S GPU module
  • BIOS 0.3.0.5.
  • Kubuntu 24.04.
  • No external display setup.
  • Nothing drawing power from USB slots.
  • One USBC ethernet adappter installed.

I had run into several, seemingly random complete power loss scenarios (when the laptop is put under load) with the FW16 and am in a thread on the forums with other folks who have reported similar issues. While testing I have noticed the following behavior, and wanted to see if anyone else who could monitor the power draw also sees the behavior.

Part of the issue appears to be related to the battery. Why is the laptop constantly draining and charging the battery while the laptop is plugged in under a load?

Power draw monitor connected directly between the wall and charger. The game I am using is Warframe, however the behavior is consistent across other games. I am using the offered 180W power supply during checkout.

Battery Installed. BIOS charge capped at 60%

  • Idle: 27W
  • Idle and battery charging: 100W
  • In Game: 177W

While in game the battery will lose charge, Kubuntu provides an on and off error indicating the power supply is insufficient to charge the battery.

Battery REMOVED

  • Idle: 27W
  • In game: 108W.

Performance is the same, benchmarking provides results within error of margin between battery installed and battery removed. Cooling fans are significantly louder, with 70W more power draw from the charger alone this makes sense. But why is the laptop drawing almost 70 more watts to charge the battery that should be sitting there, unused?

I've been using gaming laptops for several decades at this point and I have never run into an issue like this. I am going to try a Win10 install tomorrow to ensure this is not specifically an OS issue however I have tried multiple Linux distros so far and the behavior is consistent across them.

No idea what the issue is, but it seems like there is some sort of concern in the power delivery setup of the laptop, whether hardware, firmware, or software.

If anyone else can attempt a similar monitoring of the power draw to see if they notice the same behavior, but I wager someone will with all the reports of poor battery life out there making me wonder if this is happening to others who aren't noticing the constant charge and drain on the battery for no reason.