PineNote v1.2 - Charges Never Enter "Charging" State (Factory OS, RK817 Below Minimum

[ttsp]

I'm looking for help determining whether this is a software issue (kernel/device tree/RK817 driver) or a hardware failure before pursuing an RMA.
Hardware

• PineNote v1.2 (Community Edition)
  
• Original factory-installed OS (never replaced or reinstalled)
  
• Current kernel:
  
  Code:

  6.12.11-pinenote-202501281646-00249-g211ba27556cc
• Installed kernel package:
  
  Code:

  linux-image-pinenote-stable 1.7

Timeline
The device arrived with approximately 40% battery.
I never installed an alternate operating system. The charging problem occurred on the factory-installed OS within the first day after unboxing.
The device operated normally from its initial battery charge but never successfully charged from any charger.
Eventually the battery discharged to 0%.
The interesting part is that the PineNote still boots and runs normally when external USB power is connected. I can SSH into it and run diagnostics. The only failure appears to be that the battery never actually charges.
Chargers Tested
I tested all of the following:

• OEM USB-A ↔ USB-C cable
  
• USB-A wall charger
  
• USB-A laptop port
  
• 65 W USB-C PD laptop charger
  

Behavior is identical with every charger.
When powered off and connected to power, the charging animation appears on the display.
I also left it connected overnight while powered off.
Battery level remained at 0%.
USB Issue
Initially the device was affected by the USB issue described in PNDeb Issue #106.
After applying the recommended fix:

Code:

lsusb

works normally.
USB connectivity appears completely functional now.
Charging behavior did not change.
This makes me think the USB problem and the charging problem are unrelated.
Diagnostics
Battery state:

Code:

cat /sys/class/power_supply/rk-bat/uevent

Relevant output:

Code:

POWER_SUPPLY_STATUS=Discharging
POWER_SUPPLY_CAPACITY=0
POWER_SUPPLY_CURRENT_AVG=-168560
POWER_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE_AVG=346xxxx

The important point is that the battery never transitions to:

Code:

POWER_SUPPLY_STATUS=Charging

even while external power is connected.

---

Charger state:

Code:

cat /sys/class/power_supply/usb/uevent

Relevant output:

Code:

POWER_SUPPLY_ONLINE=1
POWER_SUPPLY_USB_TYPE=Unknown [DCP]
POWER_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE_AVG=452xxxx

So Linux clearly detects external power.

---

Kernel messages:

Code:

dmesg | grep -i rk817

produces repeated messages similar to:

Code:

rk817-charger: Battery voltage 3465880 below minimum voltage 3500000
rk817-charger: Battery voltage 3477640 below minimum voltage 3500000
rk817-charger: Battery voltage 3483240 below minimum voltage 3500000

I do not see any other charger-related or battery-related errors.
Package Status
Kernel package is already current:

Code:

apt update
apt list --upgradable
apt policy linux-image-pinenote-stable

No newer PineNote kernel is available.
What Seems to Be Happening
From everything I've observed:

• USB is functioning.
  
• External power is detected.
  
• Charger is detected (
  
  Code:

  ONLINE=1
  ).
  
• Battery is detected.
  
• The device boots and runs on external power.
  
• The battery never enters the
  
  Code:

  Charging
  state.
  
• Battery voltage remains below the RK817 minimum threshold (~3.5 V).
  
• The battery never recovers, even after being connected overnight.
  

Questions

1. Has anyone seen the RK817 refuse to perform pre-charge when the battery falls below approximately 3.5 V?
   
2. Is there a known device-tree or kernel configuration issue that could prevent pre-charging?
   
3. Is there a way to determine from software whether the battery protection circuit has tripped?
   
4. Are there any additional diagnostics I should collect (debugfs, I2C register dumps, RK817 register reads, etc.)?
   
5. Does this behavior point more toward a failed battery or charging hardware than a software problem?
   

Any guidance from people familiar with the RK817 charger implementation or PineNote power management would be greatly appreciated.


Here are various diagnostic commands and their return values:

===== DATE =====
$ date
Thu Jul  2 08:50:52 UTC 2026

===== KERNEL =====
$ uname -a
Linux pinenote 6.12.11-pinenote-202501281646-00249-g211ba27556cc #1 SMP Tue Jan 28 17:04:28 CST 2025 aarch64 GNU/Linux

===== OS RELEASE =====
$ cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux trixie/sid"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_CODENAME=trixie
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"

===== KERNEL PACKAGE =====
$ dpkg -l | grep linux-image-pinenote || true
ii  linux-image-pinenote-stable                                    1.7                            all          Linux for the PineNote (meta-package)

===== POWER SUPPLY DEVICES =====
$ ls -l /sys/class/power_supply/
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Jul 12  2026 rk817-battery -> ../../devices/platform/fdd40000.i2c/i2c-0/0-0020/rk817-charger.7.auto/power_supply/rk817-battery
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Jul 12  2026 rk817-charger -> ../../devices/platform/fdd40000.i2c/i2c-0/0-0020/rk817-charger.7.auto/power_supply/rk817-charger

===== BATTERY SUMMARY =====
$ grep -E 'POWER_SUPPLY_(PRESENT|STATUS|CAPACITY|VOLTAGE_AVG|CURRENT_AVG|VOLTAGE_MIN_DESIGN|VOLTAGE_MAX_DESIGN|CHARGE_NOW|CHARGE_FULL|CHARGE_TYPE)' /sys/class/power_supply/rk817-battery/uevent
POWER_SUPPLY_PRESENT=1
POWER_SUPPLY_STATUS=Discharging
POWER_SUPPLY_CHARGE_TYPE=Standard
POWER_SUPPLY_CHARGE_FULL=4000000
POWER_SUPPLY_CHARGE_FULL_DESIGN=4000000
POWER_SUPPLY_CHARGE_NOW=1237024
POWER_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE_AVG=3750360
POWER_SUPPLY_CURRENT_AVG=-179912
POWER_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE_MIN_DESIGN=3500000
POWER_SUPPLY_CAPACITY=31
POWER_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE_MAX_DESIGN=4200000

===== CHARGER SUMMARY =====
$ grep -E 'POWER_SUPPLY_(ONLINE|USB_TYPE|VOLTAGE_AVG|VOLTAGE_MIN_DESIGN|VOLTAGE_MAX_DESIGN)' /sys/class/power_supply/rk817-charger/uevent
POWER_SUPPLY_ONLINE=1
POWER_SUPPLY_USB_TYPE=Unknown [DCP]
POWER_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE_MAX_DESIGN=5500000
POWER_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE_MIN_DESIGN=3800000
POWER_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE_AVG=4516000

===== FULL BATTERY UEVENT =====
$ cat /sys/class/power_supply/rk817-battery/uevent
DEVTYPE=power_supply
OF_NAME=charger
OF_FULLNAME=/i2c@fdd40000/pmic@20/charger
OF_COMPATIBLE_N=0
POWER_SUPPLY_NAME=rk817-battery
POWER_SUPPLY_TYPE=Battery
POWER_SUPPLY_PRESENT=1
POWER_SUPPLY_STATUS=Discharging
POWER_SUPPLY_CHARGE_TYPE=Standard
POWER_SUPPLY_CHARGE_FULL=4000000
POWER_SUPPLY_CHARGE_FULL_DESIGN=4000000
POWER_SUPPLY_CHARGE_EMPTY_DESIGN=0
POWER_SUPPLY_CHARGE_NOW=1237024
POWER_SUPPLY_CONSTANT_CHARGE_VOLTAGE_MAX=4200000
POWER_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE_AVG=3750360
POWER_SUPPLY_CONSTANT_CHARGE_CURRENT_MAX=2000000
POWER_SUPPLY_CURRENT_AVG=-179912
POWER_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE_MIN_DESIGN=3500000
POWER_SUPPLY_CAPACITY=31
POWER_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE_MAX_DESIGN=4200000
POWER_SUPPLY_CHARGE_TERM_CURRENT=300000

===== FULL CHARGER UEVENT =====
$ cat /sys/class/power_supply/rk817-charger/uevent
DEVTYPE=power_supply
OF_NAME=charger
OF_FULLNAME=/i2c@fdd40000/pmic@20/charger
OF_COMPATIBLE_N=0
POWER_SUPPLY_NAME=rk817-charger
POWER_SUPPLY_TYPE=USB
POWER_SUPPLY_ONLINE=1
POWER_SUPPLY_USB_TYPE=Unknown [DCP]
POWER_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE_MAX_DESIGN=5500000
POWER_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE_MIN_DESIGN=3800000
POWER_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE_AVG=4516000

===== POWER-RELATED DMESG =====
$ dmesg | grep -Ei 'rk817|battery|charger|charge|power_supply' || true