ThinkPad Battery Power Management Tips

If your ThinkPad's battery seems to be running down quicker than you would expect then there it can be any one of a number of things. Check out the steps below to fault find any possible causes.

1. Set Up The Power Management Settings To Suit Your Own Preferences

a. Click the Battery Gauge icon in the system tray (see image at right) and then click Launch Power Manager, the Power Scheme window should now appear.
Note: Depending on which version of Power Manager or Battery Maximiser you're system is running, the following steps and screenshots may vary.




b. Click the Battery Information tab to see the condition of the battery.




Things to note.
• Battery Status
  - Green means the battery is in good condition.
  - Red indicates that the battery should be replaced. ThinkPad system batteries usually have a maximum warranty of one year.
  Note: If your battery needs replacing you can check out some prices at Ebatts.com
• Your battery's remaining time is calculated based on its current remaining capacity divided by the average current battery consumption. Obviously having the system processor set at Maximum Performance is going to consume more power and shorten the remaining time left in the battery.
• Tweaking the settings in the Power Scheme can greatly improve your ThinkPad's battery life and performance.


3. Disable your System's Screen Savers
Right click anywhere on the background of your desktop and then click Properties. The Display Properties window will now open. Click the Screen Saver tab and then select None from the drop down list, then click OK.

4. Remove Any Unecessary Programs From Your Start Up List
Each time you boot up your machine there will be a lot of applications that will start with Windows as well. They buzz away in the background chewing up power from your ThinkPad's battery and making an unecessary load on your laptop.

Finding which programs start automatically on your machine usually involves running some commands from the Run window but I find that most file cleaning applications also have a function that allows you to remove programs from the start up list as well. I use CCleaner for file cleanups and also to manage which programs I want to start with Windows.

Make sure you do some checking to see whether the application or program is actually needed to run at start up, a lot of them are helper apps for programs and utilities that need to run on your laptop.

Remove Any Hardware And Peripherals
To aid with testing disconnect devices one at a a time and make sure all your hardware is Advanced Power Management (APM) or Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) compliant. You can check this in the manufacturer's user guides that came with the devices.

Load Your Original Or An Earlier Configuration
Save your current settings using either ConfigSafe or by setting a System Restore point using System Restore in Windows XP. If you don't have either of these applications then you will have to load your original configuration (see next step).

To access System Restore, click Start, select All Programs, Accessories, System Tools and then click System Restore.

5. Loading The Original Configuration Back Into The BIOS

• For A,R,T and X series ThinkPad systems.
  a. Turn on the machine and as the "Press F1 for BIOS Setup Utility or the blue Access IBM button" message appears in the bottom left of the screen press the F1 key. You will now be in the BIOS Setup Utility Menu. Type in the correct password if prompted.
  b. Press the F9 key and then Yes to load the default configuration.
  c. Press F10 and then Yes to save the configuration changes and exit.
• For 600, 600E, 770, 770E/ED, 770X and 770Z ThinkPad systems.
  a. Hold down the F1 as you start the computer. Continue to hold it down until the Easy-Setup menu is displayed. Type in the correct password if prompted.
  b. Select Config, then Initialise, then click OK.
  c. Click Exit, then click Restart and then OK to restart the machine.