PCTech Forums

I have a Toshiba laptop, about a year old, and I always run direct from the AC power supply, however recently I startred taking my laptop on my long journeys and the battery runs out sooo fast!! I mean in an hour it will go from 99% down to 2 or 3, this is with only MS Word open typing. When I first got the laptop, I did use the battery and like a cell phone charged it up then let it go empty before charging again, I did this a few times to ensure I got the most out of it.

I think a contributing problem is the power management scheme fails to actually perform. When I change all the settings for battery mode (like turn screen darkness down, turn hard drives off, go on standy after X amount etc) and click apply, ok.. it doesnt actually happen, the screen stays bright etc.

Any ideas?

Boot into your Bios and make sure you have APM enabled.
Do you know if you have ACPI? Look in "Device Manager" under "System". See if there are any problems there.
brad

hey brad, i dont know how to do that BIOS thing... and no, I cant see any problems under device manager......and how do I check if that thing is on my comp? ( the ACPI)

To enter the Bios... Watch when your Computer first boots. It will tell you what Key to hit to enter setup. (Bios) Usually it's F1 or Del.
Once in there, look for Power Management or similar and see if APM is enabled.
In "Device Manager" click the + next to "System Devices". See if there's a bunch of ACPI icons there. Do any of them have a yellow ! or ? in front of them?
brad

hey brad, under device manager i have the following-

-ACPI fixed feature button
-ACPI lid
-Microsoft ACPI- Compilant Embedded Controller
-Microsoft ACPI- Compilant system

none of these have any problems, but I cannot access my BIOS. It says press F2, but when I do nothin happens it just continues to load. I tried a few other keys, but nothing. Is there any way to access it?

What Model?
On selected Toshiba models you can hold the ESC key during boot which will then prompt you to press the F1 key to enter the BIOS.

Others you actually boot normal and use a Toshiba utility.
brad

Its a Toshiba Satelite 1110

Does the Toshiba have a separate Power Management Program?
brad

Hey Brad, yes it does, thats the only way to change the settings. If you try to do it from the control panel, a message pops up saying '' to adjust power options, close microsoft power options and open Toshiba power management''

Thanks

so any ideas anyone?

Can you uninstall the Power Management Utility?
Then here's Toshiba's Link to the new one you can download and install.


brad

hey, uninstalled it and installed from the site, made no difference

Going back to the Bios. Did you see a tab for Power?
Is there a setting under Power for "DC Mode Power Savings"?
What settings are available under "Power"?
brad