Laptop with no AC Power

SquillSquill Chesterfield, Va
edited December 2006 in Hardware
Just a quick question, when playing games like WoW, my laptop slows down alot when I disconnect the AC power. I know it does it to save power, but how/can I turn it off so that it doesnt do that? Thanks.

Comments

  • danball1976danball1976 Wichita Falls, TX
    edited December 2006
    You would have to go into the BIOS to change the battery power usage settings.

    You might have to use F2 (Dell) or whatever the screen prompts you to do.
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited December 2006
    You may also want to make changes in your power management settings.

    Right-click on your [Desktop]
    Choose [Properties] at the bottom
    Click on the [Screen Saver] tab
    Click on the [Power] button at the bottom right
    You'll be at the [Power Schemes] tab
    Adjust the settings under [Running On Batteries]
    Click [Apply]
    Click on the [Hibernate] tab
    Disable Hibernation
    Click [Apply] and/or [OK]

    You might want to disable windows power management of your NIC (network interface card) in Device Manager as well. Let us know if you need to know how to do that.
  • zero-counterzero-counter Linux Lubber San Antonio Member
    edited December 2006
    Squill wrote:
    Just a quick question, when playing games like WoW, my laptop slows down alot when I disconnect the AC power. I know it does it to save power, but how/can I turn it off so that it doesnt do that? Thanks.
    You can set the power profile to ALWAYS ON to disable power timeouts, but it will drain battery power considerably. Additionally as suggested, check your BIOS for the overriding power saving features and disable them.
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited December 2006
    You can set the power profile to ALWAYS ON to disable power timeouts, but it will drain battery power considerably. Additionally as suggested, check your BIOS for the overriding power saving features and disable them.

    I agree but don't know anyway around it. Would modifying the BIOS power management configuration be less taxing on the battery?
  • zero-counterzero-counter Linux Lubber San Antonio Member
    edited December 2006
    I agree but don't know anyway around it. Would modifying the BIOS power management configuration be less taxing on the battery?
    Some laptops' BIOS options for ACPI offer the ability to darken the screen, throttle CPU power usage, etc. which are not evident or available options within windows (AMD Cool 'n Quiet being the exception among the Intel copy). These setting are independent of the windows power management settings and can negatively affect his gaming performance while allowing for power saving features on the battery.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    Also if it is running a Nvidia card, it will also have GPU power settings in the drivers.
  • SquillSquill Chesterfield, Va
    edited December 2006
    Yeah I checked the BIOS and found nothing, I have a Dell Inspiron E1505 w/ an ATI card in case that helps anyone, I played around with the power schemes and that didn't seem to work either. The hibernation thing doesn't decrease power consumption it's just like system stand by but it completely shuts down instead of shutting down a few key devices. Let me check and see if there are any video card settings that may be effected.
  • SquillSquill Chesterfield, Va
    edited December 2006
    There we go, found the problem, ATI Catalyst control center has a tab called "Powerplay" and it has settings for power. These stupid little problems always have the easiest solutions. Blah. I do appreciate the help everyone!
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited December 2006
    Good info. ya'll. Thankyou for the explanation, too zero.counter. So, am I to understand that if you disable the CPU throttle and display darkening in the BIOS that it won't significantly impact the battery load?

    ---

    Right you are about "Hibernation" Squill. I've just always disabled it as it is a pet pieve of mine. I may change my mind, though, once I purchase a new (modern :tongue2: ) laptop.
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