I have an older laptop (about 3 years old) running Windows XP.
I can't get automatic power management to work. Using the Power
Settings in window in XP, I set times for Standby and Hibernate on
battery power. XP just ignores these settings and runs the battery
down to nothing.
I can choose Hibernate or Standy from the shutdown menu (or sleep
button) and it works just fine.
The display turns off at the time I specify and stays off until I
touch the mouse or keyboard.
I am assuming that if the "manual" Standby and Hibernate works then
the BIOS setings must be correct. I looked at the BIOS APM settings
and it was not clear at all which settings to enable/disable.

BDS

On Jul 21, 4:37 pm, sparks...@centurytel.net wrote:
> I have an older laptop (about 3 years old) running Windows XP.
> I can't get automatic power management to work. Using the Power
> Settings in window in XP, I set times for Standby and Hibernate on
> battery power. XP just ignores these settings and runs the battery
> down to nothing.
> I can choose Hibernate or Standy from the shutdown menu (or sleep
> button) and it works just fine.
> The display turns off at the time I specify and stays off until I
> touch the mouse or keyboard.
> I am assuming that if the "manual" Standby and Hibernate works then
> the BIOS setings must be correct. I looked at the BIOS APM settings
> and it was not clear at all which settings to enable/disable.
>
> BDS

Just tried changing the settings for the low battery alarm in XP and
the laptop went into standby on the critical battery alarm exactly
with no problem. Definitly an XP issue.
Next step is to disable everything in MSCONFIG startup and try again.

Ok, even more confused but closer to solution. Booting with all
startup items disabled had no effect.
If I select one of the default options in the power management window
(Max Battery or Portable/Laptop, for example) everything works.
I will test variations of these default settings to see when it
"breaks". I suspect it may have something to do with saving the power
profile. It looks like changing the settings has no effect (even if
you click "Apply") unless you "save" or "save as".

BDS

Now, I modified and saved a new power profile and it doesn't work.
Apparently any deviations from the default profiles are not tolerated
by XP. If I change the standby time from 5 min. to 15 for example,
standby will not happen unless a battery alarm action is set to
standby.

BTW, I checked another laptop and got the same result. Am I the only
one or is this just another windows bug that eveybody lives with?

BDS

On Sat, 21 Jul 2007 22:45:10 -0700, sparks691@centurytel.net wrote:

> Now, I modified and saved a new power profile and it doesn't work.
> Apparently any deviations from the default profiles are not tolerated
> by XP. If I change the standby time from 5 min. to 15 for example,
> standby will not happen unless a battery alarm action is set to
> standby.
>
> BTW, I checked another laptop and got the same result. Am I the only
> one or is this just another windows bug that eveybody lives with?
>
> BDS

What brand of laptop is it? I have a Sony and it has its own Power
Management setup which overrides Windows. If you have a laptop with its
own Power Management setting, you might want to check there.

Patty