Stop auto hibernation of laptop

[paul3200]

is there any way of stopping the auto hibernation of my laptop when it gets to critical battery.
i want it only to warn me if it is possible

 

[richc46]

This is the Windows 7 power plan. If the shut down is a feature of your particular computer, you will have to check your computer manual.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/775-custom-power-plan-create-delete.html

 

[osholt]

When your laptop gets to critically low battery it has 2 options:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/778-power-plan-settings-change.html

It can hibernate and save whatever you were doing on screen or

Shutdown, not saving any of what you were doing.

The one thing it can't keep doing is stay switched on there isn't enough power for that.

You can tell your laptop to warn you when the battery gets down to a low percentage (maybe 10%) which would give you enough time to either finish what you were doing etc. or plug in the mains lead.

If you were to somehow disable auto hibernation then whenever your PC reached critical battery it would just keep running until there was literally no power left and just stop possibly causing major hardware damage.

Oli

 

[paul3200]

in power options the only options for 'Critical battery action' is Sleep, Hibernate and Shut down

 

[osholt]

in power options the only options for 'Critical battery action' is Sleep, Hibernate and Shut down

This is what you would expect.

Any other option such as 'ignore' could cause serious hardware damage.

Oli

 

[paul3200]

the thing is i want it to run down and power off because it keeps the battery good

 

[osholt]

It may keep the battery good but if your HDD runs down and spins down slowly, that could cause irreversible damage.

The very small amount of battery protection is pointless when there is a high likely hood of breaking your HDD and other hardware.

Oli

 

[richc46]

If you let your battery charge get to the point that the computer shuts down, that will serve your purpose. Read this no need to discharge completly, just discharge until you receive a warning or computer shuts down.
http://www.ehow.com/way_5378888_laptop-battery-maintenance-tips.html

 

[CarlTR6]

If you let your battery charge get to the point that the computer shuts down, that will serve your purpose. Read this no need to discharge completly, just discharge until you receive a warning or computer shuts down.
Best Way - Laptop Battery Maintenance Tips | eHow.com

+1 Rich is exactly right.

 

[richc46]

Thank you Carl, there is a lot of misunderstanding about battery care. Another valuable service of the forum is correcting the misconception.

 

[CarlTR6]

Thank you Carl, there is a lot of misunderstanding about battery care. Another valuable service of the forum is correcting the misconception.

You are welcome. And, indeed, that is a very valuable service.

 

[CommonTater]

the thing is i want it to run down and power off because it keeps the battery good

Paul... is your laptop on Ni-Cad batteries?

If not, no worries... just charge it up whenever you need it topped off.

You won't hurt your batteries one bit by either a) charging from partly used or b) leaving them on charge for long periods of time.... The old "Battery Memory" thing went out the window with Nickel Cadmium.

 

[paul3200]

hey guys thanks for all your help.
but i have just upgraded this laptop to windows 7 and it says the hdd is going to fail.
so FAIL :-( on my behalf

 

[CommonTater]

hey guys thanks for all your help.
but i have just upgraded this laptop to windows 7 and it says the hdd is going to fail.
so FAIL :-( on my behalf

You need a backup ... not a battery drainer.

 

[Wadzii]

I'm trying to do the same thing. The lowest it will let me set the critical batter level is 5%, but with my 9cell battery 5% is still a significant amount of time.

The work I do on the laptop doesn't stress the battery much at all, it will typically last me around 10 hours and I am rarely near an outlet until I'm done with work.

 

[MrPete]

Sorry, you all gave a bad answer!

The advice to allow Windows to "hibernate" when battery level hits 2% (the lowest available "critical" battery level) is flat-out WRONG.

The correct answer: modern batteries require recalibration at regular intervals (typically 2-3 times a year) to stay smart about their own capacity. If you do not do this, the calibration will go out of whack, leaving you with a battery that appears to have gone bad when it has not. I've seen plenty of batteries that quickly go down to a critical level (typically 1-3 percent) but if the right settings are made, can continue to operate for at least an hour longer without trouble! This is one evidence of an uncalibrated battery.

What to do? Learn proper recalibration, and learn how to get around the bug (!) in Windows 7 that prevents recalibration.

Proper recalibration:
- The goal: help the battery understand its max possible power that can be used.
1) Charge the battery ALL the way. In fact, unplug for a minute, then replug and let it charge more. Keep charging until it won't hold more.
2) Unplug, let it drain. Use the laptop "lightly" -- don't try to hurry this step.
3) Of course, save your work and exit all programs when you suspect the end is near...
4) Wait for the computer to completely run out of battery... and shut down
5) Try to power on again, at least into the BIOS. Again, let it run out...
6) I even try pulling the battery and reinserting... and repeating...

At this point, you've done everything possible to drain that battery. Recalibration is done. Now you can recharge and use as usual.

Important notes:
a) Windows 7 makes the above process impossible, because "Do Nothing" is not a valid choice for critical battery action. What to do?
- Create a new Power scheme, called something like "Recalibrate"
- at an administrative command prompt, do the following:
“powercfg -setdcvalueindex SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_BATTERY BATACTIONCRIT 0"
(without the quotes). This will supposedly set the Critical Action to "Nothing" even though not available!
b) To better monitor what is going on with your battery, try the free trial version of BatteryMon from PassMark. I actually paid for a copy long ago... it is quite helpful.

c) There is NO WAY you will do "serious damage" to your laptop hardware by running it until the battery forces a shutdown. Think about it: your BIOS allows this at any time. Windows 7 arbitrarily shuts down early... to the detriment of your battery calibration.

d) I have NOT yet fully tested the above "powercfg" method...and do not know for sure if it will accomplish the goal. Feedback welcome! (My first Windows 7 laptop is being tested as I write )

Blessings,
Pete