Battery Power

[Guest]

My laptop seems to behave as though it's on battery power, even when the
brick is plugged in: When the brick is plugged in the battery icon appears
in the tool tray (or task bar - the bar across the bottom of the screen).
This used to only appear when the brick was un-plugged. If I remove the
battery, the icon is replaced by the AC power cord icon. My laptop does not
a battery when it is plugged in to an AC source. (The "charging" icon is
normally the AC power cord icon with a lightning bolt through it) I have set
up the Power Schemes to shut down the monitor after one minute when on
battery power, "never" when computer is plugged in. With the battery removed
(and the brick plugged in) the power scheme will shut shut down the monitor
after one minute.

Any ideas?

 

[Guest]

More: I'm running Windows XP Pro, SP2 with all updates (except IE7) on an
Averatec Laptop, model 6210.

 

[Rock]

My laptop seems to behave as though it's on battery power, even when the
brick is plugged in: When the brick is plugged in the battery icon
appears
in the tool tray (or task bar - the bar across the bottom of the screen).
This used to only appear when the brick was un-plugged. If I remove the
battery, the icon is replaced by the AC power cord icon. My laptop does
not
a battery when it is plugged in to an AC source. (The "charging" icon is
normally the AC power cord icon with a lightning bolt through it) I have
set
up the Power Schemes to shut down the monitor after one minute when on
battery power, "never" when computer is plugged in. With the battery
removed
(and the brick plugged in) the power scheme will shut shut down the
monitor
after one minute.

It's called the Notification Area of the taskbar. Have you contacted the
tech support for the computer? What's the history of the problem?

 

[Guest]

Rock:
I haven't contacted Averatec as the laptop is out of warranty. The system
performance kept degrading - probably the result of a virus - so I
re-installed the OS last week, and most of my software. I took the laptop on
a business trip this week and used it without issues on AC and battery power.
I just noticed today that the power schemes were behaving oddly. I also
had to re-install the video drivers from Averatec today as they somehow
became un-installed.

 

[Rock]

Rock:
I haven't contacted Averatec as the laptop is out of warranty. The system
performance kept degrading - probably the result of a virus - so I
re-installed the OS last week, and most of my software. I took the laptop
on
a business trip this week and used it without issues on AC and battery
power.
I just noticed today that the power schemes were behaving oddly. I also
had to re-install the video drivers from Averatec today as they somehow
became un-installed.

Is there a power management utility that needs to be installed?

 

[Guest]

I don't know. I didn't see one in the downloads page at the Averatec web
site. In the man time, I unplugged the brick and let the power run down and
then plugged the brick back in. It's charging now - and the icon is now the
power cord with the lightning bolt.

I'll check into whether I need a power management utility.

 

[BillW50]

Some laptops use some battery power while on AC as the power supply
isn't beefy enough to run the laptop at full power. I dunno, maybe this
is the reason.