How to avoid standby?

[JMF]

I have a new WinXP Home Edition laptop (Sharp MP30).

I've configured the power options so that it never goes into standby when
it's hooked up to power.

But it does anyway.

In fact, no matter how I try to configure the power options, I can't keep it
from going into standby after, oh, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, something like
that. (When it has been idle, of course - it's not crazy enough to go into
standby when I'm working)

Now, this isn't fatal, but I'd like to find out how to do it. I have a vague
recollection of reading that sometimes the computers themselves override the
software's no-standby instructions and just do it anyway.

Well, anyway, does somebody know something about this issue?

Thanks for any ideas,

John

 

[Unknown]

Not familar with Sharp. However does it know the difference between battery
operation or AC line? Did you try setting the standby minutes to 'never'?.

 

[JMF]

Hi Unknown,

Yes, it can tell if the computer is on AC line or battery. At least, I see
the icon change when I plug it in. I've also tried pretty much all the
settings in the power options, including "never" for standby. I even
disabled hibernation to be sure nothing was going on there. I even set
standby to "5 hours" or something like that, and it still went into standby
after 20 minutes or 30 minutes or whatever it is. It's as though it's just
sitting there in one set of power option settings, and no matter what I do,
it stays there, ignoring all the power option settings I change.

As I said, it's not a disaster, but it sure is strange, and it's kind of a
pain in the neck to have to log in every time the computer has been sitting
there for a while.

John

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP]

I have a new WinXP Home Edition laptop (Sharp MP30).

I've configured the power options so that it never goes into standby
when it's hooked up to power.

But it does anyway.

In fact, no matter how I try to configure the power options, I can't
keep it from going into standby after, oh, 20 minutes, 30 minutes,
something like that. (When it has been idle, of course - it's not
crazy enough to go into standby when I'm working)

Now, this isn't fatal, but I'd like to find out how to do it. I have
a vague recollection of reading that sometimes the computers
themselves override the software's no-standby instructions and just
do it anyway.

Well, anyway, does somebody know something about this issue?

Thanks for any ideas,

John

Does it do this while on AC?

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE
Please respond in Newsgroup only. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com./athome/security/protect/default.aspx
http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/

 

[JMF]

Does it do this while on AC?

Right - that's the mysterious thing. It does it even on AC.

John

 

[Leythos]

Hi Unknown,

Yes, it can tell if the computer is on AC line or battery. At least, I see
the icon change when I plug it in. I've also tried pretty much all the
settings in the power options, including "never" for standby. I even
disabled hibernation to be sure nothing was going on there. I even set
standby to "5 hours" or something like that, and it still went into standby
after 20 minutes or 30 minutes or whatever it is. It's as though it's just
sitting there in one set of power option settings, and no matter what I do,
it stays there, ignoring all the power option settings I change.

As I said, it's not a disaster, but it sure is strange, and it's kind of a
pain in the neck to have to log in every time the computer has been sitting
there for a while.

Many times it's a battery issue or a communications issue. I've seen
Belkin and APC units with bad communication cables do this, and I've
also seen ones with a bad/weak battery cause this. Many times the unit
will appear to be working perfectly, but then a subtle drop in line
voltage, not enough to cause the system to reboot or maybe not even
enough to see in the lights, will cause the UPS to supply power and if
the battery is weak or bad, the unit will go to stand-by.

 

[JMF]

Many times it's a battery issue or a communications issue. I've seen
Belkin and APC units with bad communication cables do this, and I've
also seen ones with a bad/weak battery cause this. Many times the unit
will appear to be working perfectly, but then a subtle drop in line
voltage, not enough to cause the system to reboot or maybe not even
enough to see in the lights, will cause the UPS to supply power and if
the battery is weak or bad, the unit will go to stand-by.

Interesting. OK, I'll monitor this aspect. Thanks!

John

 

[JMF]

My brother wrote this to me:

"This is usually because there is some other power management utility
overriding whatever you're using to make this setting - probably a Sharp
utility. This is true for my IBM. IBM has there own power management
utility that trumps whatever you try to set using the utility in
Windows."

And by golly, this is what I had vaguely been remembering: sometimes it's
the computer itself overriding the software. So I'm snooping around to see
if the Sharp laptop has its own power utility that's getting in the way.

John

 

[Unknown]

Not sure if your computer complies with ACPI (Advanced Computer Power
Interface). However, have you tried configuring your computer (in power
options) as a desktop?

 

[Malke]

Not sure if your computer complies with ACPI (Advanced Computer Power
Interface). However, have you tried configuring your computer (in
power options) as a desktop?

(snip)

Configuring a laptop as a Desktop would be a really Bad Thing. The OP is
on the right track (thanks to his clever brother); there is undoubtedly
a power management program installed by Sharp that should be used to
set those options. Some laptop software is more upfront about it and
will tell you not to use the Windows power management but to use the
OEM software instead. Other laptops don't have that warning, but you
should always use the OEM power management software for a laptop.

Malke

 

[Leythos]

Configuring a laptop as a Desktop would be a really Bad Thing.

I bought a 17" Wide Screen Toshiba with a real P4 that's hyper-threaded
and has 1.5GB RAM, DVD-Burner, and a 80GB Drive - I use it to run XP
Prof, MS SQL Server (MSDE), Office 2003 Prof, and all sorts of coding
applications in addition to working on it about 9 hours per day.

I use this as a primary workstation most days, even though I have two
other systems at my desk. The only real drawback to using a laptop is
the heat generated (usually near your palm/wrists) and performance
factors like Slow Drives....

 

[Unknown]

How is it a bad thing? If using AC power the battery is not affected.
Thermals protect from excessive heat. Many friends keep their laptops on all
day long and have no problems. (I use a desktop). Define bad thing.

 

[JMF]

Get this: I never did find any separate OEM power options utility, but:

Something occurred to me: at one point I noticed that when the screen saver
came on, it seemed to go into standby.

So I turned the screensaver off.

AT THE MOMENT (I'll need a bit of time to verify), the system seems to be
acting more or less like it's supposed to. For example, when I put
everything onto "never", it doesn't go into standby by itself any more, just
like it's supposed to be.

Then I told the screen to turn off (no screen saver) after 15 minutes. And
it did. And when I pressed SHIFT (for example) it came on - no standby -
again, just like it is supposed to.

So MAYBE the screensaver is/was the culprit. Of course, it still doesn't
really make any sense (I mean, why should the screensaver throw it into
standby?), but that SEEMS to be what's happening. I'll update again when I
get more info from my testing. Pretty strange stuff alright, but I'm happy
to see at least a little progress.

 

[JMF]

So, now I have had a chance to test what I wrote below, and now it does
indeed seem to work. So, in the spirit of this group where you're supposed
to pass on what you've learned, here is a summary:

I found that my laptop seemed to ignore the power option settings, no matter
what they were, and would go into standby mode after 20 minutes or so.

Several possible causes were mentioned in the thread, including faulty
communication of battery levels to the software.

One prominent cause is when the computer itself has its own power management
that ends up overriding the WinXP facilities. This happened to my brother on
an IBM laptop. And in fact it happened to me a few years ago on another
laptop. Often you will find such facilities in the "setup" that you get when
booting the computer, usually when pressing F2. (That's the way it was on my
old laptop)

But this time I found no such OEM facility - and so it appears not to have
been the cause.

However, I noticed at one point that system standby was coinciding with the
expiration of the screensaver. So I turned off the screensaver. From then
onwards, power management seems to have functioned correctly - I am now
relatively sure of this.

Of course, the fact that the screensaver would throw the system into standby
makes no sense -- it certainly shouldn't. But it seems to have been the
culprit in my case, and so if you find your power management functions
aren't responding, then you know that after looking for an OEM facility
overriding it you should turn off all screensaver activity as your next
move.

Thanks to all for your responses,

John

 

[Malke]

So, now I have had a chance to test what I wrote below, and now it
does indeed seem to work. So, in the spirit of this group where you're
supposed to pass on what you've learned, here is a summary:

I found that my laptop seemed to ignore the power option settings, no
matter what they were, and would go into standby mode after 20 minutes
or so.

Several possible causes were mentioned in the thread, including faulty
communication of battery levels to the software.

One prominent cause is when the computer itself has its own power
management that ends up overriding the WinXP facilities. This happened
to my brother on an IBM laptop. And in fact it happened to me a few
years ago on another laptop. Often you will find such facilities in
the "setup" that you get when booting the computer, usually when
pressing F2. (That's the way it was on my old laptop)

But this time I found no such OEM facility - and so it appears not to
have been the cause.

However, I noticed at one point that system standby was coinciding
with the expiration of the screensaver. So I turned off the
screensaver. From then onwards, power management seems to have
functioned correctly - I am now relatively sure of this.

Of course, the fact that the screensaver would throw the system into
standby makes no sense -- it certainly shouldn't. But it seems to have
been the culprit in my case, and so if you find your power management
functions aren't responding, then you know that after looking for an
OEM facility overriding it you should turn off all screensaver
activity as your next move.

Thanks to all for your responses,

Thanks for the beautifully detailed solution. It's great that you took
the time to post this because it will indeed help others in the future.
It's odd that Sharp doesn't provide laptop-specific software, but then
I must confess I had never heard of a Sharp laptop before (although I
have a Sharp TV).

I Googled and they really don't have much in the way of drivers and/or
software for their machines. They do have the Speed Step utility and if
you don't have that installed, it would be a good thing to get. My IBM
X31 will run at full speed when plugged in but drop down to a much
lower speed on battery because of that processor throttling. That's
useful for extending operation when on battery.

Thanks again for your excellent summation.

Malke

 

[nb]

I bought a 17" Wide Screen Toshiba with a real P4 that's hyper-threaded
and has 1.5GB RAM, DVD-Burner, and a 80GB Drive - I use it to run XP
Prof, MS SQL Server (MSDE), Office 2003 Prof, and all sorts of coding
applications in addition to working on it about 9 hours per day.

I use this as a primary workstation most days, even though I have two
other systems at my desk. The only real drawback to using a laptop is
the heat generated (usually near your palm/wrists) and performance
factors like Slow Drives....

They are talking about the "Power schemes" settings in the Power Options
Properties window not actually using a laptop as a desktop replacement.

 

[JMF]

Thanks for the beautifully detailed solution. It's great that you took
the time to post this because it will indeed help others in the future.
It's odd that Sharp doesn't provide laptop-specific software, but then
I must confess I had never heard of a Sharp laptop before (although I
have a Sharp TV).

Yes, indeed Sharp isn't well known in the laptop arena. I came upon them by
chance in a store several years ago and somehow the salesman convinced me to
buy one. And I have stayed with them ever since. This is my third one, in
fact. Like all Sharp products, their strategy seems to be to offer the same
functionality, and even a little more, as the competition, at a lower price.
So I get hooked every time. As you might imagine, where they really shine is
on the screen, given their expertise in the TV/LCD world. Their
thin/subnotebook models (the ones I get) are really astonishing - the last
one I had must have been the thinnest one ever made. If there's a
disadvantage, it's exactly what you mentioned: their presence in the laptop
world is so small that it can be tough to get assistance -- whereas with
IBM, Sony, Dell, ... whatever, there's a much bigger network available. But
I carry on loyally despite it all .. let's hope mine continues to behave.

I Googled and they really don't have much in the way of drivers and/or
software for their machines. They do have the Speed Step utility and if
you don't have that installed, it would be a good thing to get. My IBM
X31 will run at full speed when plugged in but drop down to a much
lower speed on battery because of that processor throttling. That's
useful for extending operation when on battery.

Yes, I believe they do have that facility, in fact with a hardware switch on
the computer. Thanks for the heads up, I'll start using it.

My brother has the IBM X31 and he's pretty happy with it.

Thanks again for your excellent summation.

And thanks for your many interventions on this group.

John

 

[Unknown]

Most all, I assume, know that. The topic is 'why is configuring a laptop as
a desktop a no-no'?

 

[cc]

I have a new WinXP Home Edition laptop (Sharp MP30).

I've configured the power options so that it never goes into standby when
it's hooked up to power.

But it does anyway.

In fact, no matter how I try to configure the power options, I can't keep
it
from going into standby after, oh, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, something like
that. (When it has been idle, of course - it's not crazy enough to go into
standby when I'm working)

Now, this isn't fatal, but I'd like to find out how to do it. I have a
vague
recollection of reading that sometimes the computers themselves override
the
software's no-standby instructions and just do it anyway.

Well, anyway, does somebody know something about this issue?

Thanks for any ideas,

John