You automatically conserve battery power each time you attach your
computer to an electrical outlet. When the AC adapter is attached,
the battery is charged while the computer uses AC power. Your
battery's life expectancy is largely determined by the number of times
it is charged, so use an AC power source to run the computer if one is
available.
When the computer is using battery power, remove the PC Cards that
you are not using.
When possible, attach your computer to an electrical outlet when you
play CDs and DVDs. Playing a CD or DVD uses a lot of battery power.
Place the computer in standby mode or hibernate mode when you
leave the computer unattended for long periods of time.
Standby mode conserves power by turning off the display and the hard drive after a predetermined period of inactivity (a time-out.) When you exit standby mode, the desktop is restored to the same state that it was in before the computer entered standby mode.
To activate standby mode:
Click the Start button, click Shut down, click Stand by, and then click
OK.
or
Press the power button or the power conservation key combination,
<Fn><Suspend>, that you programmed (via the Advanced tab).
HINT: You can use the
Advanced tab to program
the display-close option,
the power button, and the
power conservation key
combination to activate
standby mode.
To exit standby mode, press the power button, or if you activated standby mode by closing the display, open (raise) the display.
Hibernate mode conserves power by copying system data to a reserved area on the hard drive and then completely turning off the computer. When you exit hibernate mode, the application programs and files that were open before you activated hibernate mode are still open.
Your computer enters hibernate mode if the battery charge level becomes critically low, or if either the power button, the power conservation key combination, <Fn><Suspend>, or the display-close option are programmed to activate hibernate mode in the Advanced tab of the Power Options Properties window.
HINT: Some PC Cards
may not operate correctly
after resuming operation
from hibernate mode. If
you encounter problems
with a PC Card, reinsert
the card or restart your
computer.
To exit hibernate mode, press the power button. The computer may take a short time to return to its normal operating state. Pressing a key or touching the touch pad or track stick does not bring the computer out of hibernate mode.
Hibernate mode requires a special file on your hard drive with enough disk space to store the contents of the computer memory. Dell creates an appropriately sized hibernate mode file before shipping the computer to you.
If you reinstall the operating system, you must reenable hibernate support.
The Power schemes pull-down menu displays the selected preset power scheme:
Portable/Laptop (default)
Home/Office
Always On
Presentation (Windows 2000 only)
Minimal Power Management (Windows 2000 only)
Max Battery (Windows 2000 only)
HINT: Dell recommends
that you continue to use
the Portable/Laptop
power scheme to
maximize battery power
conservation.
Each preset power scheme has different time-out settings for putting the computer into standby mode, turning off the display, and turning off the hard drive.
HINT: To enable audible
alarms, click each Alarm
Action button and select
Sound alarm.
The Low battery alarm and Critical battery alarm settings alert you with a message when the battery charge falls below a certain percentage. When you receive your computer, the Lower battery alarm and Critical battery alarm check boxes are selected. Dell recommends that you continue to use these defaults.
Activate standby mode (the default when you close the display).
Activate hibernate mode (the default for the power button).
Shut down Windows and turn off the computer.
Choose no action (None).
HINT: If you are going to
connect your computer to
a port replicator, click
None when you program
the display-close option.
This setting ensures that
your computer does not
enter standby mode or
hibernate mode when you
close (lower) the display.
To program these functions, click an option from the corresponding pull-down menu, and then click OK.
