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Conserving Power: Dell Inspiron 5000 Series
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Conserving Power: Dell� Inspiron� 5000 Series
Conservation Tips
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.
Power Conservation Modes
You can use both standby mode
and hibernate mode on your computer.
Standby Mode
Standby mode conserves power by turning off the display
and the hard drive after a predetermined period of inactivity (a time-out.)
When the computer exits standby mode, the desktop is restored
to the same state that it was in before the computer entered standby mode.
To activate standby mode:
or
For more information on activating standby mode for your
operating system, see "Turning Your Computer On and Off"
in the Tell Me How help file. To exit standby
mode, press the power button.
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NOTE: 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. |
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NOTICE:
If your computer loses AC or battery power while in standby mode, you
may lose data. |
Hibernate Mode
Hibernate mode conserves power by copying system data to
a reserved area on the hard drive
and then completely turning off the computer. When the computer exits hibernate
mode, the 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,   ,
or the display-close option are programmed to activate hibernate mode
in the Advanced
tab of the Power Options Properties
window.
To exit hibernate mode, press
the power button. The computer may take a short time to return to its typical operating state.
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NOTE:
Pressing a key or touching the touch pad will not
bring the computer out of hibernate mode. |
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NOTE:
Some PC Cards may not operate correctly after resuming operation
from hibernate mode. If you encounter problems with a PC
Card,
see "Using PC Cards" in the Tell Me How help file for instructions
on removing and replacing the card, or simply restart (reboot) your computer. |
Power Options Properties
To access the Power Options Properties window:
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Click the Start
button, point to Settings, and double-click Control Panel. |
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2. |
Double-click the Power
Options icon. |
Power Schemes Tab
The Power schemes
pulldown menu displays the selected preset power scheme:
Each preset power scheme has different time-out settings
for putting the computer into standby mode, turning off the monitor (display),
and turning off the hard drive.
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NOTE:
Dell recommends that you continue to use the Portable/Laptop
power scheme to maximize battery power conservation. |
Alarms Tab
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 Low
battery alarm and Critical battery
alarm check boxes are selected. Dell recommends that you continue
to use these defaults.
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NOTE:
To enable audible alarms, click each Alarm
Action button and select Sound
alarm. |
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NOTE:
The Critical battery alarm setting will not function if Power Mode is
set for Standby in the Low battery alarm setting. |
Power Meter Tab
The Power Meter
tab displays the current power source and amount of battery charge remaining.
Advanced Tab
The Advanced tab
allows you to:
� Activate standby
mode (default when you close the display).
� Activate hibernate
mode (default for power button).
� Shut down Windows and turn off the computer.
� No action (None).
To program these functions, click an option from the corresponding
pull-down menu, and then click OK.
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NOTE: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. |
Hibernate Tab
The Hibernate tab
lets you enable hibernate mode by clicking the Enable
hibernate support check box.
Intel� SpeedStep� Tab
If your computer has a Mobile Intel� Pentium III processor, the Power Options Properties
window includes the Intel� SpeedStep� tab.
To change the Intel SpeedStep options, click the Advanced button and then click one of
the following options:
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NOTE:
If you disable Intel SpeedStep, the processor always operates at its maximum
speed. |
Click Apply to
accept any changes, and then click OK
to close the Intel SpeedStep technology
window.
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