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Power Conservation: Dell™ Inspiron™ 7500

How to Conserve Battery Power Experimenting with Power Conservation
Using Microsoft Windows 98 to Conserve Battery Power Standby Mode
Using Windows NT to Conserve Battery Power Save-to-Disk Suspend Mode

How to Conserve Battery Power


Using Microsoft® Windows® 98 to Conserve Battery Power

To access the Power Management Properties window (see Figure 1) and set the power management features in Windows 98, perform the following steps:

  1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and click Control Panel.

  2. Double-click the Power Management Properties icon.

    The Power Management Properties window contains the following tabs:

Figure 1. Power Management Properties Window


Using Windows NT to Conserve Battery Power

To access the Power Management Control window (see Figure 2) and set the power management features in Windows NT, perform the following steps:

  1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and click Control Panel.

  2. Double-click the Softex Power Management icon.

The Softex Power Management Control window contains the following tabs:

Click Advanced to let the operating system and basic input/output system (BIOS) work together for maximum power savings. You can use the Windows NT Power Management Control window or the Power menu of the Setup program to change power management settings.

Click Standard to allow the BIOS to control all power management settings. You must use the Power menu of the Setup program to change power management settings.

Click Off to disable power management features when you want the maximum performance from the computer.

Figure 2. Softex Power Management Control Window


Experimenting With Power Conservation

In general, the lower the value you set for each time-out option, the longer your battery's charge lasts. On the other hand, setting high time-out values tends to optimize the computer's performance. For best results, experiment as follows:

Evaluate the way that the different time-out settings affect how long you can operate the computer on battery power versus the relative efficiency of how your software performs.


Standby Mode

Standby turns off the display, stops the hard-disk drive, and turns off other internal devices so that the computer uses less battery power. When the computer resumes operation from standby mode, the desktop is restored exactly as it was before the computer entered standby mode.

NOTICE: On computers using Windows NT, data loss from random access memory (RAM) may occur if the battery discharges completely when the computer is in standby mode.

Windows 98

Activate standby mode by pressing . You can also activate standby mode by clicking Standby from the Shut Down Windows window. To resume operation from standby mode, press the power button.

Windows NT

Activate standby mode by pressing . You can also activate standby mode through the Power Management Control window. To resume operation from standby mode, press the power button.


Save-to-Disk Suspend Mode

NOTES: Save-to-disk suspend mode helps preserve system data by quickly saving it to the hard-disk drive if you are about to run out of battery power.

Place the computer in save-to-disk suspend mode if you do not intend to store the computer for longer than 40 days. Save-to-disk suspend mode preserves the configuration information stored in nonvolatile random-access memory (NVRAM). The reserve battery maintains this information, but may run out of energy after 40 days.

To activate save-to-disk suspend mode immediately, press (or on the French keyboard).

Save-to-disk suspend mode copies all system data to a reserved area on the hard-disk drive and then turns off all power to the computer. When you resume normal operation, the same programs will be running and the same files will be open that were open before you activated this mode.

To resume using the computer after activating save-to-disk suspend mode, press the power button. It may take a few seconds for the computer to return to its previous state.

Some PC Cards may not operate correctly after exiting from save-to-disk suspend mode. If you encounter problems with a card, remove and replace it.

NOTE: Save-to-disk suspend mode requires a special file on your hard-disk drive that sets aside enough disk space to store the contents of the computer's memory. Dell creates an appropriately sized save-to-disk suspend file before shipping the computer to you. If you remove the file or add memory to the computer, or if your hard-disk drive becomes corrupted, you must recreate the file before you can again use save-to-disk suspend mode.


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