Puzzled about laptop power schemes settings...

Hi, All,

I am using a Dell Inspiron 5150 laptop, 3.06GHz HT, 1.25G RAM, WinXP.

I have only rarely used my laptop on battery power, and then for short
periods of time, so I have never paid attention to the Power Management
settings.

I have always had my power scheme set to "Maximum Performance" (Dell's
version of "Minimal Power Management"), with no problems.

I will be needing to use my laptop on battery power fairly frequently in the
near future, so I am trying to learn a bit about the Power Management
settings, so I can choose (or configure) the best scheme for me.

I do understand the various settings and options available under the Power
Options Properties, including the integral control of the SpeedStep processor
settings. The default settings for each of the available "schemes" basically
seem logical, BUT...

I have noticed one thing that has me really confused:

I was comparing the default settings for "Running on batteries" for the
various schemes, and all but one of the themes available for my machine shows
a shorter time set to enter "System standby" than for "Turn off hard disks"!

For instance, on my machine the default values for Battery operation are:

Under the "Maximum Performance" scheme, Turn off HD is set to 15 min. and
Standby is set to 5 min.
Under the "Portable/Laptop" scheme, Turn off HD is set to 30 min. and
Standby is set to 25 min.
Under the "Home/Office Desk" scheme, Turn off HD is set to 10 min. and
Standby is set to 5 min.
Under the "Minimum Power Management" scheme, Turn off HD is set to 15 min.
and Standby is set to 5 min.


I THOUGHT I understood what the standby function was all about. Now I'm not
so sure!

What has me confused is: WHY set the time to enter standby SHORTER than the
time to simply stop the disk?

It seems logical to me that the sequence should be display off, then disk
off, then standby, then hibernate. BUT all but one of the ten factory default
power schemes for battery operation on my laptop are set so that the standby
time is SHORTER than the disk off time!

My questions:

1) Why should the system be set to enter standby sooner than turning off the
disk?

2) Shouldn't the system turn off the hard drive automatically upon entering
standby mode?

3) Under what circumstances would the standby mode be bypassed in favor of
simply turning off the disk?

Thanks for any comments or advice. I realy want to understand this!

Ken

KenB wrote:
> Hi, All,
>
> I am using a Dell Inspiron 5150 laptop, 3.06GHz HT, 1.25G RAM, WinXP.
>
> I have only rarely used my laptop on battery power, and then for short
> periods of time, so I have never paid attention to the Power
> Management settings.
>
> I have always had my power scheme set to "Maximum Performance" (Dell's
> version of "Minimal Power Management"), with no problems.
>
> I will be needing to use my laptop on battery power fairly frequently
> in the near future, so I am trying to learn a bit about the Power
> Management settings, so I can choose (or configure) the best scheme
> for me.
>
> I do understand the various settings and options available under the
> Power Options Properties, including the integral control of the
> SpeedStep processor settings. The default settings for each of the
> available "schemes" basically seem logical, BUT...
>
> I have noticed one thing that has me really confused:
>
> I was comparing the default settings for "Running on batteries" for
> the various schemes, and all but one of the themes available for my
> machine shows a shorter time set to enter "System standby" than for
> "Turn off hard disks"!
>
> For instance, on my machine the default values for Battery operation
> are:
>
> Under the "Maximum Performance" scheme, Turn off HD is set to 15 min.
> and Standby is set to 5 min.
> Under the "Portable/Laptop" scheme, Turn off HD is set to 30 min. and
> Standby is set to 25 min.
> Under the "Home/Office Desk" scheme, Turn off HD is set to 10 min. and
> Standby is set to 5 min.
> Under the "Minimum Power Management" scheme, Turn off HD is set to 15
> min. and Standby is set to 5 min.
>
>
> I THOUGHT I understood what the standby function was all about. Now
> I'm not so sure!
>
> What has me confused is: WHY set the time to enter standby SHORTER
> than the time to simply stop the disk?
>
> It seems logical to me that the sequence should be display off, then
> disk off, then standby, then hibernate. BUT all but one of the ten
> factory default power schemes for battery operation on my laptop are
> set so that the standby time is SHORTER than the disk off time!
>
> My questions:
>
> 1) Why should the system be set to enter standby sooner than turning
> off the disk?
>
> 2) Shouldn't the system turn off the hard drive automatically upon
> entering standby mode?
>
> 3) Under what circumstances would the standby mode be bypassed in
> favor of simply turning off the disk?
>
> Thanks for any comments or advice. I realy want to understand this!
>
> Ken

Basically, it's so if you are only going for a cup of coffee or whatever,
the drives are still spun up for a faster setup to use it. It saves the
monitor power, the most power hungry part of the machine, while you're gone
but you can still get back to work quickly. But ifyou're gone too long, the
drives spin down too. Then it takes longer to get back to a working state
because they need time to get spun back up.

Pop`

Because there are instances in which the system cannot go into stand by mode, due to processor usage, but it still can turn the HDD of when not in use.

See KB 899975 for standby reqs

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com

Robert Ulmann wrote:
> Because there are instances in which the system cannot go into stand
> by mode, due to processor usage, but it still can turn the HDD of
> when not in use.
>
> See KB 899975 for standby reqs
>
> EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
> http://www.eggheadcafe.com

You're being rude by not quoting the message you are replying to. This way,
there is no way to know what you're talking about and others get no benefit
from your post. Usenet recommends quoting so that ALL may benefit from your
knowledge.

Pop`

"Poprivet" <poprivet@devnull.spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:e29Tq%239ZHHA.4888@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
| Robert Ulmann wrote:
| > Because there are instances in which the system cannot go into stand
| > by mode, due to processor usage, but it still can turn the HDD of
| > when not in use.
| >
| > See KB 899975 for standby reqs
| >
| > EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
| > http://www.eggheadcafe.com
|
| You're being rude by not quoting the message you are replying to. This
way,
| there is no way to know what you're talking about and others get no
benefit
| from your post. Usenet recommends quoting so that ALL may benefit from
your
| knowledge.
|
| Pop`
|
|

It's a quirk of eggheadcafe. Every egghearder's posts are like this.