Thinkpads Forum

I have recently installed a "lite" version of Windows XP Pro on an old 600. Everything seems to be running well, but there is no way to gauge my battery! It seems this support/option was left out of this custom "lite" version of XP

Any ideas to get something to tell me how much battery is left?

Some Yahoo! Widgets, formally Konfabulator, come to mind, although I can't recall any others off the top of my head just yet.

I've used a program called Power Center for a long time, which worked pretty well. I don't have the file anymore but I did a Google search and found it at http://www.abyssunderground.co.uk/lapto ... ension.php
(scroll down on the page) Just give it a try and let me know whether it worked out.

Another alternative would be Mobile Meter, which you can find here http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley-Oakland/8259/

I love a little program called Battery MaxiMiser, it gives you everything you need to know about your battery and puts a cool little icon on your taskbar with the percentage number that is left in your battery, plus a "plug" or "battery" icon to show which you are using. It also has a battery health tab that gives some good info and Status Detail tab that shows Cycle Count, Temperature and Watt hours of your battery.

Thanks for your replies. I have tried all of the software listed and none of them even recognize that I have a battery pack!

tonepaq wrote:I have recently installed a "lite" version of Windows XP Pro on an old 600. Everything seems to be running well, but there is no way to gauge my battery!

I use XP Lite on my 600X but I still get the standard built-in Windows XP battery icon -- Control Panel -> Power Options -> Advanced -> Always show icon. By default, this icon will not show up when you are plugged in, and will only appear when you are running on battery. When you hover your mouse over the battery icon, you should get an estimate of your remaining power/time. This may be the only icon that is available in your configuration. Are you sure that you don't have access to this "battery gauge" icon?

Battery Maximizer:
This program does not work with the 600 series under XP.

MobileMeter:
This program does not supply the additional battery information for the 600 series under XP. MobileMeter is a great program, but I don't think it can pull the necessary data from the 600 batteries. -- or rather, it can't pull any more information than the standard XP battery gauge pulls.

Power Center:
Never used it. No opinion.

SpeedSwitch:
SpeedSwitch by Christan Diefer is a program designed to manage CPU speeds and performance, but it is not designed for non-SpeedStep machines. I've never tried it on a plain vanillla 600 (which is non-SpeedStep), but I doubt it would work. I mention it only because that is the program I use on my 600X under XP. In addition to providing improved SpeedStep control over XP, it also includes an option to include a battery icon in the system tray, and the SpeedSwitch battery icon is better than the standard XP icon because it displays the number of minutes remaining in text beneath the icon (without having to hover your mouse over it to see it).

Phil.

I use XP Lite on my 600X but I still get the standard built-in Windows XP battery icon -- Control Panel -> Power Options -> Advanced -> Always show icon.

I have tried this, then windows just shows the plug in the system tray and thinks I am always plugged in. It wouls seem that this version of XP I am running has left out completely the support of a battery. I have a retail (full) version of XP Pro, if I could just figure out what files I needed to add, perhaps I could copy them over?