Batteries

Message

ronbo613 · #1 Post by **ronbo613** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:17 am

Pretty sure my T30 battery is just about wasted. It only holds a charge for about 45 minutes and takes about that long to charge. With the info I find through MobilMeter my battery is at 58%. Even as a relatively new Thinkpad owner, I know the battery should run the computer longer.
I'm not sure what's going on with the Battery Maximiser, but after reading many of the battery related posts, my setup seems different somehow. No green bar, no cycle information, just the standard Windows Power Options. I reinstalled Battery Maximiser from the IBM website just to be sure, but no dice. The only thing I can think of is because I have my computer set up in the Windows "Classic" mode, the display may be a little different.
Experience gained with tons of video, movie and digital camera batteries tells me that when a lithium ion or NiMH does not hold a charge, and reconditioning makes no difference, the battery is toast.

Website · #2 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:32 am

When you downloaded the file for Battery Maximizer, did you run the executable file afterwards? It is pretty much a 2 step process. The download unpacks the files, which some have thought was actually installing it, but it isn't....it is only unpacking the files.

ronbo613 · #3 Post by **ronbo613** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:43 am

Yes, I ran the ".exe" file. It does have a meter in the task bar, it's just a little battery, not the green bar everyone describes. Actually, the program was already installed and I overwrote the old file.
Not a major issue, but with all the talk about the Battery Maximiser, I feel I'm missing the battery-powered boat.

Purcy · #4 Post by **Purcy** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 3:48 pm

maybe uninstall your old program and re-install from Lenovo; I also run my Windows XP prof in Classic mode and it did not alter at all the Battery Maximiser program, I still get the little green window on the taskbar that shows the % left; also there is a Battery Maximiser wizard you can run where you select all the options you want for power saving and i think the last screen you get to has a check mark option to Always Show BM icon on toolbar" be sure that is checked. I just installed Thinkpad Configuration Utility from the Lenovo site and the BM utility is part of that program too.

ronbo613 · #5 Post by **ronbo613** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:54 pm

I'll have to check it out. I wonder why I get the little battery instead of the green bar? Nobody else seems to have it.

#6 Post by **rkawakami** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 5:16 pm

A picture may be helpful...

http://www.rkawakami.net/images/battery_icons.jpg

The green battery icon with the percentage of charge and the yellow battery icon under the "MaxiMiser" title is what you should be seeing when the Battery MaxiMiser program is running and the checkbox mentioned earlier (show gauge on taskbar) enabled. The blue battery icon is what Windows will show if the "show details for battery" option is checked in the "Power Options Properties" window. Both smaller battery icons (yellow and blue) are replaced by icons showing an AC plug when the laptop is being powered off the AC adapter. This picture is from an A31 running Windows 2000 but it should look similar under XP.

ronbo613 · #7 Post by **ronbo613** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:17 pm

I've got the blue battery icon, I'll have to look around again for the Maximiser gauge and icon. I must be missing one of the checkboxes or something like that.
Where do you find the Battery Maximiser program? Should it be on the Start>Programs menu or Control Panel? I can find the Power Options in the Control Panel, no problem, but for some reason I can't seem to find the Maximiser program(or the shortcut to it). I'll look around.
Kind of lame, I'm sure I'm missing something that's right in front of me.

Website · #8 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:20 pm

Can you take a snapshot of your desktop, so that we can see what is there?

#9 Post by **rkawakami** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:30 pm

ronbo613 wrote:Where do you find the Battery Maximiser program? Should it be on the Start>Programs menu or Control Panel?

On my Windows 2000 A31, it's Start/Programs/Thinkpad/Thinkpad Utilities/Battery MaxiMiser Wizard.

On my Windows XP T23, it's Start/Programs/ThinkVantage/Thinkpad Configuration. Then you have to select the "Power Management" menu option and the Battery MaxiMiser Wizard is there.

If you already have the Thinkpad Configuration icon in the system tray, you can single-click it and then hover over Power Manangement, then Battery MaxiMiser wizard.

ronbo613 · #10 Post by **ronbo613** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 9:47 am

Thanks for that last bit of info guys, I think that enabled me to figure out what the deal is.
Apparently, I don't have any of the Thinkpad Utilities installed and I think I know why. I got this T30 from my sister, who works for a large corporation. All of the company laptops must have been configured by their IT department to keep the employees from fooling around with the computers, so no configuration software is installed, except for the standard Windows utilities.
I'll check out the Thinkpad utilities. Thanks for the help.

Batteries

Batteries

Who is online