Thinkpads Forum

It just irks me that the USB LED is on, wasting power, while the computer is in SLEEP mode. Is that a reflection of a BIOS setting (Wake on USB? Disable USB something?) that I can change so the computer goes black when it is sleeping?

Is there a way to kill the other LED indicators while it is asleep also?

(I know, I'm a power miser.)

LATER:

There's a tab in the Device Mangler settings for the USB ports that allows the computer to power them off. Apparently the default is to leave them powered on, in case something is being charged/run from them.

i'll venture a guess that you probably won't be able to shut it off because the wake function leaves the +5vsb line awake keyboard/mouse events.

What LED is this? The LED on the right side is to indicate that something is mounted in the optical bay. I would not expect the USB power settings to be related to that. I can't find any other LEDs that fit the description on my T60p and I'm curious if the T61 has more LEDs.

-darren

There's an LED on the ultrabay adapter itself, and a second one on the computer next to the USB sockets. The one next to the USB sockets. I'll have to doublecheck next time I shut down, to see if that lights depedning on media being in the optical drive--but I don't think so.

On my T60p, there's a ~3mm square green LED between the Ultrabay and the 2 USB ports. This is separate from the tiny round LED on the CD drive tray, which indicates a CD/DVD in the drive, and drive activity. The square one is illuminated whenever there's a device mounted in the UltraBay... if you eject the CD/DVD drive (not the disc tray, but the whole drive) then it turns off.

Note that the drive should be hot-swappable. If you slide the little tab below the square LED towards the USB ports, a tab will pop out, and it'll alert the OS that you want to disconnect the hardware. You should get an "OK to eject hardware" balloon. Tug on the tab, and the drive should be free.
If you really want to save every bit of power, then pop the drive out, that way it's not using any power, and neither is the little LED. The down side is that you'll now have a gaping hole in the side of your machine, and an increased risk of breaking the drive when it's out on it's own.

Thank you BlueVue, you've nailed it!

Go figure, and indicator light to tell me there's no gaping hole in the side of my computer. How could I have lived without that?! (ROFL)

Windows needs no excuse to ruin my day, so I've been using the "Safely Remove Hardware" applet before I pop the drive out. Did that just now, and kiilling the drive from there disables the LED. No physical removal needed.

I use the applet because when I swap in the hardware serial/parallel adapter, THAT piece prefers a cold restart to work properly, so I don't trust it to communicate properly with the OS at all. I'd have orderd the USB version--but Lenovo said it was not and might never be available when I ordered the computer.

I'll have to encourage that LED to develop a cold solder joint.<G>