Power Management not working

[kstuart]

Hello,

In my 570 (same motherboard as a 600E), I have set and changed the Power Manager settings, and nothing happens. The monitor does not power off, and standby does not happen at the intervals set.

What are the possible causes ?

I have stopped some Services - is there a Service that is necessary for Power Management ?

Thanks for any help !

[rkawakami]

There could be various reasons why the power management is not working. From the simple "creeping" Trackpoint/mouse which makes the OS reset the timer, using an outdated BIOS revision, a peripheral not allowing the OS to enter/implement power management, to not having the proper Windows service pack installed, or a Windows "feature".

Drifting trackpoint/mouse should be easy enough to figure out; just set the screen blanking timer to one minute and watch.

This link is the BIOS matrix:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MOE-3VAM8Y

Peripheral issues:
Enter "windows power management not working" in Yahoo!

You did not mention which OS you are using but this link is for WinXP issues:
http://support.microsoft.com/winxp?sid=255

I believe that Power Management services under Windows is termed "APCI", Advanced Configuration and Power Interface. I could not find any service running under WinXP that has to do with power management.

And finally, I have seen both my Gateway laptop and 600X systems "forget" what the power management settings are from time to time. Usually it happens after a re-boot. Simply opening up the Power Management window and changing one setting from what it is currently set to, to another setting, and then back to what it was (i.e. Turn off monitor is at 1 minute, change it to 2 minutes and then change it back to 1 minute). Doing this will activate the "Apply" button. Click it, then the "Ok" button and see if that works. The Gateway is running WinXP; the 600Xs are WinXP and Win2K Pro.

[kstuart]

Thanks Raymond - there are several good areas for investigation there.

BTW, it's Windows 2000 - should be roughly the same as WinXP in most aspects.

The BIOS is updated to the last one that IBM made for that model - the last revision was for some WinXP issues in fact, IIRC.

My hunch is that the drifting trackpoint may prove to be the culprit...

[kstuart]

Drifting trackpoint/mouse should be easy enough to figure out; just set the screen blanking timer to one minute and watch.

Well the trackpoint pointer is certainly moving on its own.

Any idea how to fix that ?

I did a search here and all the comments involved people resting their finger on the trackpoint, but in this case it happens without any person doing anything at all...

[tfflivemb2]

If it is doing it without touching it, then you will need to replace the entire keyboard, since the trackpoint is a part of it.

[rkawakami]

Well the trackpoint pointer is certainly moving on its own. Any idea how to fix that ?

I recently tore apart a keyboard with a 8611 boot error (broken Trackpoint) and posted the results in this thread:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=25992

Short answer is, "no" it's really not easy to replace just the Trackpoint. Complete keyboard swap is the easiest solution.

That said, it may also be possible to reduce the sensitivity of the Trackpoint (mouse) in Control Panel and eliminate the drift for now. You will need to balance the sensitivity to get rid of the automatic movement (if possible), while keeping the force required to register a "push" on the Trackpoint low enough that it's not uncomfortable. I would at least try this before the keyboard swap.