Thinkpads Forum

Hi everyone,

I've read in the manual that if the battery is not holding charge for long, to discharge it completly and recharge again. How can I discharge the battery fully? I have tried running the computer on battery only and it just goes into Suspend/Hybernation mode with the indicator light still on when the charge runs out. But I presume there is still some charge left in the battery to keep it in Suspended mode. Any advice on this matter would be appreciated.

Another thing, What is the average run time for 570 on a good battery? Thanks in advance for any information.

Regards

DMarook

1.) To discharge your battery completely, you need to open the control panel, go to power management, change the power scheme settings to all nevers, then got to the alarms tab and un check the two boxes there or set the sliders to zero, now the computer will run until it is physically unable to run any longer.

2.) my 570 gets upwards of 2 hours of runtime web browsing..

An easier way is to boot a DOS floppy, LiveCD with no power settings, or just get into EasySetup, and leave the machine on.

OK, maybe it's not easier, but you don't have to change your settings or worry about Windows freaking out because the power fails.

I wouldn't worry about the computer shutting off when the battery is low, that is when you need to sttart recharging. If you try draining it further, since it's a LiION battery, you are actually putting it in the danger zone, if a LiION battery gets TOO low, it won't work at all, ever. The lowest you'd want to bring the battery is 3%. The safe zone for discharging is down to anywhere from 10 to 40%.

.... uh oops. I drained my battery down to 0% and it was still on when I was shutting down, but barely. So yeah, my LI-ion is crap now. I can barely get an hour out of it.

When Windows (or the ACPI BIOS) says the battery is at 0%, that may or may not mean that the rechargable cells are at 0%. I know that if I were designing a laptop, I would make sure the machine shuts off before it damages the batteries.

I'd bet IBM did too.

... and thats not a half-bad thought. I like the way you think.