Saving battery power

Your battery pack should be useful for approximately 300 charge-discharge cycles. The number of years or charge-discharge cycles might vary depending on how efficiently you use your computer. This section describes the following:

Using the power management modes

You can run your computer on battery power for a considerable time by using the power management modes (standby mode, suspend mode, and hibernation mode).
Note: Even if you don't set the low-battery alarm, the charge indicator will let you know when the battery is low, and then your computer will automatically enter the power-saving mode. This default low-battery behavior is independent of the operating system, so the computer might behave differently from your setting if you set the low-battery alarm. The computer chooses appropriately between your setting and the default setting.

Attention
Do not enter suspend or hibernation mode when your computer is doing any of the following:
  • Playing or recording audio
  • Playing a movie
  • Playing a game
  • Running any other multimedia application

Stop these applications before entering suspend or hibernation mode.

The following table shows how the indicator behaves in each power management mode:
Current status Indicator
Suspend mode

Power-on

Normal operation
or standby mode
Off Green
Suspend mode Green Off
Entering or resuming from suspend mode Blinking green Green
Power off or
hibernation mode
Off Off

The following figure shows the relationship between different power management modes, how to switch between them, and battery power consumption:



Customizing power management

This section describes how to customize power management so that you are using the power management mode appropriate to your operation.

Setting the suspend timer

To set the suspend timer, do the following:

For Windows 98:

  1. Start the ThinkPad Configuration program.

  2. Click the Power Management () button.

    The "Power Management Properties" window appears.

  3. Click the Power Schemes tab.

    The "Power Schemes" window appears.

  4. At System standby timers under Settings for Portable/Laptop power scheme, specify the timeout value in minutes.
    Note: You can also set the LCD off timers and Hard disk off timers.

  5. Click OK.

For Windows 95:

  1. Start the ThinkPad Configuration program.

  2. Click the Power Management () button.

    The "Power Properties" window appears.

  3. Click the Power Mode tab.

    The "Power Mode" window appears.

  4. Select Customized.

    The bottom gray portion is displayed in black.

  5. In the Suspend Timer box, specify the timeout value in minutes.

  6. Click OK.

For Windows NT:

  1. Start the ThinkPad Configuration program.

  2. Click the Power Management () button.

    Three buttons appear on the right.

  3. Click the Power Mode Settings () button.

    The "Power Mode Settings" window appears.

  4. In the Suspend Timer box, specify the timeout value in minutes.

  5. Click OK.

Enabling hibernation mode

To enable hibernation mode, do the following:

For Windows 98 and Windows 95:

  1. Start the ThinkPad Configuration program.

  2. Click the Power Management () button.

    The "Power Properties" window appears.

  3. Click the Hibernation tab.

    The "Hibernation" subwindow appears.

  4. Click Enable Hibernation. (If you have already created a hibernation file, this button appears in gray and you cannot click it.)

    The "Enable Hibernation" subwindow appears.

  5. Click Create Now.

  6. Click Close and then OK.

For Windows NT:

  1. Start the ThinkPad Configuration program.

  2. Click the Power Management () button.

  3. Click the Suspend/Resume Options () button.

    The "Suspend/Resume Options" window appears.

  4. Click the Enable Hibernation.. button.

  5. Click OK.

Considerations when using a power management mode

When you use a power management mode, you need to consider a few points, especially if you are using the network.

Considerations for suspend mode

Consider the following before using suspend mode:

Note:
You must set the Resume on incoming call option in the ThinkPad Configuration program so the computer automatically resumes normal operation.

Considerations for hibernation mode

Consider the following before using hibernation mode:

Notes for reinstalling or installing the operating system

Install your operating system with Advanced Power Management (APM), and install the ThinkPad Configuration program with the Utility Diskette to use power management mode.
Note: To install the software Installing a new operating system and its device drivers.

If you are using Windows 98 or Windows 95, APM is automatically installed in your computer.

If you are using DOS, APM is automatically installed in your computer. To verify that the computer has installed APM correctly, type power at the command prompt and press Enter. If a screen similar to the following appears, APM is successfully installed.

   Power Management Status
   -----------------------
   Setting =  ADV: REG
   CPU: idle 32% of time.

   AC Line Status : OFFLINE

   Battery status : High

If not, add the following line to your CONFIG.SYS file, using a text editor such as the DOS Editor:

DEVICE=C:\DOS\POWER.EXE

Decreasing the LCD brightness

Another battery-saving method is to decrease the LCD brightness. You can use the ThinkPad Configuration program to decrease the brightness of the LCD by clicking the LCD () button and selecting Normal for Brightness (battery operation) in the window that appears.

This section provides necessary information if you are using the computer with a PC Card.