Windows Vista Proposed power settings for Vista

I am running a laptop (Inspiron 1501) with Vista Home Basic, and I have grown increasingly frustrated with the fact that whenever my battery gets low (after being put to sleep/hibernation), I have to reboot twice just to bring up my desktop. The second time, I'm usually told that there is a corrupt file that Windows is trying to draw on, and that I should jsut delete the file and do a fresh reboot. I have searched a few forums and found nothing that I haven't already tried. I've applied a couple of MS updates, I've cleaned out my hibernation file and then re-set my computer to go into hibernation, I've eliminated hibernation as something the computer does.

1. I believe the best option for me right now is to change the power settings in Vista, so that my battery will warn me at 5-10%, and then shut down at 3%. This obviously will take longer than simply coming out of sleep, but at this point, coming out of sleep isn't an option with a low battery--I'd do it if I could.
2. Are there any reasons why I shouldn't do this? Or anything that I should try--b/c honestly, I've loved Windows sleep, and if I could continually use it to wake up with a low battery, I would. (1) just seems like the best plan under the circumstances.

 

Just a few observations I am making and pls note, I am using a desktop computer.

My power saving system has changed from the apparent addition of a Readyboost drive. It now goes into an apparent "shutdown" (no fans and the motherboard LEDs suggest shutdown), but wakes up as if just "asleep ". It will do normal Sleep (fans running and LEDs "running ") if I have several/many programs open when I walk away from the computer.
"Shutdown Sleep" requires that I press the power-on button to resume, "Running Sleep" requires that I press the Ctrl key.

How Readboost appears to work with this "phenomenon ", I can't say, because it will be very dependant on how well Vista works along with the power saving abilities of the motherboard.

I am very impressed because I have never come across it before on a desktop computer, but I would not know if any of this may relate to your laptop power saving settings. I would expect having a Readyboost drive attached to the laptop would draw power itself.

Read about "Hybrid Sleep" in Help and Support, but I expect that Arie's information about Hibernation is what you will need to run. As I said, I can't relate my experiences to a laptop or even to a different motherboard. I hope someone may find it interesting, I do

Matt
Edit: I just tried putting the system to sleep without the Readyboost drive, it was sluggish on resuming compared to having the Readyboost drive attached. Hibernation, unless I remember incorrectly, saves to the harddrive, so when you resume, the harddrive will need to work hard depending on what programs are open and running and don't forget background programs. Keeping the number of programs to a minimum when hibernating will obviously minimise the amount of power required (HDD activity) when you resume. There tends to be lots of background programs set up with just about everything you install nowadays. You may want to investigate reducing any background programs (and services) if possible, which may save "resume" power.

 

Not quite prepared to get that readyboost drive.I try to be vigilant about what's running in the background. Firefox is the only program that regularly gets into the 100K in memory, but I'll check the processes and see what I can find there.

 

OK Paul, I see you made something out of that strange logic

Good luck.

Matt

 

Are you multibooting at all Paul? Or have you used VistaBootPro on the machine? If not are the partitions still as they were set up by Dell, or have you made any changes?

Can you post the contents of your BCD file. Open a command prompt, if you have UAC turned on you will have to right click and choose 'Run as administrator'. Then type this and press enter.
bcdedit /enum all

Then this
bcdedit /enum all /v

Then copy and paste the whole lot here. To copy from the command prompt window right click anywhere and choose 'Select all' and press Enter.

 

I am not multibooting at all, nor have I made any partition changes. No VistaBootPro. The only "unnatural" booting I've done is with an Ubuntu LiveCD. I'm pleased to report that Linux now offers much improved hardware detection, but unfortunately, MS doesn't make a linux version of my killer app, MS Word. So no Ubuntu.

Back at the ranch.... here's my bcdedit file:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6000]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>bcedit/enum all
'bcedit' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit/ enum all
An unknown command was specified.
Run "bcdedit /?" for command line assistance.

C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit / enum all
An unknown command was specified.
Run "bcdedit /?" for command line assistance.

C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit / enum all
An unknown command was specified.
Run "bcdedit /?" for command line assistance.

C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit /enum all

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=C:
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {af0ed209-7106-11db-80b2-f9c5b2027959}
displayorder {current}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {572bcd55-ffa7-11d9-aae0-0007e994107d}
device partition=D:
path \Windows\System32\boot\winload.exe
description Windows Recovery Environment
osdevice partition=D:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {e7453fb3-0aac-11dc-bc1a-806e6f6e6963}
nx OptIn
detecthal Yes
winpe Yes

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows Vista
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence {572bcd55-ffa7-11d9-aae0-0007e994107d}
recoveryenabled Yes
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {af0ed209-7106-11db-80b2-f9c5b2027959}
nx OptIn

Resume from Hibernate
---------------------
identifier {af0ed209-7106-11db-80b2-f9c5b2027959}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winresume.exe
description Windows Resume Application
locale en-US
inherit {resumeloadersettings}
filedevice partition=C:
filepath \hiberfil.sys
pae Yes
debugoptionenabled No

Resume from Hibernate
---------------------
identifier {e7453fb3-0aac-11dc-bc1a-806e6f6e6963}
device partition=D:
path \Windows\System32\boot\winresume.exe
description Windows Recovery Environment
inherit {resumeloadersettings}
pae Yes
debugoptionenabled No

Windows Memory Tester
---------------------
identifier {memdiag}
device partition=C:
path \boot\memtest.exe
description Windows Memory Diagnostic
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
badmemoryaccess Yes

Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {ntldr}
device unknown
path \ntldr
description Earlier Version of Windows

EMS Settings
------------
identifier {emssettings}
bootems Yes

Debugger Settings
-----------------
identifier {dbgsettings}
debugtype Serial
debugport 1
baudrate 115200

RAM Defects
-----------
identifier {badmemory}

Global Settings
---------------
identifier {globalsettings}
inherit {dbgsettings}
{emssettings}
{badmemory}

Boot Loader Settings
--------------------
identifier {bootloadersettings}
inherit {globalsettings}

Resume Loader Settings
----------------------
identifier {resumeloadersettings}
inherit {globalsettings}

C:\Windows\system32>

 

Ahh, you have an extra boot Object called 'Windows Recovery Environment'. I wonder if this is to do with the Dell recovery system. I did read that they had hooked their system into the Vista boot routines. Unfortunately I have not studied this yet so I would be apprehensive messing with your BCD without being sure. So far it looks ok any way, but I would need to see the output from the second command Paul to be sure. bcdedit /enum all /v you can actually copy and paste the command from this post if you want.

Did hibernation ever work as it should. Do you have it as an option on your shutdown menu. The other thing you can try is shutting hibernation off and then back on again and this will recreate the hibernation file, which might help if it has been corrupted.
powercfg /hibernate off
powercfg /hibernate on
I would reboot between the off and on, just to be sure.

 

OK I thought the /v part was simply to paste the results from the first command. I'll get that later.

As far as hibernation, I believe it worked earlier, when coming out of a low battery, but I'm not sure about that--another problem that happens when I have a low battery is that when I eventually reboot, the desktop icons are all goofed up, and I know I've had that problem for quite a while, so its highly possible that emerging from hibernation on a low battery has always been spotty. Deleting and then recreating the hibernation file as you described is one of the things I did, and yes I did make sure to reboot before restoring it. I'll get you a copy of that enum all /v file later on today. Thanks for your time.

 

OK McTavish, here's my all/v file:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6000]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit / enum all /v
An unknown command was specified.
Run "bcdedit /?" for command line assistance.

C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit /enum all /v

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
device partition=C:
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}
default {af0ed208-7106-11db-80b2-f9c5b2027959}
resumeobject {af0ed209-7106-11db-80b2-f9c5b2027959}
displayorder {af0ed208-7106-11db-80b2-f9c5b2027959}
toolsdisplayorder {b2721d73-1db4-4c62-bf78-c548a880142d}
timeout 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {572bcd55-ffa7-11d9-aae0-0007e994107d}
device partition=D:
path \Windows\System32\boot\winload.exe
description Windows Recovery Environment
osdevice partition=D:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {e7453fb3-0aac-11dc-bc1a-806e6f6e6963}
nx OptIn
detecthal Yes
winpe Yes

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {af0ed208-7106-11db-80b2-f9c5b2027959}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows Vista
locale en-US
inherit {6efb52bf-1766-41db-a6b3-0ee5eff72bd7}
recoverysequence {572bcd55-ffa7-11d9-aae0-0007e994107d}
recoveryenabled Yes
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {af0ed209-7106-11db-80b2-f9c5b2027959}
nx OptIn

Resume from Hibernate
---------------------
identifier {af0ed209-7106-11db-80b2-f9c5b2027959}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winresume.exe
description Windows Resume Application
locale en-US
inherit {1afa9c49-16ab-4a5c-901b-212802da9460}
filedevice partition=C:
filepath \hiberfil.sys
pae Yes
debugoptionenabled No

Resume from Hibernate
---------------------
identifier {e7453fb3-0aac-11dc-bc1a-806e6f6e6963}
device partition=D:
path \Windows\System32\boot\winresume.exe
description Windows Recovery Environment
inherit {1afa9c49-16ab-4a5c-901b-212802da9460}
pae Yes
debugoptionenabled No

Windows Memory Tester
---------------------
identifier {b2721d73-1db4-4c62-bf78-c548a880142d}
device partition=C:
path \boot\memtest.exe
description Windows Memory Diagnostic
locale en-US
inherit {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}
badmemoryaccess Yes

Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {466f5a88-0af2-4f76-9038-095b170dc21c}
device unknown
path \ntldr
description Earlier Version of Windows

EMS Settings
------------
identifier {0ce4991b-e6b3-4b16-b23c-5e0d9250e5d9}
bootems Yes

Debugger Settings
-----------------
identifier {4636856e-540f-4170-a130-a84776f4c654}
debugtype Serial
debugport 1
baudrate 115200

RAM Defects
-----------
identifier {5189b25c-5558-4bf2-bca4-289b11bd29e2}

Global Settings
---------------
identifier {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}
inherit {4636856e-540f-4170-a130-a84776f4c654}
{0ce4991b-e6b3-4b16-b23c-5e0d9250e5d9}
{5189b25c-5558-4bf2-bca4-289b11bd29e2}

Boot Loader Settings
--------------------
identifier {6efb52bf-1766-41db-a6b3-0ee5eff72bd7}
inherit {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}

Resume Loader Settings
----------------------
identifier {1afa9c49-16ab-4a5c-901b-212802da9460}
inherit {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}

C:\Windows\system32>

 

[rant] Well I had my laptop power down for the first time, because the battery reached 3%. Bootup was much quicker this time, than trying to come out of hibernation and waiting and waiting and rebooting. Only thing is that the desktop icons got mixed up again, like they often do when I have to reboot. Man I can't believe this--even Windows 3.1 didn't goof up the icons like Vista does. If I didn't enjoy working on MS Word so much, I'd switch to Ubuntu in a heartbeat. [/rant]

 

Hi Paul, can't see anything wrong with the resume loader settings in your BCD. I've just been having a specific issue with the BCD and hibernate so I wondered if yours might have been similar. It does not look like it, so I cannot offer any other suggestion I'm afraid. Also have no idea about your icon problem.

I've been recently trying to ween myself off Word in preparation for the day when I migrate to Linux. I've been using Open Office and trying to get used to Writer. It's definitely not as good as Word and has a few differences and quirks, but I'm getting used to it and use it most of the time now. The latest Open Office 2.3.0 is fully Vista compatible and co-exists with Microsoft Office without problems. It works with Office documents and can also save new docs in Office format. Registering is optional now and you also get an option during setup not to have it check for updates.

 

Thanks, McTavish. Appreciate your time.