help with USB powershare

hello,
I'm a new owner of an Alienware m17, I had previously an Asus R.O.G.

here is my "problem", not really a big problem, I have a razer mamba, and I used to charged it on my Asus during the night with the USB powershare, so I can turn off my comp but still charging the mouse.

I know the Alienware have the powershare too, but I need to unplug then replug the mamba to activate the powershare when i turn off the comp.

does anyone know a way or a setting to have the powershare working without unplug and replug the device ?

thanks.

 

Wich revision is the Alienware? R1, R2, R3, R4 or AW17

I'm on R2...
I have to turn on power share in BIOS, and i must put the laptop to sleep, (not hibernation or shut down) otherwise it doesnt charge my Roccat Pyra...
If i unplug and replug i have to wake from sleep and put it to sleep again to start the charging.

Hope u know what i mean

 

I'm on AW17 (the latest one).

I checked in BIOS and there is only 2 options (enable or disable). bios revision A08.

My mamba is charging even when the comp is completely shutdown (i'm never putting my comp in sleep) but for that I need to unplug and replug.

maybe in a futur BIOS update this will be possible.

 

Hmm i have no idea how the AW17 works, sorry i guess you must wait a little longer for some1 with the knowledge to come by

In the BIOS it should be set to "Enable" wich is what you have it at i believe...

 

yeap, i put it on enable in the BIOS.

thank you anyway =) everyone's help is appreciated.

 

Did some reading

Here is what dell wrote for Powershare:
"If customer turns off computer while charging a USB device, the device stops charging. To continue charging, disconnect the USB device and connect it again. "

Copied from Which is the USB Powershare port on the Alienware Laptops? | Dell US

So yeah, you have to do it every time, sorry.

 

oh, well if Dell say so :-(

maybe I can ask them to add an option for that in the next BIOS revision.

thank you maxslo.

 

Just got my Alienware 17 Thursday and noticed my Mamba wan't charging when the laptop was asleep, glad to hear there is at least a workaround. Well let's see how long it takes for me to give up and just plug the mouse in permanently. I'm already annoyed that the Mamba isn't bluetooth with a plug into the wall charging stand.

 

I don't think there's a way to get around having to replug it.

 

Suprised it doesn't carry on chargin. The older R4 momentarilly disconnects and reconnects when you go to sleep on the powershare port. At least you have a workaround for now. Could save you hassle if you leave something charging when you haven't got it connected to the AC at least.

 

I wonder if it's the device? I know that my 360 controller will not charge on anything if it cannot 'see' the driver so exactly that happens. Driver stops communicating, no charging. When it wakes up you have to re-plug the USB port to wake it up.

Easy to test through. If it charges using one of those generic USB wall chargers then this has nothing to do with it

 

It's prolly a safety thing, for the uninitiated

Take this scenario (and perhaps dells reason to implement this safety thing) you are gaming on an AW, most likely on ext. power, the laptop is happily charging your devices, you turn off the lappie, and walk away. Now since the charging facility is baked into the bios, most/some users may not realise that the port is charging their peripherals they come back to a less than 10% battery charge and now are stuck at the wall unit cuz they need to charge the laptop. Only is this not an inconvenience but also there will be complete charge/discharge cycles eating away at the battery's life, which may

Cause an increase in batteries being sent back on warranty claims
Cause an environmental/logistical issue for Dell (unlikely, but giving them the benefit of the doubt)

The plug-unplug thing may allow the knowledgeable user to consciously setup his or her laptop to charge the peripheral but take adequate measures to prevent inconveniencing him/herself

 

To me this looks like the most logical explanation why this would have been done. However after testing powershare with my R4 and iPhone and G700 mouse I believe this is not the case. R4 charges devices when going to sleep as well as when laptop is completely powered off. In both cases device re-connects automatically the moment computer is in sleep mode or tuns off, you do not have you physically re-connect it.

If you remove the PSU, powershare no longer works, so you can not discharge the battery in AW when your laptop is not plugged-in. I am using the newest official BIOS with R4, not sure if this is any different with older BIOS revisions.

 

Exactly how my R3 and this R4 work

 

If 2 generations prior to the newest are working exactly the same, there might be some BIOS bug in the newest AW 17 revision. Or it might be down to specific device, as you pointed out. This could be tested though with a mobile phone/camera/anything that can be charged via USB.