FN+F2 Dsable Battery Charging WORKS

It doesn't autostart automatically - you have to configure it manually with the Task Scheduler to to do that.

 

I'm noticing that with the A05 BIOS with my R1 that it remembers to disable charging in the bios when the system is restarted and shut down. Has anyone looked into this much since A05 was released with someone who can test better then I can? I just hit Fn + F2 and it says charging disabled.

 

with all of my laptops that i've had before i don't even bother with disabling/unplugging... i feel like it's a hassle and since i don't usually keep a laptop for more than 1-2 years, unneeded.

 

It would be great to have the source code to this BTMeter - we could mod it to maintain the battery in a certain range (eg: 30-60%) rather than manually switching it on and off.

 

that would be most cool

 

Sounds like a project for our resident coding genius - unclewebb. *hint hint* I would definitely buy it if someone came up with a more usable solution than btmeter.

 

Sounds smart.

 

When i run the .exe nothing happens. Ive looked through the files and cant find where it installs to. I'm on a brand new M11x R3. Any help will be appreciated.

 

When you open the exe nothing will show on screen but it does open. After you open it, push FN + F2 and you should be able to enable and disable the battery charging.

 

When I push FN+F2 it takes me to the alienware fusion program. I have found advanced battery options but there is no option to turn off the charge. What am I doing wrong?

 

You are sure that you have BT Meter open? When I push FN + F2 it opens BT Meter. It doesn't open AlienFusion for me. It should look like this:

 

Thanks for the replies and screen shot. Yeah i dont get that screen, im pretty sure its not installing. If i go into program files i cannot find it anywhere...

 

It doesn't install. You can put the exe file anywhere. I have mine on my desktop and open it when I want to enable or disable charging.

 

I have the icon on my desktop. I double click it and give it permission, even went into properties to make sure its not blocked. After doing that and pressing FN+F2 it just takes me to the alienfusion program. What am I doing wrong?

Edit: Gave you +rep

 

ok guys, quick question: anyone getting "EMSC.dll is missing from your computer"
error?

edit: im olmost certain this is a driver issue.

 

I'm not sure why it wouldn't work. I would look in the task manager and go to processes and make sure BTMeter.exe is open. Does your F2 button have the battery icon on it? Have you tried opening BTMeter as an administrator? Are you holding the FN button then pushing F2? I've never had AlienFusion open with that button combo before.

 

I checked my process and BTMeter.exe is running. My F2 button does have a battery icon. I'm sure i am pressing fn+f2 right. Im on the new R3 so maybe its a different command to open it?

 

i dont believe this has been tested with an R3 yet.

 

Like ajslay said, you are the first to try on an R3. I thought you had an R2, sorry. Hopefully you R3 guys can figure out how to make it work.

Never seen that before.

Edit: I do have that file, it's located in Windows/System32

 

hmm, if you could send me a copy id +rep you

 

I can give it to you, but if it breaks something it's not my fault. From briefly looking on the internet, I found that the file allows switching (battery, wifi, etc) with the FN + F2 combination. It must have installed from another program.

 

thanks, +rep. it wont break anything, simply putting the .dll in the system32 folder is harmless =)

 

Does it work now?

 

nope, i get an 0xc000007b STOP error now. i know im missing a driver of some kind lol.

 

That sucks. There is a newer version of BTMeter that you can install from Dell, maybe that will work. I tried it and it was just like the version I already have, except the icons changed a little.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/6712308-post16.html

 

thanks, il try that.
edit: it works! thanks man.

 

Sweet..I had the same missing .dll problem but this works perfectly now..Thanks!

 

My battery died recently on my M11xR1 - and I just bought a new one from Dell for £76 (~$125). I bought the laptop in March '10 so it lasted just over one year. It was giving me 11 minutes life before I decided enough was enough!

Thanks for the utility - it works great and hopefully it might help extend my battery life longer than a year this time.

 

hi, I just got a new m11x r3 and I tried the battery meter link that was posted above but it doesn't work for me. I installed it and it prompted for a reboot, but after that I tried fn+f2 and it just leads me back to alienfusion again with no option to stop charge.

anybody got any ideas?
thanks

 

are there any benefits from switching using battery meter and the BIOS? I have been using the BIOS "battery charge disabled" method it's just fine =D

 

another R3 user here, and I can't get it to work. Like the others, Alienware Command Centre opens and displays power options, but there is no disable charging option.

Anyone come up with a fix/workaround?

 

I dunno, personally, I don't know what the fuss is all about. Of the dozen or more laptops I've owned, only the early ones in the 1990's did I have any real issue with fast depleting battery life.

Of the several laptops I've had in the last five years, I kept on AC 100% charged, and battery wear was less than 5% after a year. Heck my Vostro 1500 well over three years old now (and owned by a friend of mine), the battery has only just recently started losing charge rapidly, so about due for a new one, primarily because batteries just lose the ability to hold charge whether discharged or not after a certain amount of time.

In other words, don't stress about it. Use your laptop. The amount of battery time you'll save won't be worth the time you fuss over managing it, and will have to change your battery after 2-3 years regardless. A few full discharges will probably deplete your battery more than just leaving your battery at 100% and let your laptop manage battery life for you.

 

Is it possible to make btmeter auto run at startup? All the guides I have found online on how to do it dont seem to work for me.

 

either you add it to startup folder (if you got only the exe file), or running from the installer (the one you download from dell)

 

My experiences with battery life have been similar to yours, HTWingNut, EXCEPT WITH MY ALIENWARE M11X! Your advice would normally be sage and worth following, but my battery in my M11x died after only 15 months with minimal discharges. My laptop was at 100% virtually all the time. I kept it plugged in almost always and just closed the lid (sleep mode) when I wasn't using it. I like sleep mode because the machine comes up immediately when you open the lid. I think that the M11x battery charging system will smoke your battery if you operate this way. I have downloaded the Battery Meter application and will be using it to disable charging when the unit is plugged in. I can use it the same way I did previously without continually having the unit cycle the charging. I think what was happening before was the sleep mode slowly drained the battery and then it 'topped up' after each slight discharge. By disabling charging and keeping the battery at 40-50% (recommended on several battery-oriented web sites), I hope to have the $160 battery last at least 2-3 years.

 

Is it just me or the charger does get hotter than ever when I disabled charging from bios? Apparently the charger temperature is less when on battery meter..

Also 'calibrating' the battery (discharging it until hitting the point where the machine hibernates/shutdown, then charging all up again) seems to increase battery wear according to the BatteryBar. First 3 months it was 0.1% wear, calibrated, then suddenly battery wear up to 3.6% until now. I hesitate to calibrate on routine basis now. Anyone got experience with such calibration and charger heat problem?

 

Bump, anything new for r3?

 

Pardon my lack of technical knowledge, but when you say the BMeter halts charging, does that mean my battery life will still drain when the AC is plugged in or will my battery life be kept at whatever percentage it was left at prior to turning off charging?

I am currently using BMeter at 36% and it's been constant for some time now. As such, I'm inclined to believe it's the latter.

 

If the charger is plugged in, it will draw power from that and not the battery. It is supposed to keep the battery charge at the same percentage when charging is disabled, but myself and others have noticed that over time the battery charge will still increase slowly.

 

Okay truth time. Lipo/Lion Don't work like Nimh.

1. They first, have no cell memory. So charging and discharging to the minimum wont cycle or break in your pack.

2. Keeping your battery "topped off" isn't good. It just wears down the life. Lipo/Lion last longer if you dont charge them to the maximum over and over.

3. 50% is a good position in battery amount to keep the battery at when not in use. Only charge to 90-100 if you are going to need it cordless for a few hours at once.

4. Disabling battery charging in your bios is very simple to do.


The reason I know these things is from experience and knowledge using Lipos in competitive hobbies the past decade. Before they started being used in notebook packs. Much of the information about saving your batteries life out there is based on nimh based cells and is out of date.

 

relating to number 4 on your list, could you please elaborate on how to do this? i have bios A06 for the m14x and cant find where to disable charging

 

Really would like to know if theres a download yet for another M11x r3 user for the dell battery meter.
Having to enable/disable via bios is just a hassle.

 

Hate having to bump but need some help.

 

Let me get this straight,if disabled it will save battery wear like if I were on a normal laptop to take out the battery and use just the cable?Thanks!

 

So for us R3 owners what tool do we need to download to make battery disable work correctly? My fn+F2 just launches Alien command centre :S!

I've read the whole thread but it's more R1 and R2 focused.

 

Yes.

10charblabla

 

Hello friends! I have the following problem-when i disable charging from the BIOS battery is still charging.Do you know why?

 

In M11xR1 disabling battery charging in the BIOS only lasts for that boot session.

Next reboot the BIOS setting will need to be reset.

The other option is to forget about it.

I have a M11xR1 with a Battery that'll be 2 years old in three months, it still gives me 4-5 hours with approx 15% wear over the life of the M11xR1.

Don't worry, be happy.

 

Going to bump this as I'm still unable to find anything.

 

I use a non Dell power supply...this disables battery charging but lets me use it plugged in...then I leave the Dell charger that came with it in my travel bag.