M11x - The infamous FN+F2 feature

I contacted erawneila about this problem and he replied:

Ahh... FN-F2 doesn't disable charging of the battery on the M11x like other larger Alienware systems. It merely displays the battery status. Is there a thread on this? Is this a feature that people are wanting to disable battery charge?

I for one would love to see this feature on the M11X, on my other laptops when I'm at home and my battery is fully charged I normally just pull out the battery preventing it to keep charging and wear it down. The alienware having a closed case makes that option impossible (well not impossible, but nobody is going to do that effort every time).

I've also read somewhere that the BIOS option to disable the charge doesn't work.

So everybody if you want to make a difference for future M11X owners, here's your chance and express your wants and needs

Update from erawneila:

Start a thread on it and let me know what the link is. I can review and take back to the engineering teams for consideration.

 

I tried the BIOS option the other day and asumed it worked. When I pressed fn + f2 it came up "battery disabled" or something similar. But yeah, I had thought that this was an included, and vital, feature.

 

One would wonder why it isn't included or "not working".

It just makes so much more sense for the m11x to have it over any other laptop since like you said, it takes approximately 7-8 screws to get access to the battery.

On a scale of issues, I'd rank this as one of the top priorities that m11x owners want "fixed" or "added".

Also disabling it viva bios does not work for me. It just reverts back every time.

 

Well, the manual more or less states that FN-F2 should toggle:
F2 — Check Battery Status and Battery Charge Disable/Enable
Press <Fn><F2> to toggle between the Battery Status Meter, Battery Charge Disable feature, and Battery Charge Enable feature.

 

Yes that is why everybody assumed it was a bug and I'm starting this thread to tell everybody that it's NOT a feature and thus NOT a bug, but I for one would like to have it as a feature.

 

I would really, really want this feature.

 

Well, no offense to Dell/AW but they should not tout it as a feature in the manual and then get surprised when people want it to exist .

I was posting that so the AW rep can see that on some level, the laptop docs do claim that as a feature, because the response you indicate he had was one of surprise that anyone even wanted it.

Might be some disconnect between the doc writers and the engineers.

 

currently in bios I'm on the disable battery charge feature.. looks like it's working cuz when I press fn + f2 it says charging disabled. but it does not toggle between the two. Requires bios switch to "toggle". At least there's the option. can't tell otherwise if it's charging the battery or not since the batt on full before I disabled. Guess I'll see if it lost a small % of charge when I unplug it later.

 

Yeah the bios works to disable, until you restart the computer, then it goes back to enabled... sucks

 

true true

 

it is definitely pretty high up on the scale of need. If the m11x is taken care of properly... the first thing to go out would be the battery [in terms of not lasting as long].

On a side note, how long do the LEDS last?

 

Agreed. I would very very much like this feature!

 

I would also like to see this feature applied

 

Pretty silly NOT to include this feature, especially when the manuals claim it should work.

I do hope an update is released.

 

i hope an update is released as well. really was looking forward to this feature.

 

M11x owners should demand such update! Not simple hope for it!

 

Please add this feature!

It would be a great addition to a great laptop.

 

It would make sense to actually have this feature because if its known to have long battery life, having the toggle would enhance that feature.

 

I thought initially too that, this was to enable/disable battery charging. It would be nice to have that, instead of useless battery status which is already shown in windows.

 

Ya, this is definately something I was looking forward to as I would generally be using the plug any chance I get. Would help in keeping the battery last longer especially considering how many cycles our batteries can sustain.

 

Make it happen Dell it would be a very useful feature.

Plus if you do it for the bigger systems, why not the little guy

 

Longer than the laptop will.

 

If the power adaptor is plugged in, shouldn't it stop charging the battery after it's full? Isn't that a normal thing? Why would you need a function key to disable the battery? Kinda odd. On my 2 year old Asus G51 it would say, plugged in, not charging, battery 100%.

 

i am Hopeful that someone will demand it!.

whats the benefit anyway?

 

Being able to disable the battery while on AC will extend battery life and thus saving money

 

The bios option to disable the battery does change back to default (battery charge - enabled) after a reboot. If it did not, then theoretically the battery could lose all charge and then not recharge again until the bios battery has been pulled.

The feature works great on my machine. The fn + f2 disable would be a better option though.

 

Years. The laptop will be severely outdated by the time LED burnouts become an issue.

 

On my XPS M1710, XPS M1730 and M17x, I have always left the battery in. On the M17x, while I have the ability to disable Battery charging via FN+F2, I leave it enabled. My system is on AC constantly. I dont use battery power often (unless I'm moving about and no AC is available), but when I do, the battery time is still about the same as it was when I first received it last year.

As I understand it (and I may be incorrect), with LI-ION batts - what kills the life is the number of complete charge cycles. So, don't let it die completely.

Don't take this the wrong way... I do support the FN+F2 feature and do believe it should be fixed. Like the M15x and the M17x, its a nice feature to have if you want to utilize it.

 

Thanks tho it's a comforting thought for as long as the fn+f2 feature isn't here.

 

@batboy= that's why we need this function to work. e.g. a typical working day off with, say, 55% charge left, you go home, plug in and play... but the battery is not charging and thus is not counted as 1 cycle charge. Since a Li-ion battery life is only about 300 cycles, this definitely will make it working longer.

 

So you are saying you have it plugged in and its not charging at all?? I guess I missed the point to this. Sorry for that. I thought it was that you wanted to be able to disable charging via FN+F2 rather than have to go through the BIOS.

Is everyone having this issue with a non-charging battery when plugged in?

What happens when you depress FN+F2 three times? I realize the display popup battery guage looks the same, but can you then confirm using either the Power icon in the tasktray or the current version of HWMonitor the battery is actually charging?

I am wondering if perhaps OSD is just not displaying/changing to the correct picture.

 

The manual needs to be corrected to explain that disabling battery charging is done through the BIOS.

Disabling battery charging has more to do with FAA regulations than it does with battery longevity. There are some airlines that do not allow you to charge your battery during flight. I've personally never seen this enforced on flights. Usually airlines are more concerned about total power draw - allowing no more than 75W is what I've seen on international flights. Most domestic flight don't even have a power outlet, unless you're in first class.

My advice, use the system the way you want to use it, don't let technology dictate your usage model. My style is to always have charging enabled and to have AC power connected whenever I'm at home or work. Battery power is for when I'm on the go.

 

This might be a little offtopic, but will Alienware be selling batteries for the M11x eventually?

 

The m11x's battery isn't easily removed like most laptop batteries so I dont think they would be selling replacement batteries out of their online store or something. They would do it probably like how they would sell replacement monitors or something.

 

It's actually fairly simple to replace it. Just unscrew the bottom plate and the battery can be removed - eventually they should be available for sale online. since all batteries come with a one year warranty, realistically nobody is needing to buy a battery anytime soon.

there's a trend with some other consumer electronics today to intentionally make the battery hard to replace, that way you have to buy another system when the battery eventually dies. I think that's really lame.

 

The batteries have a one year warranty? Is that true in the UK, too?

I'm used to batteries only having a warranty of a few months, which is really crappy.

 

Yep - 1 year warranty coverage on batteries.

 

Fantastic.

 

@batboy= yes, when you disable the battery charge from bios, the battery will not charge even if plug in and the Fn F2 only shows you de battery disabled message.
BTW, this is what I wanted to charge the battery only when it runs flat out.

 

Yeah Virtue - thats normal. I thought you meant you had somehow disabled the battery from charging via the FN+F2 command. This was of course before Nags confirmed thisis simply a typo in the manual.

 

i have a problem: if i hit fn + f2 i cannot even see the battery thing nothing appears... what can i do??

 

Reinstall OSD - the current version is HERE

Release Date: 2/5/2010
Version: 0.0.0.9C, A01

You should also bookmark this page for future reference:
http://support.dell.com/support/dow...764&osl=en&catid=&impid=&SystemID=ALW_LP_M11X

 

for what do you need actually the fn + f2 thing???

 

apparently its absolutely useless. it just shows your battery meter, and even if it did disable charging it doesnt matter since it uses an ion battery thats impermeable to deteriorating overchargification (lol) or so ive heard.

 

Have tried disabling battery charging via Bios, I save before exiting ofc...
When I come back to Bios it's back to enabled, ack driving me mad. =_=

 

Wait so let me get this straight. As long as you never let it hit 0 and then charge again, the battery won't lose it's full charge? So keeping it plugged in on A/C with the battery charging is not a bad thing?

It was my understanding that if your battery is charged and you plug in to the AC; it will continue to cycle through the battery and eat at it away faster?

 

I think leaving the battery in whilst plugged into the mains severely reduces battery life. Its happened to our old acer, my gfs laptop and a friend of mines laptop which were getting 5 to 20 mins battery life and hardly ever used away from a power socket so the batteries shouldnt have been worn from regular charge/discharge cycles
On my 3 year old asus ive always removed the battery whilst plugged in and it still gts 2.5 hours about the same as when it was brand new

 

If you connect your laptop to the wall with the battery disabled, and the plug accidentally gets pulled from the laptop, does the battery immediately turn back on or does the computer immediately power off and you lose the data you were working on?

 

the battery kicks in. you do not lose any data.

 

will the battery life on the m11x be reduced if i leave the computer plugged into the outlet for long amounts of time?