Help needed for inspiron 9400

Hi, I just got an inspiron 9400 and all is great while on the AC.
However once I am on battery, I woon't even be able to play HD Videos on the laptop, and tried combinations of settings.
My battery is 9-cell 80whr.
core 2 duo 2GHZ 2GB Ram 7900gs 160HD WUXGA
plays at maybe 1 or 2fps when on battery. when it is suppose to be 24fps
uses xtreme-g mobile 101.41 have to turn display to lowest brightness for normal playback
btw is 30mark 05 of 6400 good in vista?
thxs in advance

 

You might want to check your power options settings. Often times when you're running on batt your system will power down your graphics settings. On a side note, didn't know 9400 could play HD videos - thought you needed a specialized dvd drive for that. Or, it could just be a Vista issue.

 

Yes check your settings.

 

I am just trying to play the hd content from microsoft, all those sample video. after turning everything off except with the screen brightness on full, the video lags horriblely. Have to tune down brightness to get the normal 24fps but that just defeats the purpose of the video. dunno if there are anything else I could shut off to divert power to graphic.
Wifi, modern, ethernet firewire even usb all down.

 

Plus, just wonding how many watts is actually need to decode at 1080p

 

anyone? pls help

 

Click on the battery meter icon in your taskbar tray (when you are unplugged from the AC). Now select "Performance" as your power scheme instead of "Balanced." See if that helps.

 

Stupid question are you sure you have an HD-DVD drive in your 9400? I can't see where there is even an option for one on the 9400.

 

No he doesnt have an HD-DVD drive.

You can download sample HD from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/musicandvideo/hdvideo/contentshowcase.aspx

 

Please read before u post. As for changeing it to performance mode already tried that, doesnt work. I even tried WinDvd with hardware acceleration as that supports purevideo. Now I am completely out of ideas.

 

Any one? any ideas? pls Help

 

if someone with the the same laptop and similar config could try playing the hd videos and see if they have the same problem it would be helpfull.

 

tru, which someone with the same lappy seen this post

 

I played them with no problem. Specs in sig.

 

is ur brightness set on full and in powermode?

 

I played around with my power conservation settings in the Nvidia Control Panel. I also put clocked my processor down to 1 GHZ from 2. Then, I played with brightness. Every combination I tried it played well. It's probably your driver. I am using the one on the Dell website.

The suggested processor speeds are high. They suggest at least 2.4 for 720p and at least 3 ghz for 1080p. But, I watched 1080p fine with my speed set at 1 and 2.

Is any other video affected for you or just HD?

 

Thxs for the quick reply, i think is just hd.
played all the other wmv and rmbv files quite well.
undervolting the cpu helped a little bit not enough to make it playable.
My battery discharge at max 49whr.

 

btw using the newest xtreme-g mobile force dirvers

 

and just wonder can u use powermizer with the dell drivers?
cannt seem to find that program anywhere.

 

I don't have Vista though. Have you tried drivers from NVidia's site?

 

tried drivers from laptopvideo2go, nvidia original drivers does not work need modded inf.
Will try dell drivvers

 

just tried dell drivers. still no go, 720p plays ok just the 1080 causing trouble

 

Just wonder are the HD files from Microsoft H.264 and vista does not support hardware decoding for it. So the Cpu has to do the job?