Poweroff before shutdown, low battery

Hi. I bought a new 1545 Inspiron. On a very low battery, it keeps powering off before going through Windows shutdown process. It is screwing up my applications and causing me to have to restore. Two tier 1 techs can't seem to understand what I am communicating the problem is. Maybe a language barrier, but I am not sure. I updated the BIOS to February, 2009 version, but there is no documentation about this problem on the Dell BIOS download page. I would like the PC to do what it is supposed to do: on critical battery, Windows should initiate the shutdown process and once that is completed properly, power down the machine. Seems simple, but how to fix this? Thanks to anyone that can help me. Dan

 

You might want to try increasing the critical battery percentage. Some lithium ion batteries automatically shut themselves down when they discharge below a certain point, regardless of the computer's instructions, to prevent damage. If your Inspiron has the same default settings as my Studio 1535, then the critical battery level where it forces a shutdown is 5%, which is very low. Try bumping it up to 7 or 8% and see if that helps.

 

What Master is referring to are the Low and Critical Battery percentage settings in your Power Plan Advanced Settings. Not only can you set the target percentages, there is also an audible alert that you probably don't even realize hearing that alerts you to both levels, Low first and then the Critical. Since the default sound is pretty unnoticeable, I've changed mine to a ringing bell sound that's much more obvious to get my attention.

To change your Power Plan Settings:

First, there are several default Power Plans that are standard with Vista. You can edit them but not delete them. I always recommend to my clients to make at least one or more custom plans, one for Home when plugged in, and when on the battery, different than the default.

1. Start, Control Panel, Power.
2. Click on Change Plan Settings under the currently selected plan. Note on the left column the link to create a new plan also.
3. Click on Change Advanced Power Settings.
4. Navigate to the bottom of the list where the Battery settings are, and open out the menu tree (click on the +).
5. Note the different settings for Low and Critical. The Level Settings are where you change your percentages - the Notification and Action settings are keyed off of the Level settings. Low Battery is hit before Critical, so its percentage should be set 5% or more above critical. I have my Low set to 15%, Critical at 10%. Note also if your battery discharge isn't matched with your meter, you may need to calibrate the battery to the meter.
6. Once you set the Levels, Set your Notifications to Enable on both.
7. For the Actions - you have 3 choices, Sleep, Hibernate or Shut Down. Choosing Shut Down will allow the computer to go through a normal SD procedure, but if you've set the Critical to 10%, it'll give you enough time to wake it up and then close any applications you may have open, and save any work before doing a manual shutdown. However, if you don't think you'd notice why the system went into sleep at Low, or would hear the audible alarm, then set it to SD just to be safe. Low should be set to Sleep or Hibernate. I like Sleep better - most problems seem to happen on Hibernate.

Audible Battery Alarm Setup

There are 2 Battery Level Alarms, just as there are 2 battery levels, low and critical.

1. Control Panel, Sound.
2. Click on the Sounds tab.
4. The Critical Battery Alarm is at the top of the list because it's alphabetic. Click on it to highlight the sound currently assigned to it - Critical Battery.wav is the default. It's an unobtrusive sound, and if you don't know what it is, it's easy to miss.
If you click on the Sounds: button, you'll see a list of sounds that you can change it to. Try different sounds, using the Test button to hear them, until you find one that you like to notify you of your Critical Battery level. You can also use your own .wav sound if you want.

Scroll down a bit and you'll see the Windows Low Battery Alarm. Do the same for it, then click on Apply, then okay to set the changes.

Battery Calibration

Most manufacturers have their own procedures on calibrating your notebook battery to the Vista power meter, so check you system support site first. Here is HP's, though it's pretty generic for Vista Systems:

How to Calibrate the Notebook Battery

 

Thanks for your replies, guys. I did what the mastershroom ordered and set the shutdown on critical at 10 minutes. My PC did power down at that moment in time, but it again did not go through the Windows shutdown process. Oddly enough, if I press the off button, the PC does go through Windows shutdown properly before powering off. I will calibrate the battery and see if that helps. I am not sure it will. I think that there is something wrong with the commands associated with the shutdown on critical battery. I am not sure how to check it though. Is it in the registry?

 

I would try it with a different OS, easiest would be an Ubuntu Live CD I think (boots from CD, you can run it without modifying anything).

 

Look what I found:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com.../thread/f6e817e2-7972-4967-a700-e29a9ed21513/

It appears Vista does not shutdown properly on critical battery and that a future release will fix this problem. Shocker!