Battery Time Left in vista x64

hi

I have a Compal IFL-90 with vista business x64 and vista will refuse to give me the remaining battery time, just percentage... Other programs like RMClock say "N/A"

any ideia how to get this to work?

thanks

 

Are you talking about the windows battery utility.
You can also download the Smart Battery sofware version 1.0.0.12
And then add the Battery Monitor to your sidebar, this wil then tell you the time and the percentage.

 

Any tweaks to see discharge rate? I was using that function in EL80 so much to tweak pc for the ultimate battery life. And now it’s not working in IFL90.
And were can we find smart battery version 1.0.0.12?

 

i have the Smart Battery software installed and added the battery monitor (even though i don't really use the sidebar ) and still nothing..

i was hoping the battery icon on the systray (the windows mobility center or something) would give methe battery life.. all it says is: "xx% remaining - current power plan: xyz "

 

bumb, sorry no idea to get this any more clear regarding the battery time but I will keep my eyes open for you.

 

I'm having the same problem with my IFL90. I can only find Smart Battery 1.0.0.9 or 1.0.0.10 versions on the Compal, Sager, and bizcom-us sites. Where are you getting version .12?

Mike

 

I just found Smart Battery version .12 on the bizcom-us site. It's at the bottom of the page listed under the model JFW91. The file is in ApplicationSet(1-4). Vista32_64-DriversSet(01-09) looks like it has drivers for the other software for the IFL90. There is a pdf file that lists the versions of the enclosed files.

Mike

 

Here is the link for the version 1.0.0.12 from my own site.
Also the battery Monitor Gadget is on there, just download and install.



Smart Battery: http://www.r-verbeek-1.speedlinq.nl/Smart%20Battery%201.0.0.12.zip



Battery Monitor Gadget: http://www.r-verbeek-1.speedlinq.nl/BatteryMonitor.Gadget

Just rename the file BatteryMonitor.zip to BatteryMonitor.gadget then install the gadget.

 

I think we are looking for an application that states the "time" remaining, not %.

 

From what I've seen of the above battery gadget it is supposed to show time while on battery power. Though I haven't been able to get it to do it. I'm downloading the updated files I posted about earlier and will see if it works.

Mike

 

Sorry the version is only solving minor issues with the charge button on the notebook and the change for the text size when people set the DPI resolution to more then 96DPI.
Sorry for the wrong info, i forgot you where looking for the battery tool which tells you the time you have left.

Will keep my eyes open for you, and as soon as I found something I will post it here.

 

Used Smart Battery ver .12 and no change. Still can't get remaining time. :confused2: Must be a Vista problem or Compal driver problem. Oh well...

Mike

 

Use BatteryMon application.

 

I have and no difference. I googled the problem and it seems to be a wide spread problem/condition with alot of laptops. I'll wait and see if the SP1 update has any effect. If not oh well.

Mike

 

Don't forget to click on the battery icon to see the time on BatteryMon, otherwise you won't see it.

 

An application will not tell you the remaining time if Vista itself cannot estimate a remaining time. SmartBattery is a driver (and in the future may fix this problem). BatteryMon only reports what Vista itself knows. Maybe if you submit a screenshot of BatteryMon running with BOTH percentage AND time on it, we will believe you, but as far as I know, you cannot see time remaining for the battery using Vista on the IFL90, I don't know about XP.

 

Here is, but remember you must unplug the power adapter so the application can estimate the remaining time.

 

This may work, but there are two reasons that it is not a solution. 1) The largest problem is that the software does not report the time remaining back to the system, therefore, makes the system use more power to run this program (which just guesstimates the time remaining) then to have the OS report it. 2) You have to pay $$ to get this feature?? now that is a problem right there. Compal needs to get off their butts and fix this major problem with ACPI integration. I'm sorry, but this isn't going to work for the majority of people that want time remaining.

 

The program is running on the RAM, do you know how much power consumption is that? Extremely, very, very, insignificantly ssssssssssmall

 

I'd love Windows itself to know the time, this is just a temporary fix, not a solution to a problem. I'll use this till the evaluation runs out, but after that, I'll be waiting for BIOS or Driver update to hopefully fix this.

 

Remeber, Windows Vista is just an Operating System, not a source of gadgets like we all like. I will be testing PowerMon next time I'm on battery only and post the results, and advice if the application is accurate or not. My battery should last from 2.5h to 3.5h, depending on usage.

 

If Vista is not reporting the time remaining, there is something wrong with the power management driver for the battery. Many values are not getting reported like the battery manuf. date. On almost every other notebook I've seen, Vista reports the remaining time.

 

Where does Vista report the remaining time on other laptops?

 

I was thinking you were referring to the Battery Monitor gadget and not an application.

I've never seen this app before.

Mike

 

@ATCSMIke: The Battery Monitor gadget is hwat I call application (PowerMon).

@massiveH: I haven't not seen such application in Vista.

 

There is a widget for yahoo widget(duh) called battery monitor that can provide that info...

 

I think massiveH is looking something within Vista. Although I called it gadget, I think massiveH has a point saying that since Vista has a power management driver and that it already displays remaining time in %, it would be more appropriate to show time remaining.

 

Vista is supposed to (if the power management was written correctly in either BIOS or Vista) show the percentage and the time remaining. Does XP show the time remaining natively?

 

@massiveH: You said that you saw it in somone else laptop, can you tell me in what window please?

 

On a Dell M1530, an HP nx9600, an HP nx9500, and an IBM T60. They show the time reaming when you hover over the battery in the tool bar on the bottom of the task bar (as well as the current power power profile and % remaining). When you put that battery gadget in the sidebar, rather than saying "running on battery" it will give you a reaming time. These values should be known by the OS.

Note: None of those notebooks needed special drivers to report the time remaining.

 

I have Windows vista Business and I don't see that, I will try to dig deeper to see if I can enable it somewhere.

 

As I was saying, I don't think this is something you can simply "enable". I think this is a BIOS problem that Compal has failed to address. I would be certain that it's a BIOS problem if someone with XP could post if they see the time remaining supplied by hovering over the battery icon.

 

The load will determine the power being used, or the current drained, which is the charge variation versus time. The current being drained is not constant, it varies each second depending what you are doing, so at any given time, the most accurate value you can get is the amount of charge left. Whatever driver giving you a time is not accurate, to ilustrate this, let's say that your OS tells you that you have 20' left, then since your job is so interesting, you decide to play a DVD, or play a game, all of a sudden, after 10' your laptop starts buzzing you, it is about to shut itself to protect data. So, what happened to the 20'????? Do you get my point?

 

It is the same issue in XP.

 

I found an updated battery Monitor gadget here:
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=c1d24738-2b6a-48fb-8580-e05648733399

It seems to work and show time remaining. I had to disable the windows detect and let it auto detect in options. It takes a couple of minutes to do it. It's on a French site but displays on the computer in English.

Mike

 

I get your "point". I'm just saying something in the BIOS/hardware is half-assed, and Vista isn't reporting the time. And if you change the load, Vista does recalculate the remaining time.

 

If this is a Vista deficiency, then you should bring this issue to Microsoft technical support, have you?

 

This would not appear to be a problem with Vista, as an XP user said XP does not report time remaining either.

 

I'm not following you, you say above, it doesn't work, and you say it works???? Remember, I just have monkey brain so go easy on me

The fact of the matter is, I have Vista Business and do not have that feature.

 

I know my old Dell Inpisron 5150 with XP reported the time remaining, although it probably wasn't 100% accurate. I noticed that all Vista laptops lacked this feature so it could be a operating system thing.

 

I had XP on my previous laptop but I don't remember that feature.

I have Visa Business and I just see % left as I hover over the battery icon on the task bar. May be is a Vista version thing, perhaps other Vista version do what you say.

 

The other notebooks I listed were Vista Business and Vista Home.

 

This is the version I was using, but then translated in to Dutch.
I will try to find a newer version with more features to support the battery option.
For now it's the best so thx for the link, your rep goes up.

 

Hi, sorry to bother but RePaRaQu can you get me that smart battery 10.0.0.12, so i can try out, the 10.0.0.10 doesn't work at all on my Vista x64.

Tks