POLL: FZ powerloss in hibernation

Updated: 3/07/09 Man is my face red. I got to the bottom of this mystery and twas a case of PEBKAC (problem exists between keyboard and chair). It seems I was not waiting long enough for the machine to complete hibernating before I was disconnecting the A/C. The past four days I have been monitoring power light to be sure the machine was off, then disconnected the A/C. Doing this I can now report I lose ZERO power when hibernated overnight. Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa.

Gary

___________Original text from 02/28/09 below____________________________________
I realize this has been discussed ad nauseum, but I'd like to take a poll of FZ owners. Other owners, feel free to comment but please don't vote in the first two options in the poll.

I recently (about a month ago) installed BatteryBar which gives a much more useful display of battery life and use. When on AC it shows time to a full charge and when full it becomes transparent with the words "On A/C". When on battery it shows time to empty, based on stats it gathers itself. Very cool.

But the past few days, I have noticed something when I hibernate on A/C and then disconnect the A/C. (My usual pattern at night in prep for going to the office the next day, and the same returning home.) Namely, I loose about 6% of the battery power in 12 hours. I can't say WHEN this started or if in reality it is a new situation or just that I started to notice it. Hence the poll attached to this thread.

If I fully power down, not hibernate, I do not loose any power. Note Hibernate is the S4 state and power off is the S5 state. And if you dig into the device manager you will find that certain devices have in their "Power Data" settings on the "Details" tab a D2 state while in hibernation and a D3 state when powered off. (See attachment)

Here is an article with details about S4 and S5 States: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms798270.aspx

And one with info about the S4 and S5 states along with the D2 and D3 differences: Power "S" states and "D" states (See pages 5 and 6)

I'm starting this poll in hopes that I can first, determine if other FZ owners (and SPECIFICALLY those who own FZ models) loose power during hibernation. Then if there is a variance in observations, if we can determine WHAT is causing the variance.

Second, and this will apply to a wider community than just FZ owners, try to determine how we might modify the Power Data settings of the devices that are set for a D2 state under hibernation.

Ok, again, everyone feel free to comment, but I ask that ONLY FZ owners actually vote in the first TWO options of the poll.

Thanks,
Gary

 

I loose power either ways. MY FZ's standard battery is very weak. I loose around 7% in 10 hrs when shut down and unplugging the AC. When hibernating and unplugging the AC, the effect is very similar, although I haven't tested accurately.

Attached is the power data for my USB composite device.

 

Really? You loose power even when shut down? I am not seeing that at all, thankfully. And if the rest of your devices have a D3 state for a processor S5state, you should not be either. Do me a favor. Some night when you power down, take the battery out of the machine and report back your power loss (if any) the next morning. You may be seeing a "self discharge" situation rather than a power consumption issue.

Thanks,
Gary

 

I think I was wrong. I will usually start my laptop after 10-12 hrs in battery. I didn't have any power loss (or 99%) when starting up with AC plugged in.

 

Let me make sure I understand. You normally restart after 10-12 hours in the power off (S5) state. When you restart you have the machine on BATTERY, not A/C power. Right? If so that 7% loss, you have is from system startup.

Now please tell me, what happens if you hibernate with the A/C disconnected for 10-12 hours, then reconnect the A/C and come out of hibernation? Any battery loss?

Gary

 

Gary the battery lost 1% of charge after hibernating for 11 hrs.

 

See my update in the first message of this thread. I feel REALLY stupid.

Gary

 

If you remember, I had mentioned in a thread before that it takes for a while to go to hibernation in Vista (including the "so long saving to disk" while the power light is ON and the display OFF).

 

The battery loss also depends upon the environmental conditions (cold drains the battery).

 

Oh, I know that. I was used to the amount of time it would take to complete the save to disk and I would then disconnect the A/C. But the issue was I recently went from 2 to 3gb of memory, and forgot that would also mean a bit longer time for the save to disk. So I was pulling the A/C a bit too soon. When I realized the error of my ways and actually looked at the power light before disconnecting the A/C, suddenly I had no power loss.

It was one of those "Homer Simpson" moments, "Doh!". Like I said, I felt REALLY stupid.

Gary