Can't change the critical battery level. any ideas?

I'd like to continue working when my battery drops below 8%. But when I go to advanced power options I can't set the critical battery level lower.

Any idea how I can change this?

 

I'm curious, what's the battery life (in hours) left - it might be there is so little time left that the computer deems it safer to shut down to protect your data?

 

More than 20 minutes.

I don't care about loosing my data. I want to use the battery to 0%, just once for a deep cycle.

 

I think you need the BIOS for that - discharge as much as you can, then start again and enter the BIOS if I am informed correctly.

 

There's no option in the BIOS.

It must be possible to set the critical battery level lower than 8%.

 

What OS are you running?

 

Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit.

 

Not an option in the BIOS - run the laptop in the BIOS.


In Win7 its impossible - just tested it on my old laptop, I can't go below 5%...
(That's on Windows7 Professional 32Bit)

 

Go to the Power Options in control panel > selecting your current power plan > "Change for advanced power settings" > Battery > Critical battery level > change the % for on battery or plugged in. Mine is at 3%

 

5% is lower than 8%. I'll settle for that.

 

Yes that's what I already did. It won't go below 8%.

Can you set yours to 0%?

 

You can set the reserve battery level to zero, you can set the low battery level to 0 but the critical battery wants to stay above a limit.

And you can chose the action at the critical level too.

I suspect the value is dependant on the power draw of the computer.

 

Lowest I can set it to is 1%

hmmm..

 

Detlev, is it possible that you don't know the answer to my question?

 

I've just looked at Windows 7 Professional - what else can I do?

Edit:
Just noticed - critical batter action is the first entry - set it to do nothing.
Edit2: Only has sleep hibernate and shutdown...

 

What you can do is, plug your AC charger into laptop, let it run to 0%, since you can change the "critical battery action" on plugged in to "do nothing" whereas on battery, it won't let you choose "do nothing."

 

I appreciate you're trying to help but I've got the feeling you don't really know the answer to my question. In that case it might be better to just say so

My question is simple: how can I set the level to lower than 8%?

How can I run it to 0% when my charger is plugged in?

 

LOL. Good point. Huge brain fart on that one...

 

That's what I suspect too, but I also expect workarounds or hacks exists.

 

well, what you can do is once the computer shutdown or hibernates. Turn it back on again and it will run until there's no battery left.
That's what I did to discharge mine.

 

Strangely it wouldn't let me turn it on again untill I plugged it in.

But I might be able to run it down while being in BIOS, I'll try that now.

 

Yup get it down to 5 or 8% and boot it back on to the BIOS and drain in down there.

 

I thought the lowest was 3%.

 

I got it down from 8% to 7% but that's as far as it wants to go.

I'd like to go lower because it's about 25 minutes battery life that I'm missing.

 

try powercfg -setdcvalueindex SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_BATTERY BATACTIONCRIT 0

That sets the current power scheme you have selected, to do nothing for critical battery level.

If you want to set the battery critical level, try this

powercfg -setdcvalueindex SCHEME_CURRENT e73a048d-bf27-4f12-9731
-8b2076e8891f 9a66d8d7-4ff7-4ef9-b5a2-5a326ca2a469 2

SCHEME_CURRENT is the active power profile

e73a048d-bf27-4f12-9731-8b2076e8891f is the Battery GUID (aka Subgroup GUID)

9a66d8d7-4ff7-4ef9-b5a2-5a326ca2a469 is the GUID for Critical Battery Level

2 is for the % you want to set critical battery level at.

Do powercfg in a command prompt

 

just plug it in only to get it booting, then quickly plug it out again.


and it should be possible to set it below 8%, i set it to 1% myself..

and yes, letting it run down in the bios works.

still irritated about the <8% thing..


edit: actually, i only get it down to 2%. but still.. i can change it.


do you have some special power plans?

 

Thanks, I will try this tomorrow.

Unfortunately neither is possible.

no, but I tried making one. that did not help either.

Edit: I have just been able to set it to 1%. Hurray!

How it worked: I took my battery out, while working on AC power I was suddenly able to change it to 1%.

 

I don't know what's your problem Phil. But I set mine at 1% just fine.

 

It's been fixed now thanks.

It may have to do with the fact that Windows can't read the power draw right, it also can not predict how much time I have got left.

 

Hope you know about this program.

 

Yes, thanks I am already using it on my DM1. Works fine.

It caused a mess on my 1810tz though.