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    Changed from vista to xp I now have only half an hour of battery life!!

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by bigdara, Nov 8, 2008.

  1. bigdara

    bigdara Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks to the notebook review guide I have successfully managed to change from vista to XP on my HP DV6500t pc. It has worked out great but I have one problem. With vista my battery would last up to 2 hours. Now with XP I'm lucky if I get half an hour from the battery. Has anyone any idea what might have caused this and how to fix?
    Thanks
     
    bigdara, Nov 8, 2008
    #1
  2. goofball

    goofball Notebook Deity

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    is it consistently half an hour since you've installed it? Do you have lots of background processes happening now? that's a major drop and would indicate you have something running in the background that is draining the battery.
     
    goofball, Nov 8, 2008
    #2
  3. Tinderbox (UK)

    Tinderbox (UK) BAKED BEAN KING

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    Tinderbox (UK), Nov 8, 2008
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  4. Apollo13

    Apollo13 100% 16:10 Screens

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    Check Task Manager and see what's taking up CPU juice. For that huge of a drop, you must have programs using the CPU all the time, and GPU and possibly hard disk as well likely for that matter. You wouldn't even get that much of a drop from switching to MS-DOS, which has no power management whatsoever and always uses 100% CPU power. Even considering my 9-cell battery, I couldn't get my battery to drain that quickly if I intentionally used as much power as possible, so you've got some major power drains acting.
     
    Apollo13, Nov 8, 2008
    #4
  5. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    Vista is better on battery than xp...
     
    nizzy1115, Nov 8, 2008
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  6. swarmer

    swarmer beep beep

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    Change back to Vista. ;)
     
    swarmer, Nov 8, 2008
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  7. Matt

    Matt Notebook Deity

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    Vista does use less power, but not THAT much less. There is clearly something wrong. Unfortunately, I have no idea what.
     
    Matt, Nov 8, 2008
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  8. Deks

    Deks Notebook Prophet

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    Vista might be better than XP in terms of power conservation, but not by THAT much (as Matt said).

    This might be a silly question, but did you recharge the battery?
    Are you running any intense tasks on the battery in XP such as gaming (which will kill your battery rather quickly).
     
    Deks, Nov 9, 2008
    #8
  9. qhn

    qhn Notebook User

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    What is your comp's model? Chipset drivers up to date? Some models come with the power management built in or an utility power management app on the side under XP.

    cheers ...
     
    qhn, Nov 9, 2008
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  10. bigdara

    bigdara Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi, thanks for all the replies.
    Checked the processes. Nothing is being used excessively. I'm now down to about 10-15mins so I'm thinking it is not a vista to xp thing but just a terrible battery. It is only a year old!!
    The PC is a HV 6500T, core 2 duo, 2 gig Hz, I believe the chipset to be 965 express. I just noticed the the version of software in the device manager for Microsoft acpI-compliant control method battery is 2001. Seems very old. SHould I be using a newer version and if so where can I get it? Thanks
     
    bigdara, Nov 16, 2008
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  11. redrazor11

    redrazor11 Formerly waterwizard11

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    Charge the battery up to full, turn the screen brightness all the way down, and then re-test the battery life using a timer...you can't always trust xp's estimates. Ya know?
     
    redrazor11, Nov 16, 2008
    #11