Windows 10 Windows behavior when battery gets low

[garyfritz]

I've been running Win10 on my (old) laptop for about 6 months now. In the last few months I've noticed some problems with power management. 90%+ of the time the laptop is on my desk, plugged in. (Which I know is not ideal for battery life.) But when it's unplugged, sometimes it has issues.

* I'll close my laptop and put it in my backpack. When I get the laptop out hours later, sometimes it's warm -- indicating it was running with the top closed. On one occasion I got a "thermal overload" message. Obviously when it does this, the battery is much lower when I start using it.

* Recently I've had several cases where it was closed, but the laptop drained power until it died. Not hibernated, but ran to zero power and shut down.

I never had this problem in W7. Is this a W10 issue? Do I need to change some setting? Does W10 not handle aging batteries well? According to a battery test, my battery has lost about 10% of its full capacity in the last few months.

 

[pnamajck]

garyfritz … while you wait for others to respond … i noticed you been using win-10 for six months and upgraded from win-7 … you elaborated well. the guys might also want to know make/model … and whether you upgraded any of the hardware. thanks.

 

[garyfritz]

It's an HP Pavilion dv7-6199us, circa 2011. (I'm due for a new laptop!) I've upgraded the hard drive to a 250GB SSD, boosted it from 8GB to 16GB RAM, and added a USB wifi dongle to replace the flaky built-in wifi. All that happened when I was still running Win7. These problems are recent, but I'm not sure if they're triggered by Win10 or by an aging battery. (But even if it's the battery, Win10 ought to handle it more gracefully than it has been.)

 

[pnamajck]

thinking aloud, gary … my thoughts are it could be as simple as a setting with win-10's energy-saver or sleep-mode not engaging properly … this happened when i rec'd the anniversary update earlier this year. mine (satellite p55) just sits on top of desk … never transported it.

just hang tight … might hear from the gang tomorrow morning.

 

[pnamajck]

circa 2011 … meaning its almost six years old, gary … some on this forum consider 6-year old laptop to be ancient, and the work of a fool's folly. being a laptop, even i woulda' replaced mine by now. hearing about your upgrades was good. and, while you never stated so … i assume you are up-to-date with win-10 critical updates. battery at 90% capacity to me sounds fine. i further suspect you have already researched the "thermal overload" occurrence.

have you read any other posts here on windowsforum.com? recent one: Battery Longevity

keep or replace … depends upon one's priorities, habits, needs. however … if you wish to continue with your current environment … continue reading.

fundamentally speaking … if worse comes to worse, gary … you might consider going back to the factory settings … think the options offered are restore/recovery (yes, back to win-7). those are explained in detail within hp's user-guide (links listed below).

now then … if i was in your situation:

1) create system restore-point
2) create iso of current hard-drive
3) back-up all personal files
4) take screen-caps of settings (optional)​

from there … i'd take in-depth look into the energy-saver and sleep modes … if altering a mode, save it with custom name. in case you have lost your original user-guide … links are listed below.

well, gary … i cannot offer anything further. btw … hp has issued safety-recall on all notebooks … link is listed below.

ref:

power-cord safety recall:
HP Notebook PC AC Power Cord Safety Recall and Replacement Program Announced August 26, 2014 | HP® Customer Support
user-guides:
HP Pavilion dv7-6199us Entertainment Notebook PC Manuals | HP® Customer Support
software/drivers:
Contact HP Customer Support | HP® Customer Support
data-sheet:
http://www.shopping.hp.com/shopping/pdf/qd977ua.pdf
product-info:
HP Pavilion dv7-6199us Entertainment Notebook PC Product Information | HP® Customer Support
specs:
Link Removed​

 

[garyfritz]

circa 2011 … meaning its almost six years old, gary … some on this forum consider 6-year old laptop to be ancient, and the work of a fool's folly.

No argument, I'm that fool. Like I said, I need a new one! And it's worse than you might think. At the time I bought it, I intended to be a desktop system that I occasionally took into the living room. Since then my job has changed, and I have lugged this 7lb 17" beast around the country almost 60 times. I REALLY need a new and SMALL laptop!!

But I've always been a "reuse and repair" type rather than "pitch it and buy a shiny new one." My car is 14 years old and I still love it. It's better in many ways than anything I could afford to buy new.

Thanks for the recall notice -- I took care of that over a year ago. I'll look at your suggestions.

 

[pnamajck]

my two previous models were desktops (ibm/dell) … each almost ten years old before i replaced them. reason i chose laptop this time was simple … portability and, unlike desktops, if power goes out … at least the computer doesn't.

at 7lb/17" … sounds too much like sore shoulder. can really feel it come end of day. as for the car … hold on to it, gary … the new models lack class and "personality" (and quirks).

seen the new zen-book-3 by asus? to me, looks like a work of art … and the specs may seem acceptable for some consumers. but, ain't cheap either … peaks just north of $1500 (16gb-ram 'n 1tb-ssd). naturally, the setup is not intended for gaming or intense graphics. sure wish it would integrate oled monitor. however, we're talking thickness of 12mm (under ½") … 910gm (2lb) … 12.5" display.

of course, to accomplish this feat … they implemented a usb-c port … as well as gorilla-glass (twice as thin as normal display glass). a host of other caveats as well. but, its got it's good points as well.

ref:
Reviewing the ASUS ZenBook 3 UX390 - The thinnest ultrabook from ASUS | Digital Citizen
ASUS ZenBook 3 UX390UA | Notebooks | ASUS Global

edit: (12-30-2016 4:07pm)
i caused a misprint … "peaks just north of $1500 (16gb-ram 'n 1tb-ssd)" should have read as "peaks just north of $1500 (16gb-ram 'n 500gb-ssd)" … and i apologize for that.

 

[Neemobeer]

Open an elevated command prompt (right click command prompt and select "run as administrator")
Run the following and post the output.

• powercfg /q (This will show all your current power plan settings)
• powercfg /requestsoverride (This will show drives, processes and services that have a sleep block on their thread execution state) Prevents sleep or hibernate.
• powercfg /waketimers (Show timers that can wake the system automatically

 

[pnamajck]

nice post, neemobeer … might not be d-day yet. the results can be copied to clipboard as well.

 

[garyfritz]

@Neemobeer, reports attached...

 

[pnamajck]

here's mine … just to serve as point of reference:

pcreq:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.14393]
(c) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\WINDOWS\system32>cd/
C:\>powercfg /requestsoverride
[SERVICE]
[PROCESS]
[DRIVER]
C:\>

pcwt:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.14393]
(c) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\WINDOWS\system32>cd/
C:\>powercfg /waketimers
There are no active wake timers in the system.
C:\>

pcq:

Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> cd c:\
PS C:\> powercfg /q
Power Scheme GUID: 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c  (High performance)
  GUID Alias: SCHEME_MIN
  Subgroup GUID: fea3413e-7e05-4911-9a71-700331f1c294  (Settings belonging to no subgroup)
    GUID Alias: SUB_NONE
  Subgroup GUID: 0012ee47-9041-4b5d-9b77-535fba8b1442  (Hard disk)
    GUID Alias: SUB_DISK
    Power Setting GUID: 6738e2c4-e8a5-4a42-b16a-e040e769756e  (Turn off hard disk after)
      GUID Alias: DISKIDLE
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0xffffffff
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: Seconds
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x000004b0
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x000004b0

  Subgroup GUID: 02f815b5-a5cf-4c84-bf20-649d1f75d3d8  (Internet Explorer)
    Power Setting GUID: 4c793e7d-a264-42e1-87d3-7a0d2f523ccd  (JavaScript Timer Frequency)
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Maximum Power Savings
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Maximum Performance
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

  Subgroup GUID: 0d7dbae2-4294-402a-ba8e-26777e8488cd  (Desktop background settings)
    Power Setting GUID: 309dce9b-bef4-4119-9921-a851fb12f0f4  (Slide show)
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Available
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Paused
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

  Subgroup GUID: 19cbb8fa-5279-450e-9fac-8a3d5fedd0c1  (Wireless Adapter Settings)
    Power Setting GUID: 12bbebe6-58d6-4636-95bb-3217ef867c1a  (Power Saving Mode)
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Maximum Performance
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Low Power Saving
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Medium Power Saving
      Possible Setting Index: 003
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Maximum Power Saving
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

  Subgroup GUID: 238c9fa8-0aad-41ed-83f4-97be242c8f20  (Sleep)
    GUID Alias: SUB_SLEEP
    Power Setting GUID: 29f6c1db-86da-48c5-9fdb-f2b67b1f44da  (Sleep after)
      GUID Alias: STANDBYIDLE
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0xffffffff
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: Seconds
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000708

    Power Setting GUID: 94ac6d29-73ce-41a6-809f-6363ba21b47e  (Allow hybrid sleep)
      GUID Alias: HYBRIDSLEEP
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Off
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: On
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

    Power Setting GUID: 9d7815a6-7ee4-497e-8888-515a05f02364  (Hibernate after)
      GUID Alias: HIBERNATEIDLE
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0xffffffff
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: Seconds
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00001c20

    Power Setting GUID: bd3b718a-0680-4d9d-8ab2-e1d2b4ac806d  (Allow wake timers)
      GUID Alias: RTCWAKE
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Disable
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Enable
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Important Wake Timers Only
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000002
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

  Subgroup GUID: 2a737441-1930-4402-8d77-b2bebba308a3  (USB settings)
    Power Setting GUID: 48e6b7a6-50f5-4782-a5d4-53bb8f07e226  (USB selective suspend setting)
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Disabled
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Enabled
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

  Subgroup GUID: 2e601130-5351-4d9d-8e04-252966bad054  (Idle Resiliency)
    GUID Alias: SUB_IR
  Subgroup GUID: 44f3beca-a7c0-460e-9df2-bb8b99e0cba6  (Intel(R) Graphics Settings)
    Power Setting GUID: 3619c3f2-afb2-4afc-b0e9-e7fef372de36  (Intel(R) Graphics Power Plan)
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Maximum Battery Life
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Balanced
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Maximum Performance
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000002
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000002

  Subgroup GUID: 48672f38-7a9a-4bb2-8bf8-3d85be19de4e  (Interrupt Steering Settings)
    GUID Alias: SUB_INTSTEER
  Subgroup GUID: 4f971e89-eebd-4455-a8de-9e59040e7347  (Power buttons and lid)
    GUID Alias: SUB_BUTTONS
    Power Setting GUID: 5ca83367-6e45-459f-a27b-476b1d01c936  (Lid close action)
      GUID Alias: LIDACTION
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Do nothing
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Hibernate
      Possible Setting Index: 003
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Shut down
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

    Power Setting GUID: 7648efa3-dd9c-4e3e-b566-50f929386280  (Power button action)
      GUID Alias: PBUTTONACTION
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Do nothing
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Hibernate
      Possible Setting Index: 003
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Shut down
      Possible Setting Index: 004
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Turn off the display
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000003
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

    Power Setting GUID: 96996bc0-ad50-47ec-923b-6f41874dd9eb  (Sleep button action)
      GUID Alias: SBUTTONACTION
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Do nothing
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Hibernate
      Possible Setting Index: 003
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Shut down
      Possible Setting Index: 004
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Turn off the display
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

    Power Setting GUID: a7066653-8d6c-40a8-910e-a1f54b84c7e5  (Start menu power button)
      GUID Alias: UIBUTTON_ACTION
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Hibernate
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Shut down
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

  Subgroup GUID: 501a4d13-42af-4429-9fd1-a8218c268e20  (PCI Express)
    GUID Alias: SUB_PCIEXPRESS
    Power Setting GUID: ee12f906-d277-404b-b6da-e5fa1a576df5  (Link State Power Management)
      GUID Alias: ASPM
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Off
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Moderate power savings
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Maximum power savings
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

  Subgroup GUID: 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00  (Processor power management)
    GUID Alias: SUB_PROCESSOR
    Power Setting GUID: 893dee8e-2bef-41e0-89c6-b55d0929964c  (Minimum processor state)
      GUID Alias: PROCTHROTTLEMIN
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000064
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000005

    Power Setting GUID: 94d3a615-a899-4ac5-ae2b-e4d8f634367f  (System cooling policy)
      GUID Alias: SYSCOOLPOL
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Passive
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Active
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

    Power Setting GUID: bc5038f7-23e0-4960-96da-33abaf5935ec  (Maximum processor state)
      GUID Alias: PROCTHROTTLEMAX
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000064
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000064

  Subgroup GUID: 7516b95f-f776-4464-8c53-06167f40cc99  (Display)
    GUID Alias: SUB_VIDEO
    Power Setting GUID: 3c0bc021-c8a8-4e07-a973-6b14cbcb2b7e  (Turn off display after)
      GUID Alias: VIDEOIDLE
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0xffffffff
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: Seconds
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000258

    Power Setting GUID: aded5e82-b909-4619-9949-f5d71dac0bcb  (Display brightness)
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000046
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000064

    Power Setting GUID: f1fbfde2-a960-4165-9f88-50667911ce96  (Dimmed display brightness)
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x0000001e
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x0000001e

    Power Setting GUID: fbd9aa66-9553-4097-ba44-ed6e9d65eab8  (Enable adaptive brightness)
      GUID Alias: ADAPTBRIGHT
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Off
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: On
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

  Subgroup GUID: 8619b916-e004-4dd8-9b66-dae86f806698  (Presence Aware Power Behavior)
    GUID Alias: SUB_PRESENCE
  Subgroup GUID: 9596fb26-9850-41fd-ac3e-f7c3c00afd4b  (Multimedia settings)
    Power Setting GUID: 03680956-93bc-4294-bba6-4e0f09bb717f  (When sharing media)
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Allow the computer to sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Prevent idling to sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Allow the computer to enter Away Mode
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

    Power Setting GUID: 34c7b99f-9a6d-4b3c-8dc7-b6693b78cef4  (When playing video)
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Optimize video quality
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Balanced
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Optimize power savings
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

  Subgroup GUID: e73a048d-bf27-4f12-9731-8b2076e8891f  (Battery)
    GUID Alias: SUB_BATTERY
    Power Setting GUID: 637ea02f-bbcb-4015-8e2c-a1c7b9c0b546  (Critical battery action)
      GUID Alias: BATACTIONCRIT
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Do nothing
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Hibernate
      Possible Setting Index: 003
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Shut down
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000002
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000002

    Power Setting GUID: 8183ba9a-e910-48da-8769-14ae6dc1170a  (Low battery level)
      GUID Alias: BATLEVELLOW
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x0000000a
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x0000000a

    Power Setting GUID: 9a66d8d7-4ff7-4ef9-b5a2-5a326ca2a469  (Critical battery level)
      GUID Alias: BATLEVELCRIT
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000005
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000005

    Power Setting GUID: bcded951-187b-4d05-bccc-f7e51960c258  (Low battery notification)
      GUID Alias: BATFLAGSLOW
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Off
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: On
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

    Power Setting GUID: d8742dcb-3e6a-4b3c-b3fe-374623cdcf06  (Low battery action)
      GUID Alias: BATACTIONLOW
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Do nothing
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Hibernate
      Possible Setting Index: 003
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Shut down
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

    Power Setting GUID: f3c5027d-cd16-4930-aa6b-90db844a8f00  (Reserve battery level)
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000007
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000007

PS C:\>

​

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

This one's pretty much a slam-dunk; your laptop is way old, and laptop batteries made in the last 15 years are not designed to last over 1 year!! Running a battery that's 6 years old in a laptop, is like running a car battery that's 10 years old. It's going to cause a lot of things to not work right when you try to start your car--or your laptop! It all comes down to that. Eventually, that battery will fail catastrophically, and you won't be able to even turn on the laptop. Often when circuits inside the battery fail and fritz the charging circuit (this happens a lot!) in the laptop Motherboard, it will actually fry circuitry on your laptop Motherboard. This is called the "smoke-and-fire" failure modality. Every so often, a customer will bring me one of these laptops with an ancient battery (>5 years old), and when I casually mentioned if they saw smoke or flames ever come out of the laptop, or smelled a funny smell (carbon resistor French-fry smell); they will sheepishly admit that they remembered seeing some smoke come out of the laptop, but it as they turned it off right away they didn't think it was a problem especially since they turned it back on after a while and the laptop appeared to work when plugged into Wall outlet power (MAINS). However, at that point the damage was done, and they can't understand why none of the battery settings such as performance, balanced or custom settings didn't seem to work right.

Finally, when I asked why they didn't mention smoke or flames coming out of the laptop BEFORE (after spending days or weeks troubleshooting the thing on my bench) they told me they were embarrassed about it happening. And they didn't want to appear to be cheap by not replacing a $60 battery!

Time for a new lappy as you well know, or at the very least a new battery.

Cheers!
<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>

 

[Neemobeer]

It does look like you have at least 1 wake timer, but according to your power plan those shouldn't be enabled when your computer is on battery. Nothing preventing sleep; however, that information can change at any time. It's most likely that something is running when you close the lid (which you have configured to sleep). Some applications that will generally block sleep are anything to do with audio and a lot of video applications, so close any of these before you close the lid. You may want to run the requestsoverride before you put it to sleep and monitor it for any items listed.

 

[pnamajck]

while newegg offers 9-cell replacement for $62 (+6.50 shpg) … hplaptopbattery.us offers 6-cell replacement for (+2.99 shpg). hp designates three possible configurations are acceptable … refer to that manual (pg52 of 145) link … hp also offers important points for the change-over. aside from that … verify refund policies … careful of drive-by's … etc.

on a final note, gary … even after sliding in the new battery, there is no guarantee the original stated issue will not resurface … keep your eye on it and do the math.

Spoiler: newegg.com

HP Pavilion DV7-6199US Laptop Battery by Powerwarehouse - Premium Powerwarehouse Battery 9 Cell - Newegg.com

Spoiler: hplaptopbattery.us

HP Pavilion DV7-6199US battery,4400mAh battery for HP Pavilion DV7-6199US laptop 6 cells

 

[garyfritz]

This one's pretty much a slam-dunk; your laptop is way old, and laptop batteries made in the last 15 years are not designed to last over 1 year!! Running a battery that's 6 years old in a laptop, is like running a car battery that's 10 years old.

Sorry, I forgot to mention: I replaced the battery last year. So it's not even 18 months old.

It's most likely that something is running when you close the lid (which you have configured to sleep). Some applications that will generally block sleep are anything to do with audio and a lot of video applications, so close any of these before you close the lid. You may want to run the requestsoverride before you put it to sleep and monitor it for any items listed.

I'm not sure what that would be. I don't really run any audio/video apps, and nothing showed in my requestsoverride report. It doesn't happen all the time so it must not be something that's always running. I can watch the report but I can't think of anything that would start itself.

After hauling the beast around the country again this week, I'm thinking it's time to bite the bullet and replace it. I may get a cheep battery just to act as a "UPS" and continue using it on my desktop, but I gotta quit dragging that boat anchor around!

Thanks guys!

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Aha! That helps a bit. But, depending on the quality of the battery, and especially if it's made in China, 18 months old is beyond the replacement deadline sorry to say. There are tests you can do to check this, but my personal rule of thumb is that if you can't watch a 2-1/2 hour movie either from DVD or streamed from say Netflix (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) on a single full battery charge *overnight to 100%*, then that battery is No Good! Time to replace it. Since you're in agreement with all of us, it's time to trade in that fatty lappy for something modern at 2lbs or under, perhaps an Ultrabook from Dell at <1lb.

BTW, back in the 80s; I used to lug around a 35-pound transportable (early laptop) across the country through airports, so I don't really feel all that sorry for you lugging around a 7 lb. laptop. I would have killed back then for anything under 15 lbs.!! LOL.

Thank goodness Technology advanced to the point where your work laptop weighs less than a half-gallon of milk!!

Cheers!
<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>

 

[garyfritz]

Yeah, in the early 80's I remember sprinting through O'hare, in my hard nasty dress shoes, carrying a 30-ish pound disk drive. Made my flight, but ouch! Good thing our tech is much lighter now, because I'm 30+ yrs older!!