Devices and PC cards drain the Laptop Battery

Cause: A number of PC cards and different peripherals work very well with laptop computers. However, when the laptop is running batteries, these devices put a drain on battery power, which makes the battery run down faster than it should. The good news is that you can easily create a hardware profile to use when you are not connected to a power source. This feature allows you to disable certain devices when you are running on batteries, so that you can conserve battery power.

To create a hardware profile that you can use when you are mobile, follow these steps:

1. Log on with an administrator account.

2. Click Start--> Control Panel--> System.

3. Click the Hardware tab and click the Hardware Profiles button. The Hardware Profiles window appears.

4. You see the current default profile. If you click the Properties button--> you can see the basic properties of the default profile--> You have two basic options here. You can identify the profile as one for a portable computer, and you can choose always to include the profile as an option when Windows starts.

5. To create a new profile--> click the Copy button. The Copy Profile dialog box appears--> Enter a desired name for the new profile and click OK. You might want to call the profile something like “Mobile” or “Batteries.” The current configuration from the default profile is copied to the new profile. At this point, you now have two profiles that are the same.

6. You can now select the new profile and click Properties. In the provided dialog box--> you can choose the portable computer option, and you can choose always to include the profile option when Windows starts.

7. In the Hardware Profiles window, you now see the two profiles. When you restart the computer, you’ll see a boot menu so that you can select the profile you want--> Click OK in the Hardware Profiles window and restart Windows XP.

8. During startup--> a Hardware Profile menu appears. Select the new hardware profile that you want to use and allow Windows XP to start up using that hardware profile. Log onto the computer with an administrator account.

9. Click Start--> Control Panel--> System.

10. Click the Hardware tab--> and then click the Device Manager.

11. Now that you are in Device Manager, access the properties page for each of the devices that you do not want to use under the new profile. On the General tab of each device--> choose the Do Not Use This Device in the Current Hardware Profile (Disable) option from the drop-down menu. Continue this process until you have disabled any and all devices that should not be a part of the portable hardware profile.

12. As you complete Step 11 for each device--> close the properties page for it. Notice that the devices you have disabled now appear in Device Manager with a red 'X' over them--> indicating that the device is disabled.

13. At any time, you can create additional hardware profiles by following these steps, or you can delete a hardware profile by returning to the Hardware Profile window