[R60] Vista drains battery

[MightyMauz]

Two years ago I bought a Thinkpad R60 (model 9461-DXG). Last year I decided to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista 64 bit. Since then my battery time has severely decreased, namely:

- High overall power usage (only about 80 instead of 170 minutes of work time on battery)
- High power usage in standby (+/- 2% per hour)

I didn't have these problems when Windows XP was installed. The battery is still oke (software indicates 62%, so that should be roughly enough for 110 minutes instead of 80. The original time was about 170 minutes. I borrowed a good battery, but the battery time didn’t go up by much, and certainly nowhere near where it should be.
I've installed all drivers, the windows power features are enabled, so are the Lenovo power manager settings. I'm using my laptop exactly like before and there is no unusually high processor usage. The only thing I can think of is that I noticed that the Ati Powerplay settings aren’t available. I don’t know if they were in Windows XP, but they are not in the newest drivers from the Lenovo site.
Regarding the high power usage during standby, the battery usage in Windows XP was almost non-noticable, but now it drains a lot of power overnight. And there aren't any Windows services enabled that wake up the pc.
Also I couldn’t find the solution in the Lenovo Windows Vista support section.
So my question is: Is there anything I can do about it and let it work in Windows Vista? Is there a hardware component that is incompatible with the Vista power management? And so, which is it and can I turn it off? Or is there a software setting/ fix available?

More things I've tried:

- Airo switched off -> didn't work
- 3rd party graphics driver -> didn't work
- Cpu speedstep works? Does it spike a lot?
    o Cpu usage seems a little higher than xp
     o But doesn't spike
- 22-24 W usage according to RM CPU clock
    o 17 - 18 W with lowest brightness
    o 14 - 15 W with closed lit

[Agotthelf Community Moderator]

Hello,

that´s a known Vista problem, please disable Vista´s hybrid sleep function.

Then it wil behave like good old XP.

For the ati problem, check if there are some tweak tools to reduce power consumption of your ati card.

Message Edited by Agotthelf on 23-11-2008 09:27 AM

[MightyMauz]

I'm trying to turn off my hybrid sleep mode, but it is not in my advanced power settings! The option is just missing. Is there another way to check if it's on?

[Agotthelf Community Moderator]

Hello,

please check this guide to disable hybrid sleep.

Also check out google for vista powersaving tools. They´ll disable aero, sidebar with just one click.

Message Edited by Agotthelf on 23-11-2008 09:40 AM

[MightyMauz]

Yeah, that's the guide I already found. But the option was missing. I was wondering if there's another way to find if the option is on or off

[MightyMauz]

I found out that the hibernate function was turned off and that was why I couldn't find the hybrid option. I turned hybrid off now, but it doesn't make the battery last longer.