Battery degradation after Vista Reinstallation

[Luvsql]

Before, I could literally use my laptop for 6-7 hours on a single charge. I reinstalled vista, have ALL the same apps installed and have configured it to as close as before (even disabling all the unneeded services) and now my battery only last 2+ hours at the most. I don't understand how it can degrade so much just by reinstalling the OS.

I am using the same drivers, same apps, same usage, same SP, same configurations etc. I have even re-calibrated it but nothing changed.

Is there some obvious thing that I've missed? I've gone over all the 12 steps to improving battery life on Vista type websites.

 

[BadBigBen]

Check the BIOS aswell, some of them have settings to conserve the energy usage...

especially CPU settings... e.g. Idle CPU when not used etc...

PS: 6-7 hrs. now that is a battery life I have never seen... the 2+hrs. is rather common...


Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[Luvsql]

I upgraded the battery when I bought it from Dell and got the 9 cell, which averaged about 4-5 they claimed. I was getting more. Now I'm getting only 2. I don't understand why it's degraded so much. The bios was upgraded prior to me reformatting, so maybe it's new bios version causing the issue. I'll take a look at the settings and see if there's anything I can change.

 

[vanka25]

Did you do a clean install of Vista or did you use recovery discs/partition to get back to factory defaults? The reason I ask is that the laptop likely came configured to aggressively conserve the battery from the factory; while a clean install is configured for a balance of battery life vs performance. You mentioned that you have the same apps/configs/etc, but are the Power Options settings in the Control Panel identical? Also, some manufacturers include a custom utility for managing power options that may no longer be present if you did a clean install. Try checking for these two things.

On the other hand, I've never run into such a dramatic decrease in battery life after a reinstall (recovery or clean) so BadBigBen's suggestion of checking the BIOS is also worth looking into.

 

[lhuegele]

You need to customize your power profiles. My guess is that it was set to lower power consumption a great deal when running on battery and now that you've reinstalled Vista those settings are gone.

Vista is good at helping you adjust your settings to get the most power out of your battery, but it's at the cost of performance.

Good luck,

 

[Luvsql]

I always have it set to high performance and even when on battery I've had the brightness set to full. I have it going for about 3 hours now. I've re-calibrated it a few times.

 

[lhuegele]

Well good luck with it.