Windows XP system on AC power but following battery power settings

Question

I have a Windows XP system - desktop with no battery - which says it is on AC power, but it goes into standby based on the battery power settings. Obviously the work-around is to configure the battery settings instead of the plugged-in settings, but I'm still curious as to why it is using the wrong power profile?

Answer 1

Are you using a UPS or have you ever used one? If so, that could explain why you see battery schemes in power settings.

If you are unable to simply change the power scheme and make it stick, check that you have local power user or administrator rights on your computer as you need this to make any permanent changes to power settings.

You could try using powercfg /RestoreDefaultPolicies from the command-line to reset the power schemes. You could also use the same powercfg command to try and manually delete the battery schemes if you can't delete them from the power settings GUI.

Answer 2

The desktop computer should not even have options for battery. When you go to Control Panel > Power Options -- can you select and apply a desktop/workstation profile instead of laptop? This may require a reboot. After that, you should not have separate battery and AC profiles, so the computer will know what to do, when.

Answer 3

I have never seen this, but I can understand how it can occur. I would recommend you take a look at your motherboard manufacturers website and download the latest chipset, bios and/or other system drivers.

Also, take a look in Device Manager and try disabling everything under the Batteries section, you will not be able to delete the battery itself, but if you see Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery (and/or possibly Microsoft AC Adapter), Disabling it should stop the battery related options.