Questions tagged [power-management]

Power management refers to the capability of a computer or its operating system to regulate its power usage. This can help achieve cooler and quieter operation, longer-lasting electrical components, and for laptops, longer battery life.

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Should laptops remain plugged in when their battery is 100% charged?

When your laptop's battery is 100% charged, should you leave it plugged in so any battery power doesn't get used, or will that cause overcharging, overheating, etc.? Should the laptop be unplugged ...
Click Upvote's user avatar
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70 votes
7 answers
276k views

What Is Minimum And Maximum Processor State In Windows 7 Power Management?

I am talking about this: What should I set in minimum and maximum? I want good CPU performance but not overheated CPU and fan working like crazy.
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61 votes
7 answers
98k views

Is turning off hard disks harmful?

I set Windows 7 to turn off hard disks after 20 minutes of nonuse, which it does a really good job at - it seems to turn off individual hard disks that have been idle for 20 minutes exactly. When I ...
bobobobo's user avatar
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58 votes
5 answers
106k views

How do you check how much power a USB port can deliver?

Some laptops have a special USB port that can deliver more power than the other ones. However it is not always easy to identify which one is the good one, nor how much power it can deliver. So is ...
Peltier's user avatar
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45 votes
5 answers
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PC waking from sleep for unknown reason

I recently started experiencing an issue with my PC, which runs Windows 10 Pro. It wakes from hibernation at seemingly random times. I have done the following to try and troubleshoot the issue: Turn ...
Cas's user avatar
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42 votes
13 answers
115k views

Easy way to switch power plan in Windows 10

I've a 27" external monitor connected to my laptop and I use my laptop's screen as secondary. I've both screens turned on while I'm working. When I'm watching movies, I just keep my external monitor ...
DarknessBeginsHere's user avatar
41 votes
1 answer
62k views

What's Keeping My Computer Awake?

First the question; How do I figure out what is preventing my Windows 7 computer from going into sleep mode? Second; some background... I've been struggling with this for a few days and am utterly ...
phantomdata's user avatar
39 votes
4 answers
54k views

Change Behavior of Linux Power Button

I have a headless linux mint machine that I use for a file server and other things. It's been working great for me for a few years, but there's one issue - my cat likes to hang out on top of it, and ...
schizodactyl's user avatar
36 votes
5 answers
178k views

Disable laptop screen when lid is closed

I'm on a Lenovo Y50, running Windows 10. I have an external monitor attached (HDMI) and I use the laptop screen as well as the external. Sometimes I want to close the laptop lid and just use the one ...
AAA's user avatar
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34 votes
9 answers
158k views

What is the hotkey to put my Windows to sleep?

My keyboard doesn't have power-related keys. I would like to enter the hybrid sleep using the keyboard and only with a minimum of keystrokes. If there is none, how do I bind a hotkey to it?
Jader Dias's user avatar
33 votes
8 answers
124k views

How to turn off the display in Windows 8 without locking or making computer go to sleep?

How to turn of the display in Windows 8 without locking or making computer go to sleep ? The problem is that when I enable ‘Turn off display after x minutes’ feature from control panel, the device ...
darshshah's user avatar
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32 votes
9 answers
8k views

Is there a negative impact on an SSD drive if I power cycle it every hour for 6 months?

We have a system that uses an SSD (4TB Samsung 860 Pro) that we power on for 10 minutes to write data to and then off every hour for 24/7 for about six months via a Linux system. We manually turn on ...
Patratacus's user avatar
29 votes
2 answers
172k views

windows 10 desktop - does sleep mode use a lot of energy?

I recently bought a desktop PC - it's the first I've bought for possibly 10 years and it's got Windows 10 installed. I notice that these days, there is no option to Hibernate anymore, just shutdown ...
RoboShop's user avatar
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29 votes
2 answers
64k views

What do different values of hard drive's Advanced Power Management feature (hdparm -B) affect, except spin-down?

hdparm's -B parameter is documented as: Get/set Advanced Power Management feature, if the drive supports it. A low value means aggressive power management and a high value means better per‐ ...
Petr's user avatar
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28 votes
8 answers
98k views

Windows 7 Goes to Sleep in conflict with Power Option Setting

My Del Dimension E521 running Windows 7 puts itself in sleep mode each night -- despite the fact that I have chosen a power option that specifies NEVER Each morning I find the monitor blank and I ...
Howard Pinsley's user avatar
27 votes
3 answers
18k views

Laptop randomly waking up = Hibernate / Low Battery?

A (Windows 7) laptop has been annoying me since the day we got it. When it is put to sleep (the lid closed), it seems to intermittently wake up randomly during the night (i.e., 10pm, 1:30am, 7am, etc.)...
Synetech's user avatar
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26 votes
4 answers
32k views

Laptop waking up from sleep because of "power button"? (Windows 8.1)

My computer is brand new but has a serious problem - it wakes up from sleep mode on its own in the middle of the night, usually a couple hours after I put it into sleep mode. This problem is ...
dmcruns's user avatar
  • 261
26 votes
4 answers
91k views

Windows 10 gets shutdown instead of going to sleep/hibernate

It's a long time problem - Windows 10 is shutting down instead of going to sleep or hibernate. All the power settings are set to sleep/hibernate/nothing for power button/closing lid/idle etc. And ...
arieljannai's user avatar
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26 votes
8 answers
212k views

Why does my Windows 7 computer freeze after waking up from Sleep?

Moderator edit: if you have a similar problem, please ask your own question, since it seems there are several things that can cause this situation, it is better to treat each case separately. Hey ...
24 votes
7 answers
43k views

My Windows 8 PC wakes up every night around 3 am

I just built a new Windows 8 PC, and started using it a few days ago. Every night, I use Hibernate on the computer before I go to bed. The only way to turn it back on is to hit the Power button. ...
Gary's user avatar
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24 votes
4 answers
39k views

Turn off USB power when closing MacBook lid

I have a USB-powered cooling pad under my MacBook Pro. When I close the lid to put my MacBook to sleep, I would like the cooling pad to turn off. In other words, I would like the MacBook to cut ...
Patrick J Collins's user avatar
23 votes
4 answers
38k views

Legacy Kernel Caller preventing sleep mode

I have a problem with Windows 7 not sleeping. PowerCfg -requests says a "Legacy Kernel Caller" driver prevents the sleep mode. This is not very helpful or informative. How do I get more details ...
majocha's user avatar
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22 votes
8 answers
1k views

What are some good practices for making sure my laptop battery serves its full life?

Basically, I'm looking for some do's and don'ts. Is it bad to keep my laptop plugged in when I'm not using it (majority of the time)? Is it bad to plug it in once I've finished using it (with it ...
Dan's user avatar
  • 229
22 votes
2 answers
23k views

Have UPS shut down computer automatically in Linux when the power goes out

I'm wondering that I could not find anything useful on Google. I'm using a cheap UPS which actually does keep my computer powered for awhile if there are some electricity issues (they are very common ...
Spaceman's user avatar
  • 373
21 votes
3 answers
6k views

Powering down the display in XP with a command

Is there a command to power down the display in Windows XP? That is, a command that causes the video card to stop sending a signal to the monitor until input is received, much as power management does ...
Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams's user avatar
21 votes
5 answers
25k views

Execute a command if Linux is idle for 5 minutes

I would like to execute a command such as notify-send 'a' if my Linux machine has been idle for 5 minutes. By idle, I mean the same thing a screen saver that gets activated would use to define "...
user avatar
21 votes
8 answers
31k views

Is there a way to close the lid on a MacBook without putting it sleep?

Is there a way to close the lid on a MacBook without putting it sleep? This would be useful when connecting the macbook to an external display, for instance. I've never been able to figure it out ...
James McMahon's user avatar
21 votes
1 answer
27k views

How can I tell if my computer went to sleep?

I'm trying to work out if my computer has actually fallen asleep, I have set it to fall asleep, but it restarts so quickly, I cannot tell if it was actually having zzzzs or not. What logs are there ...
Ian G's user avatar
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21 votes
1 answer
63k views

How does windows "limit" the CPU (Power Options / Battery saving)

Can anyone explain how Windows effectively limits the CPU? Last time I tried some tricks to let my laptop not overheat, so I tried limiting the CPU to 70%. As for my suprise it stopped my laptop ...
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21 votes
1 answer
23k views

Turn off (spin down) external (USB) HDD on Linux

I have an external HDD connected through USB. There is that Gnome utility called "Disks". When working the disk is on the list on the left. If I click on "turn off" button, the disk disappear from the ...
Veelkoov's user avatar
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21 votes
9 answers
112k views

What causes "The speed of processor 0 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware" in the event log?

My Windows 10 event log continually states. In fact, I think my system is slowing down due to this fact. The speed of processor 0 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has ...
AndreLung's user avatar
  • 510
21 votes
2 answers
4k views

Does Windows 10 sleep mode also hibernate system?

I was always using Sleep mode and I thought that if I turn off electricity while PC is sleeping, it will just «hard» shutdown without saving any data / open apps, etc. Today I accidentally turned off ...
user0103's user avatar
  • 311
20 votes
6 answers
30k views

What is keeping my PC from sleeping?

How can I find out why my laptop or desktop won't automatically go to sleep
Omar Shahine's user avatar
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19 votes
5 answers
60k views

Power plans disappeared after Windows 10 Fall update (1709)

UPDATE: I went back to 1703. See source: New power options in Windows 10 Listing power plans using powercfg shows only the Balanced one. And that's the registry situation: And the power schemes, ...
LppEdd's user avatar
  • 324
19 votes
5 answers
76k views

CPU is stuck at its minimal frequency

The i7 CPU in my ThinkPad X220 with Windows 10 is stuck at a very low frequency - 0.78GHz to be precise. I restarted the PC I switched power plans to high performance I double checked that maximum ...
Tomáš Fejfar's user avatar
19 votes
3 answers
22k views

Laptop wakes up from sleep every several hours

I have a new ASUS Zenbook UX305. OS: Windows 10 Home I've figured out that my laptop wakes up from sleep during the night, so i reviewed the event viewer and found out that it happens about 3-4 times ...
ozking's user avatar
  • 441
19 votes
4 answers
19k views

How to disallow USB devices to wake the computer by default in Windows 7

Every time I plug in a new mouse/keyboard or plug an existing one to a new USB port, I have to manually go to the device manager, go to the device's property page, and uncheck "Allow this device to ...
Duke Nukem's user avatar
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17 votes
3 answers
135k views

Can Somebody Explain About Wi-Fi Device Manager Settings And Power Settings In Windows 7?

Sometimes I have low Wi-Fi signal and I am curious about the Wi-Fi settings in Device Manager and Power Settings. I would like to get an exhaustive explanation about each, so let's start with Wi-Fi ...
Boris_yo's user avatar
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17 votes
3 answers
7k views

disabling devices in motherboard BIOS: does it save on power?

I've always wondered if disabling devices via BIOS saves on power? some full feature motherboard have all sorts of devices I never used. Firewire, built-in WiFi, audio (for my servers) and etc. ...
mrjayviper's user avatar
16 votes
7 answers
42k views

How to disable the screen (Linux without X)

I would like to know if there is any way I can disable the screen on a linux distro I'm using Debian. I found a few way to do that with X installed, but not without X.
mnml's user avatar
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16 votes
3 answers
11k views

What is preventing my MacBook from sleeping?

I have a MacBook Air and I have noticed that even though I have configured it to put itself into sleep mode after being inactive for 5 minutes it sometimes stays awake. I've usually got a bunch of ...
jimr's user avatar
  • 161
16 votes
8 answers
45k views

Infamous 0.39 GHz in Windows 10 issue has no fixes?

There is this quite annoying bug, which is probably related to Windows 10, which makes mobile CPUs clock down to 0.39 GHz/399 MHz. Just searching on Google for "0.39 GHz". There are so many ...
MortenMoulder's user avatar
16 votes
5 answers
26k views

What is the "known hardware incompatibility" that disables PCIe Active State Power Management? How do I fix it?

I'm on Windows 7. I just ran a Power Efficiency Diagnostics Report through powercfg -energy and I got this error: Platform Power Management Capabilities:PCI Express Active-State Power Management (...
Egghead99's user avatar
  • 1,755
15 votes
6 answers
42k views

How to prevent the monitor from turning off in Linux

I have to start a QT-Program on the screen on startup in Linux Mint 9.  The monitor that is displaying the program turns off after an unknown amount of time.  I already deactivated the turnoff in the ...
Linuxnewb's user avatar
  • 151
15 votes
2 answers
3k views

What does "Managed by Windows" do in the Power options for network connection?

In the power management option for Windows 10 I can configure what happens to my network connection when my PC goes to sleep for power saving: When my PC is asleep and on battery power, disconnect ...
ComicSansMS's user avatar
15 votes
2 answers
6k views

Is it possible to automatically put individual monitors to sleep when not in use?

My desktop computer has three displays, and I usually use all of them at once - but not always. In order to save electricity, I would like a way for monitors to automatically go to sleep when not in ...
nhinkle's user avatar
  • 37.4k
14 votes
3 answers
7k views

Is NTFS fail-safe in case of a power outage?

In case of a power outage, can the NTFS filesystem be harmed? E.g be broken or cause file corruption? And is the NTFS built-in mirroring on dynamic disks guaranteed to keep the files in a consistent ...
Jonas's user avatar
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14 votes
6 answers
60k views

Prevent Windows 7 from enabling power saving on USB 3.0 hub

I have installed a USB 3.0 hub on my desktop computer. I use it to connect an external USB 3.0 disk for backup purposes, and I have a problem: Windows 7 enables by default power saving for said hub, ...
0x5C91's user avatar
  • 221
14 votes
6 answers
50k views

How to disable power to USB ports when laptop is in sleep mode

I have a Windows7 laptop with two external 2.5" HDDs and a cooling pad connected through USB ports. When I put the laptop to sleep, these devices are still powered on - the fan in the cooling pad is ...
Greg's user avatar
  • 842
14 votes
1 answer
8k views

Disable USB mouse wake up for any USB port

I know I can prevent a mouse from waking the system from sleep by unchecking "Allow this device to wake the computer". The problem is that if I plug the USB receiver of the wirelss mouse into a ...
Damn Vegetables's user avatar

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