ASUS eee ? low battery auto shutdown issue

[Blazer7]

I have an ASUS eee 1000H netbook and I have a really annoying issue with WinXP's battery meter. The utility can be configured to auto shutdown the netbook when the battery reaches 5%. That was ok for me until recently. Last week I purchased a new 13.000MAh battery. With this I get 35' left when @ 5%. I would love to have the option to use this extra half an hour but so far I wasn't able to find a way to alter the program's threshold. I've already done a web search for other utilities that could do the job but to no avail.

I do want to have the auto shutdown option for obvious reasons. The time needed for my netbook to shut down is less than 10? so I'm looking for anything (hack, utility etc) that can help me set the shutdown threshold to either 1% of battery remaining or 5' of time.

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[corkyg]

Looks like this person was able to do it:

Off

Personally, I let it power off and change to a spare battery.

 

[Blazer7]

Hello corkyg, thanx for posting. I've already seen that thread. Unfortunately that's exactly the nature of my problem. No matter what, I can't set the "critical battery" value to less than 5%. XP's power meter utility won't accept any lower values than that. Is this ridiculous or what? I mean, I can disable the "low battery action" and thus prevent the OS from automatically shutting down but I can't set the critical battery value to less than 5% !?! What kind of crap is this !?!

I've found a couple of battery meter utilities that are said to offer better accuracy but none of them has an auto shutdown or execute command feature that could help with my situation. I've also tried to find any windows hacks that may exist out there and would let me to somehow change this but without luck.

I've considered to let the netbook power off as you suggested but I don't have too much faith in windows and since I don't have an external CD/DVD drive I don't want to face the possibility of having to install the OS again.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: Blazer7
Hello corkyg, thanx for posting. I've already seen that I've considered to let the netbook power off as you suggested but I don't have too much faith in windows and since I don't have an external CD/DVD drive I don't want to face the possibility of having to install the OS again.

What I do is to create a duplicate clone of my HDD when I travel - and it is in my bag ready for jkust such an emergency. System Restore cac also be used. You can also oprepare a bootable thumb drive containing reinstall software independent of a CD drive. Personally, I like the "spare tire" drive.

 

[Blazer7]

My goal with this machine is to have something relatively small and with as less clutter to go with it as possible. That means no external disks, mice, power cords or other peripherals if I can help it. Autonomy and clutter are my main and only concerns.

In order to maximize battery life I?ve also replaced the original HD with an SSD. In the process I?ve kept the original HD as a backup. I also keep a ghost image stored on a bootable USB HD. In case of a catastrophic event I could use any of the 2 disks to return my machine to operational status but this does not solve everything.

I?ll still have to spend time to retrieve my data from the SSD and everyone knows that if the OS dies there?s no guarantee that you?ll be able to get everything back. So that?s time to retrieve your data + luck to retrieve them all + having to carry an additional HD = I prefer not to mess with the OS in the first place.

That?s why I?m trying to find a solution to the power meter issue. If I succeed I?ll gain 30? of battery life and at the same time I will protect the OS from abnormal shutdowns.

 

[corkyg]

Understand your situation. You might want to try this Power Meter Plus - as the battery gets lower, the displayed icon gets brighter. So, that means a constant visual warning. Then you might be abole to turn off the automtic power down and trust your judgment.

PM

 

[Blazer7]

I've already tried it and it seems to work just fine. There 're a couple more utilities that I'm looking at right now but I'm extremely confused that none of them but one, offers an auto shutdown function. Oh, and that one is still plagued by that dreadful 5% threshold.