Battery alarm question

I have a Hypersonic Sonic Boom. It's a Pen4 3.0 w/HT. Ram is 1024DDR, board
is an Asus P4C800-E deluxe
Is this a BIOS setting by chance?
Thanks
Dudley

"LVTravel" <noone.TakeThisOut@nothere.com> wrote in message
news:edZITBXxGHA.1296@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> It would help us immensely if we knew what type of computer (make and
> model) you have.
>
>
> "Dudley Henriques" <dhenriques.TakeThisOut@nowhere.net> wrote in message
> news:uQ%23P9UVxGHA.2176@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>I have a normal XP Home running on my system and would like to set a low
>>battery warning in power options.
>> In Help, it says I should have an alarm tab but none is there. Can
>> someone help me with a solution to this please? Is there a windows tool I
>> need to load to access this tab?
>> Thank you very much
>> Dudley
>>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Battery alarm question 

Laptop or desktop? I believe only laptops would have a low battery option.

"Dudley Henriques" <dhenriques.RemoveThis@nowhere.net> wrote in message
news:uHLw01XxGHA.4476@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>I have a Hypersonic Sonic Boom. It's a Pen4 3.0 w/HT. Ram is 1024DDR, board
>is an Asus P4C800-E deluxe
> Is this a BIOS setting by chance?
> Thanks
> Dudley
>
> "LVTravel" <noone.RemoveThis@nothere.com> wrote in message
> news:edZITBXxGHA.1296@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> It would help us immensely if we knew what type of computer (make and
>> model) you have.
>>
>>
>> "Dudley Henriques" <dhenriques.RemoveThis@nowhere.net> wrote in message
>> news:uQ%23P9UVxGHA.2176@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>>I have a normal XP Home running on my system and would like to set a low
>>>battery warning in power options.
>>> In Help, it says I should have an alarm tab but none is there. Can
>>> someone help me with a solution to this please? Is there a windows tool
>>> I need to load to access this tab?
>>> Thank you very much
>>> Dudley
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Battery alarm question 

Hi Jerry;
I've been doing some research since posting and I think you're right. Home
edition on a desktop doesn't have the battery warning.
If I can change the question a bit?
Is there any way at all on an XP desktop to know when its time to change the
battery? Mine's been in there for about 3 years now and everything seems
normal at this point but I don't want to wait until the system goes down on
me before I change the battery.
Considering this, is there a way to change the battery without losing the
CMOS settings? I'm not even sure if I'd lose the BIOS settings.
In short, what's the optimum way for the average user like me to handle the
whole battery thing?
Thanks much
Dudley
"Jerry" <NoSpamChiefZeke.DeleteThis@MSN.com> wrote in message
news:%23sD9mAaxGHA.1216@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Laptop or desktop? I believe only laptops would have a low battery option.
>
> "Dudley Henriques" <dhenriques.DeleteThis@nowhere.net> wrote in message
> news:uHLw01XxGHA.4476@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>I have a Hypersonic Sonic Boom. It's a Pen4 3.0 w/HT. Ram is 1024DDR,
>>board is an Asus P4C800-E deluxe
>> Is this a BIOS setting by chance?
>> Thanks
>> Dudley
>>
>> "LVTravel" <noone.DeleteThis@nothere.com> wrote in message
>> news:edZITBXxGHA.1296@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>> It would help us immensely if we knew what type of computer (make and
>>> model) you have.
>>>
>>>
>>> "Dudley Henriques" <dhenriques.DeleteThis@nowhere.net> wrote in message
>>> news:uQ%23P9UVxGHA.2176@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>>>I have a normal XP Home running on my system and would like to set a low
>>>>battery warning in power options.
>>>> In Help, it says I should have an alarm tab but none is there. Can
>>>> someone help me with a solution to this please? Is there a windows tool
>>>> I need to load to access this tab?
>>>> Thank you very much
>>>> Dudley
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Battery alarm question 

Dudley Henriques wrote:

> Hi Jerry;
> I've been doing some research since posting and I think you're right.
> Home edition on a desktop doesn't have the battery warning.
> If I can change the question a bit?
> Is there any way at all on an XP desktop to know when its time to
> change the battery? Mine's been in there for about 3 years now and
> everything seems normal at this point but I don't want to wait until
> the system goes down on me before I change the battery.


You're talking about the CMOS battery? I think most people assumed you were
talking about the big battery on a laptop until you clarified this.

The way to know it's time to change the battery is when the computer starts
losing time while powered off. There's no way for Windows XP itself to know;
Windows doesn't even use the battery.

Batteries usually last 3-5 years, but there's a lot of variability.


> Considering this, is there a way to change the battery without losing
> the CMOS settings? I'm not even sure if I'd lose the BIOS settings.


Lest there be any confusion here, the "BIOS settings" is just an informal,
slightly incorrect name for the CMOS settings. They are the same thing.

There's nothing that especially needs to done, except to do it quickly. You
normally have ten to fifteen minutes or so, and I've seen it as long as an
hour or more on some computers.
However, my personal view is that nobody should ever be in a position of
having to rely on this. I recommend that everyone make and keep handy a hard
copy of his BIOS settings, just in case, even if you are not planning on
replacing the battery any time soon.


> In short, what's the optimum way for the average user like me to
> handle the whole battery thing?


Make a hard copy backup as I suggest above, and then don't worry about it.
Replace the battery when it starts losing the ability to maintain the time,
and just do it quickly. Worst case, you can always copy back the settings
from your hard copy.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup
 >> Stay informed about: Battery alarm question 

"Dudley Henriques" <dhenriques.RemoveThis@nowhere.net> wrote in message
news:%234N8RXaxGHA.5064@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Hi Jerry;
> I've been doing some research since posting and I think you're right. Home
> edition on a desktop doesn't have the battery warning.
> If I can change the question a bit?
> Is there any way at all on an XP desktop to know when its time to change
> the battery? Mine's been in there for about 3 years now and everything
> seems normal at this point but I don't want to wait until the system goes
> down on me before I change the battery.
> Considering this, is there a way to change the battery without losing the
> CMOS settings? I'm not even sure if I'd lose the BIOS settings.
> In short, what's the optimum way for the average user like me to handle
> the whole battery thing?
> Thanks much
> Dudley


There is not indication that the motherboard battery is getting low until
the computer starts losing the time setting when turned off. At the same
time the BIOS settings will return to their default settings. I don't know
of any way to change the battery without having to reset the BIOS.

Well, I guess I can, but I'd be afraid to try changing the battery with the
machine turned on or bypassing the normal wiring by adding wiring to connect
to two batteries at once. Not worth the trouble anyway.

I used to have a nice little program to print out the BIOS settings, but
that was lost long ago when as hard drive failed and I hadn't backed it up.
Only once in 26 years have I had to replace a motherboard battery.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
Reply in newsgroup
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve
neither liberty or security"
 >> Stay informed about: Battery alarm question 

On Tue, 22 Aug 2006 08:19:18 -0700, "Ken Blake"
<kblake.TakeThisOut@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote:

>Dudley Henriques wrote:
>
>> Hi Jerry;
>> I've been doing some research since posting and I think you're right.
>> Home edition on a desktop doesn't have the battery warning.
>> If I can change the question a bit?
>> Is there any way at all on an XP desktop to know when its time to
>> change the battery? Mine's been in there for about 3 years now and
>> everything seems normal at this point but I don't want to wait until
>> the system goes down on me before I change the battery.
>
>
>You're talking about the CMOS battery? I think most people assumed you were
>talking about the big battery on a laptop until you clarified this.
>
>The way to know it's time to change the battery is when the computer starts
>losing time while powered off. There's no way for Windows XP itself to know;
>Windows doesn't even use the battery.
>
>Batteries usually last 3-5 years, but there's a lot of variability.
>
>
>> Considering this, is there a way to change the battery without losing
>> the CMOS settings? I'm not even sure if I'd lose the BIOS settings.
>
>
>Lest there be any confusion here, the "BIOS settings" is just an informal,
>slightly incorrect name for the CMOS settings. They are the same thing.
>
>There's nothing that especially needs to done, except to do it quickly. You
>normally have ten to fifteen minutes or so, and I've seen it as long as an
>hour or more on some computers.
>However, my personal view is that nobody should ever be in a position of
>having to rely on this. I recommend that everyone make and keep handy a hard
>copy of his BIOS settings, just in case, even if you are not planning on
>replacing the battery any time soon.

Hi Ken,

How do you make and keep a hard copy of the BIOS settings? Thank you.

Gail



>
>
>> In short, what's the optimum way for the average user like me to
>> handle the whole battery thing?
>
>
>Make a hard copy backup as I suggest above, and then don't worry about it.
>Replace the battery when it starts losing the ability to maintain the time,
>and just do it quickly. Worst case, you can always copy back the settings
>from your hard copy.
 >> Stay informed about: Battery alarm question 

Jyeshta wrote:

> On Tue, 22 Aug 2006 08:19:18 -0700, "Ken Blake"
> <kblake.TakeThisOut@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote:
>
>> Dudley Henriques wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Jerry;
>>> I've been doing some research since posting and I think you're
>>> right. Home edition on a desktop doesn't have the battery warning.
>>> If I can change the question a bit?
>>> Is there any way at all on an XP desktop to know when its time to
>>> change the battery? Mine's been in there for about 3 years now and
>>> everything seems normal at this point but I don't want to wait until
>>> the system goes down on me before I change the battery.
>>
>>
>> You're talking about the CMOS battery? I think most people assumed
>> you were talking about the big battery on a laptop until you
>> clarified this.
>>
>> The way to know it's time to change the battery is when the computer
>> starts losing time while powered off. There's no way for Windows XP
>> itself to know; Windows doesn't even use the battery.
>>
>> Batteries usually last 3-5 years, but there's a lot of variability.
>>
>>
>>> Considering this, is there a way to change the battery without
>>> losing the CMOS settings? I'm not even sure if I'd lose the BIOS
>>> settings.
>>
>>
>> Lest there be any confusion here, the "BIOS settings" is just an
>> informal, slightly incorrect name for the CMOS settings. They are
>> the same thing.
>>
>> There's nothing that especially needs to done, except to do it
>> quickly. You normally have ten to fifteen minutes or so, and I've
>> seen it as long as an hour or more on some computers.
>> However, my personal view is that nobody should ever be in a
>> position of having to rely on this. I recommend that everyone make
>> and keep handy a hard copy of his BIOS settings, just in case, even
>> if you are not planning on replacing the battery any time soon.
>
> Hi Ken,
>
> How do you make and keep a hard copy of the BIOS settings? Thank you.


See the message I just sent in this thread to Dudley. If you have a parallel
printer, you can usually print the screens with PrintScrn. If not, either
photograph the screens or hand copy them. I hand copy them.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup
 >> Stay informed about: Battery alarm question 

Thanks Ken. I've been trying to research a way to get a hard copy of the
BIOS settings. I think I understand the options are quite limited; either
print out each screen (actually my Laserjet USB might not be able to do even
this) by rebooting back into the CMOS settings for each screen, or hand copy
every screen and sub screen. One suggestion was to take a photograph of each
screen with a camera
I had even hoped that Asus might have some kind of a template that shows a
basic BIOS
screen for each tab with the selections left blank so that you could just
jot down each setting instead of writing out the entire screen in long hand,
but they don't seem to have this.
I guess I have one thing going for me. When Hypersonic set up my BIOS, I
believe, since I don't use RAID and have not overclocked anything, that the
setup I have is probably the default anyway, so that if I did have to reset
it, picking the default before exit would probably be the same as its
configured now.
To my knowledge, the only change is to disable the Promise controller which
I can remember to do on a reset.
So if I understand correctly, what I need to do is watch for the clock to be
off on the initial boot of the day and noticing that, simply replace the
battery, doing it as quickly as possible. If I do lose the CMOS settings,
just go into the BIOS and reselect the defaults?
Dudley


"Ken Blake" <kblake DeleteThis @this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote in message
news:O6IqX5fxGHA.2304@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Dudley Henriques wrote:
>
>> Hi Jerry;
>> I've been doing some research since posting and I think you're right.
>> Home edition on a desktop doesn't have the battery warning.
>> If I can change the question a bit?
>> Is there any way at all on an XP desktop to know when its time to
>> change the battery? Mine's been in there for about 3 years now and
>> everything seems normal at this point but I don't want to wait until
>> the system goes down on me before I change the battery.
>
>
> You're talking about the CMOS battery? I think most people assumed you
> were talking about the big battery on a laptop until you clarified this.
>
> The way to know it's time to change the battery is when the computer
> starts losing time while powered off. There's no way for Windows XP itself
> to know; Windows doesn't even use the battery.
>
> Batteries usually last 3-5 years, but there's a lot of variability.
>
>
>> Considering this, is there a way to change the battery without losing
>> the CMOS settings? I'm not even sure if I'd lose the BIOS settings.
>
>
> Lest there be any confusion here, the "BIOS settings" is just an informal,
> slightly incorrect name for the CMOS settings. They are the same thing.
>
> There's nothing that especially needs to done, except to do it quickly.
> You normally have ten to fifteen minutes or so, and I've seen it as long
> as an hour or more on some computers.
> However, my personal view is that nobody should ever be in a position of
> having to rely on this. I recommend that everyone make and keep handy a
> hard copy of his BIOS settings, just in case, even if you are not planning
> on replacing the battery any time soon.
>
>
>> In short, what's the optimum way for the average user like me to
>> handle the whole battery thing?
>
>
> Make a hard copy backup as I suggest above, and then don't worry about it.
> Replace the battery when it starts losing the ability to maintain the
> time, and just do it quickly. Worst case, you can always copy back the
> settings from your hard copy.
>
> --
> Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
> Please reply to the newsgroup
>
 >> Stay informed about: Battery alarm question 

Dudley Henriques wrote:

> Thanks Ken.


You're welcome. Glad to help.


> I've been trying to research a way to get a hard copy of
> the BIOS settings. I think I understand the options are quite
> limited; either print out each screen (actually my Laserjet USB might
> not be able to do even this)


You normally need a parallel printer for it to work before Windows is
started.


> by rebooting back into the CMOS settings
> for each screen, or hand copy every screen and sub screen. One
> suggestion was to take a photograph of each screen with a camera


A camera is often suggested. Personally, I just hand-copy the screens.
There's not that much data that it takes very long. In fact, if you've been
researching this, you've probably already spent more time than it would have
taken to hand-copy it.


> I had even hoped that Asus might have some kind of a template that
> shows a basic BIOS
> screen for each tab with the selections left blank so that you could
> just jot down each setting instead of writing out the entire screen
> in long hand, but they don't seem to have this.
> I guess I have one thing going for me. When Hypersonic set up my
> BIOS, I believe, since I don't use RAID and have not overclocked
> anything, that the setup I have is probably the default anyway, so
> that if I did have to reset it, picking the default before exit would
> probably be the same as its configured now.
> To my knowledge, the only change is to disable the Promise controller
> which I can remember to do on a reset.
> So if I understand correctly, what I need to do is watch for the
> clock to be off on the initial boot of the day and noticing that,
> simply replace the battery, doing it as quickly as possible. If I do
> lose the CMOS settings, just go into the BIOS and reselect the
> defaults?


That's what I would do, except I'd work from my hard copy, and not use the
defaults.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup
 >> Stay informed about: Battery alarm question 

I would agree absolutely with you that although no line current should be
present outside the PSU, the dangers involved by working the mobo, even at
the 5v level are there and this shouldn't be done. Even if one managed to
make the switch without getting fried by the line current, the danger of
shorting the board could ruin your whole day
So I guess I watch the clock, then make the switch when needed as quickly as
possible, observing normal safety rules. Then just reset the BIOS which
should be default anyway since nothing has really been tweaked when the
system was first set up.
Dudley


"Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE" <franksaunders.TakeThisOut@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:OhXkxxfxGHA.5064@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> "Dudley Henriques" <dhenriques.TakeThisOut@nowhere.net> wrote in message
> news:%234N8RXaxGHA.5064@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> Hi Jerry;
>> I've been doing some research since posting and I think you're right.
>> Home edition on a desktop doesn't have the battery warning.
>> If I can change the question a bit?
>> Is there any way at all on an XP desktop to know when its time to change
>> the battery? Mine's been in there for about 3 years now and everything
>> seems normal at this point but I don't want to wait until the system goes
>> down on me before I change the battery.
>> Considering this, is there a way to change the battery without losing the
>> CMOS settings? I'm not even sure if I'd lose the BIOS settings.
>> In short, what's the optimum way for the average user like me to handle
>> the whole battery thing?
>> Thanks much
>> Dudley
>
>
> There is not indication that the motherboard battery is getting low until
> the computer starts losing the time setting when turned off. At the same
> time the BIOS settings will return to their default settings. I don't
> know of any way to change the battery without having to reset the BIOS.
>
> Well, I guess I can, but I'd be afraid to try changing the battery with
> the machine turned on or bypassing the normal wiring by adding wiring to
> connect to two batteries at once. Not worth the trouble anyway.
>
> I used to have a nice little program to print out the BIOS settings, but
> that was lost long ago when as hard drive failed and I hadn't backed it
> up. Only once in 26 years have I had to replace a motherboard battery.
>
> --
> Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
> Reply in newsgroup
> "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
> deserve neither liberty or security"
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Battery alarm question 

On Tue, 22 Aug 2006 09:51:59 -0700, "Ken Blake"
<kblake.DeleteThis@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote:

>Dudley Henriques wrote:
>
>> Thanks Ken.
>
>
>You're welcome. Glad to help.
>
>
>> I've been trying to research a way to get a hard copy of
>> the BIOS settings. I think I understand the options are quite
>> limited; either print out each screen (actually my Laserjet USB might
>> not be able to do even this)
>
>
>You normally need a parallel printer for it to work before Windows is
>started.
>
>
>> by rebooting back into the CMOS settings
>> for each screen, or hand copy every screen and sub screen. One
>> suggestion was to take a photograph of each screen with a camera
>
>
>A camera is often suggested. Personally, I just hand-copy the screens.
>There's not that much data that it takes very long. In fact, if you've been
>researching this, you've probably already spent more time than it would have
>taken to hand-copy it.

Hi again, Ken,

How do you access the screens? Thank you!

Gail




>
>> I had even hoped that Asus might have some kind of a template that
>> shows a basic BIOS
>> screen for each tab with the selections left blank so that you could
>> just jot down each setting instead of writing out the entire screen
>> in long hand, but they don't seem to have this.
>> I guess I have one thing going for me. When Hypersonic set up my
>> BIOS, I believe, since I don't use RAID and have not overclocked
>> anything, that the setup I have is probably the default anyway, so
>> that if I did have to reset it, picking the default before exit would
>> probably be the same as its configured now.
>> To my knowledge, the only change is to disable the Promise controller
>> which I can remember to do on a reset.
>> So if I understand correctly, what I need to do is watch for the
>> clock to be off on the initial boot of the day and noticing that,
>> simply replace the battery, doing it as quickly as possible. If I do
>> lose the CMOS settings, just go into the BIOS and reselect the
>> defaults?
>
>
>That's what I would do, except I'd work from my hard copy, and not use the
>defaults.
 >> Stay informed about: Battery alarm question