Dell Precision M90: Check the Battery Health Low-Battery Warning Conserving Battery Power

Check the Battery Health

NOTE: You can check battery health either by using the charge gauge on the battery as described below, or by

using the Battery Meter in Dell QuickSet. For information about QuickSet, right-click the icon in the taskbar,

and click Help.

To check the battery health using the charge gauge, press and hold the status button on the battery

charge gauge for at least 3 seconds. If no lights appear, the battery is in good condition, and more than

80 percent of its original charge capacity remains. Each light represents incremental degradation. If five

lights appear, less than 60 percent of the charge capacity remains, and you should consider replacing the

battery. See "Specifications" in your User’s Guide for more information about the battery operating time.

Low-Battery Warning

NOTICE: To avoid losing or corrupting data, save your work immediately after a low-battery warning.

Then connect the computer to an electrical outlet. If the battery runs completely out of power,

hibernate mode begins automatically.

A pop-up window warns you when the battery charge is approximately 90 percent depleted. The

computer enters hibernate mode when the battery charge is at a critically low level.

You can change the settings for the battery alarms in QuickSet or the Power Options Properties window.

See "Configuring Power Management Settings" in your User’s Guide for information about accessing

QuickSet or the Power Options Properties window.

Conserving Battery Power

Perform the following actions to conserve battery power:

• Connect the computer to an electrical outlet when possible because battery life is largely determined

by the number of times the battery is used and recharged.

• Place the computer in standby mode or hibernate mode when you leave the computer unattended for

long periods of time. See "Power Management Modes" in your

User’s Guide

for more information

about standby and hibernate modes.

• Use the Power Management Wizard

to select options to optimize your computer’s power usage. These

options can also be set to change when you press the power button, close the display, or press

<Fn><Esc>. See "Configuring Power Management Settings" in your

User’s Guide

for more

information on using the Power Management Wizard.

NOTE: See "Configuring Power Management Settings" in your User’s Guide.

Quick Reference Guide 15