Article ID: 245107 - Last Review: January 25, 2007 - Revision: 2.3

Computer Battery Power May Drain Faster with USB Device Attached

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This article was previously published under Q245107
If this article does not describe your hardware-related issue, please see the following Microsoft Web site to view more articles about hardware:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/w98?sid=460 (http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=http%3a%2f%2fsupport.microsoft.com%2fdefault.aspx%2fw98%3fsid%3d460)
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SYMPTOMS

Battery-powered computers that use Advanced Power Management (APM) or Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) may experience increased power consumption leading to a more rapid drain of battery power when a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device is attached.
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CAUSE

The bus activity required to maintain communications with the USB device prevents the Central Processing Unit (CPU) from switching to the C3 (Clock-Stopped) power state. When a USB device is not connected, the CPU can spend a significant amount of time in the C3 state, which reduces power consumption and extends battery life.

The option to turn off USB devices after a computer is idle for awhile but still in an active (not standby/suspended) state is not supported in the versions of Windows listed at the beginning of this article
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RESOLUTION

For information about a possible resolution for Windows 98 Second Edition, click on the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
297045  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297045/EN-US/ ) The Laptop Computer May Be Unable to Enter the C3 Processor Power-Saving State
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WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, try to conserve battery power using any of the following options:
  • Disconnect all USB devices if you are not using them.
  • In the Power Management tool in Control Panel, adjust the power scheme settings to use shorter time-out values for turning off the monitor and hard disks and placing the computer in a system standby state.
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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.
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MORE INFORMATION

Note If you use Windows Vista, you can visit the following Microsoft Web page for help with power consumption and battery life problems:
Fix problems in which power consumption is more than expected or the battery life is short (http://support.microsoft.com/gp/windows_battery_power_settings)
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APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
  • Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
  • Microsoft Windows 98 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Windows 95
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Keywords: 
kbprb KB245107
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