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    Is this desktop mode?

    Discussion in '2015+ Alienware 13 / 15 / 17' started by ishtangli, Apr 20, 2015.

  1. ishtangli

    ishtangli Notebook Geek

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    I was playing PvZ: Garden Warfare on my AW15 (2015) yesterday when I notice that the framerate was rather poor. Since I was in the middle of a game, I didn't mind it too much.

    After a while, the framerate went back to 60fps and I noticed my charge indicator (alien head) started blinking. The battery went down to 75% and stayed there but windows says it is plugged in and not charging. I shut it down and, this morning, it was still the same.

    My question is, is this how desktop mode works?
     
    ishtangli, Apr 20, 2015
    #1
  2. katalin_2003

    katalin_2003 NBR Spectre Super Moderator

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    No, the indicator should always read "Plugged in, charging", even when the battery is at 100%.
    That performance hit you were experiencing, might have been caused by the fact you were running on battery exclusively.
     
    katalin_2003, Apr 20, 2015
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  3. ishtangli

    ishtangli Notebook Geek

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    The performance hit was likely Battery Boost kicking in.

    Will check if it says charging or not. In any case, charge level remains at 75% and does not go any higher so same question, is that Desktop Mode?

    Btw, forgot to mention that I have a 970m and using BIOS A01.
     
    ishtangli, Apr 20, 2015
    #3
  4. ishtangli

    ishtangli Notebook Geek

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    Confirmed that it says "plugged in, not charging" and is still at 75% even after a reboot.
     
    ishtangli, Apr 20, 2015
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  5. thetruth1983

    thetruth1983 Notebook Evangelist

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    I'm not at my laptop now but there is a setting somewhere that lets you limit the battery charge to 75% while plugged in for extended periods of time. I forgot the exact name of the program but I remember it popping up for me the first few days I had the laptop.
     
    thetruth1983, Apr 20, 2015
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  6. ishtangli

    ishtangli Notebook Geek

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    It's called "Desktop Mode" which can be found by right clicking the battery bar. I've never seen it work though.

    On my old Lenovo laptop, the battery immediately stops charging when turned on. On this, it's been on about 3 weeks before I experienced this so I'm not sure if this is an effect of Desktop Mode or something is wrong with my laptop. Anyone?
     
    ishtangli, Apr 20, 2015
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  7. Game7a1

    Game7a1 ?

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    Right-click on the battery icon and select Desktop mode battery charge. From there, you should see if it is enabled or not.
    Sounds as if it is, but it's good to double-check.
     
    Game7a1, Apr 20, 2015
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  8. ishtangli

    ishtangli Notebook Geek

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    Game7a1, yes, it's on.

    Can you confirm that this is how Desktop Mode is supposed to work? There doesn't seem to be much documentation on this feature. Right now, I don't know if I should send my laptop back or if I should be happy Desktop Mode actually works.
     
    ishtangli, Apr 21, 2015
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  9. Game7a1

    Game7a1 ?

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    Well you can always disable it. But the feature is working as intended.
    Essentially, Desktop battery charge mode (DBCM, for short, as it is too long to type out) just limits how much you can charge, effectively having some battery be "in reserve". It's supposed to proliferate the battery life since not all of the battery is being used.
    DBCM is common in Dell laptops I think since 2013. It's part of the On-Screen Display app.
    I have it disabled on my laptop since I want to use the full 100%. But really, you shouldn't put too much worry on it since you can disable it whenever. Just make sure that in the BIOS you have standard charge rather than express charge. That's the more important feature to worry about.
     
    Game7a1, Apr 21, 2015
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  10. thetruth1983

    thetruth1983 Notebook Evangelist

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    I'm assuming express charge is faster than standard charge but other than that, are there any performance differences between the two?
     
    thetruth1983, Apr 21, 2015
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  11. CGSDR

    CGSDR Alien Master Race

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    So what is express charge?
     
    CGSDR, Apr 21, 2015
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  12. Spartan@HIDevolution

    Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative

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    It charges much faster but damages your battery (wear level) within a very short span
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2015
    Spartan@HIDevolution, Apr 21, 2015
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  13. scodino

    scodino Notebook Enthusiast

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    My battery level was locked at 75% as well.

    To solve it I had to unplug AC adaptor, disconnect the battery and press power button for 10s. Reconnect the battery, the AC adaptor and done. Started charging up to 100% again.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    scodino, Apr 22, 2015
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  14. ishtangli

    ishtangli Notebook Geek

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    Don't get me wrong, I like it this way. I just wasnt sure if it was what I thought it was.
     
    ishtangli, Apr 23, 2015
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  15. ishtangli

    ishtangli Notebook Geek

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    Experienced something strange today. Last week, my laptop decided to charge back to 100%. I ignored it since I thought that was how Desktop Mode worked. Today it started draining the batt again. But instead of stopping at 75% or 50%, it kept draining until it warned of low batt. Anybody experienced the same?

    Only way I could get it to charge was to pull the plug from the outlet. I tried to disconnect the charger from the laptop but that didn't work.
     
    ishtangli, May 3, 2015
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  16. Egnix

    Egnix Notebook Consultant

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    I recently had problems with desktop mode. My 13 had slowly gone done to 70%, and when I needed to charge it for use away from home, I clicked the "charge one time" button. It didn't make it start charging. I rebooted, powered off, back on, etc, and it still didn't charge. So I disabled Desktop Mode. Still didn't help.

    I ended up lugging my AC adapter with me and plugged it in. When I powered on this time it started charging.

    Really frustrating.
     
    Egnix, May 4, 2015
    #16