Help! X200 with Windows 7 x64 and battery life blows!

I really hope someone can help me on this. Previously, with a Vista 32bit install I would get around 6-7 hours with the battery easily (average wattage is around 6-7). Now, with a new install of Windows 7 64bit I can barely manage 5 hours of battery life (average wattage 10-12).

Once in a while, the battery life returns and I'm able to get around 6.5 hours, but it's random and unreliable.

The policy report shows this:

I have a feeling that the ASPM is the culprit. I've tried reinstalling the power management driver and the power manager program to no success.

Has anyone been able to get their battery life similar to Vista?

 

I am getting something similar on my t61...

 

On my X200 running Win 7 Pro 64 bit I am getting similar battery life to what I had on Vista. No complaints.

 

I'm getting 6 hours on my T61 with my 9cell :|

 

Did you guys update your chipset drivers?

 

Which driver is that for? I don't see it anywhere on the list for Windows 7 64bit.

 

I'm experiencing the same thing.
It was fine in the 7100 release and I didn't install anything additional then or now...

 

just want to add another voice in this complaint. out of the box with vista 32 basic my x200s (su9400 processor, WD2500BEVT, LED WXGA, thinkpad b/g/n wifi adapter) ran with a 7W draw during normal use (internet browsing, basically, in chrome and with the screen around 50% brightness). now after upgrading to win7 pro 64 and installing all the latest drivers normal use sucks down ~15W.

i can still get down to 9W but only through extreme measures: power manager and win7 in maximum battery power profile, screen dimmed all the way, wifi off, no applications running, search & superfetch disabled, aero disabled, processor throttled in SuperLFM (0.875V) via RMClock. even then, as soon as i do anything, power draw jumps to 10-12W.

the cpu sits around 50% load even when i'm not doing anything, and the fan is running almost constantly (i didn't hear it once before the OS upgrade; the laptop ran absolutely silent out of the box).

this issue has been bothering me to no end, and is the only reason the x200s isn't (yet) my perfect ultraportable. i'm at the end of my wits, such as they are--any help would be much appreciated!!

 

I suspect it has more to do with factory config than the version of the OS. When I reformatted my T400 with Vista x64 I had a similar battery life as when I reformatted both of my computers with 7 x64. They would both idle between 15 and 24 watts. I just went through and thoroughly calibrated the battery plans on both machines and I now get between 7 and 9 watts on the X200 and 9 and 12 watts on the T400 (optical drive turned off) doing nothing.

People suggested turning off switchable graphics in BIOS if you have that option. Also, some people mentioned that the Windows battery config might override that of ThinkVantage, so I calibrated both (advanced settings under Windows power options).

 

switchable graphics? in an x200?

 

Yeah I modded a GTX-280 into my X200. You wanna see it?

What I meant to say was for those of you who have that option.

 

i tried disabling discrete graphics, as a matter of fact, desperately, after reading the posts of several t400 owners who had similar problems after upgrading their OS. needless to say it didn't help my x200s. and my win7 power profile is calibrated to be about as battery-life-optimized as possible, far as i can tell, and it still doesn't bump down my wattage to what it used to be.

i forgot to mention that i did a format & clean install. if i don't find another, easier solution i'll try reverting to factory settings and then upgrading vista to win7. and if i do i'll post my results.

 

x200s doesn't have discrete graphics. don't bother.

 

I agree on an x200 tablet. I typically halve the manufacturer's claim because of the way that I use it and because they plain lie. Using a laptop near minimum brightness is unusable to me unless you're always working in an airplane. I have an 8 cell and with the screen at full brightness on a brand new battery, surfing and that's it, I can't even pull 5 hours. I could with windows xp. I have 32 bit win 7 installed.

 

Im using the power manager from October and I still get vista like battery life, but my peak isn't as high. I may toy with the settings a bit as my wattage is still a little higher then it was in vista.

 

Here's another thing I found;

It seems that after a resume from sleep, the x200 eats 2 extra watts (8-9 vs. 6-7) at it's lowest power settings. Hence why battery level drops 1-2 hours.

When you hibernate, the power levels stays stable and I'm able to get the same battery life as Vista.

Could this be a driver issue in 64bit windows?

 

Time to go back to Vista.

 

update: power issues largely fixed, here's how:

replace WD2500BEVS with WD5000BEVT
format, reinstall win7
install wifi adapter driver
windows update (important ones only)
lenovo system update
install drivers for: matrix storage management, system interface, trackpoint. (NO thinkvantage pmanager or pmanagement driver)

now under the power saver profile (default settings) and with screen dimmed normal browsing sucks 7-9W from the battery, and that might shrink a bit more once i trim my the background services. the fan still runs more than it used to and the new hd is a bit louder than the old but these are minor quibbles compared to a halved battery life.

hope this is of some help