I have a Dell Inspiron Mini 10v (1011) running XP Home SP3. I have the power settings set to hibernate if the computer starts running on battery due to a power outage. Works fine. I also have a scheduled task set to run once a day to bring it out of hibernation when the power comes back on. The problem is, the computer doesn't start the scheduled task because it thinks it is still on battery power, even though it is back on AC power. (The task log says that is why the scheduled task didn't run.) The battery works well, charges and holds its charge, the computer wakes well with the power button, etc. The scheduled task will run correctly if I put the computer into hibernation without putting it on battery power first. I know my logic is okay because this same scheme works with other computers, just not this one. How do I convince my computer that it is once again on AC power and not running on the battery?
I recently replaced the hard drive and had to reinstall everything, if that makes a difference. I know nothing about BIOS, drivers, PC computers, etc. If you have any suggestions for me, please make them very simple and non-technical (or very clear and detailed).
As far as I know, you can't run a scheduled task "when power comes back on".
You can set the computer to wake up at a set time, and when it does, run a task - that's what the "Wake the computer to run this task" option is for. Is that what you've done?
You can set a task to run if the computer wakes up through external means (ie power button, wake on lan, wake on modem etc.) but I'm almost certain there's no option to run a task when the computer is in hibernation, because essentially it is switched off.
Is there perhaps an option in your BIOS to wake the computer when AC power is reconnected? I have that option in my BIOS under power management, but it's not configurable from within Windows.
It's possible that the task doesn't run when the system wakes up (if it is waking up) because until the computer gets back into Windows, it may not update the data that tells Windows it's now running from the mains. My laptop is also a little sluggish in this respect. If that's your issue, can you delay the task to run after 10 seconds or so, by which time the status will have been refreshed?
Thanks for all of your answers. You can see how little I know about PCs. I didn't realize that the computer was always running on battery, but that makes sense. As for posting PC specs or whatever the BIOS is, I have no idea. I guess my basic desire/question is this: Is there any way I can make a remote PC hibernate/shut down/sleep/? when it has a power outage and then awaken once the power is back on? (I know on a Mac you just go into energy saver prefs and tell it to wake up at a certain time. That is what I want for the PC.) Or do I need to purchase a special program for that?
And I was wrong about my 'logic'. I did more testing and it wasn't working on my other PC either. Sorry about that.
Once again, thanks for all your help and patience with me.
Yes, but not specifically when it loses power. You can set tasks to run at a specific time of day, and that task could shut down the PC. You can also set what happens when the battery level drops below a certain point.
Now you could, on a laptop/battery powered system, abuse it a bit and tell it to shut down if the battery power drops below 95%... that wouldn't take long if there was a power loss, but even if it's running off battery when there's power, the AC will keep it topped up above 95%, so the shut down task never runs.
...now back to the word "remote"... that implies trying to control another PC. If you have a battery powered computer, and you want that to control the turning on and off of another computer, then that is entirely possible, but you need to be very specific about which computer it is that loses power etc. and you need to issue commands across a network to that computer.
This is where you seem to be contradicting yourself...
Are you trying to:
A) Wake the PC up at a set time of day - ie 9am
OR
B) Wake the PC up when power is restored, ignoring the time of day.
A is possible on both PC and Mac. The wake at specific time option is in the BIOS, and sometimes exposed accessible software supplied with the machine when in Windows. The Mac you seem to already know about.
B involves configuring the system to come back on when AC power is restored. On a PC this is in the BIOS. I do not see this on any of my PC laptops or my MacBook, but the option is there on all my Desktop PCs in the BIOS.
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