Battery status icon in system tray: how?

[lobster]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Recently bought my first laptop. I've had plenty of experience of using
these in the past, through work, and always it was possible to configure a
small icon denoting the battery charge in the system tray. I'm now running
Win XP home (SP2) and can't find a way of achieving this extremely useful
function. Can anybody help?

I do have an icon for power options, which I can click on and work through
to find the battery status, but it isn't the same...

Thanks
David

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"Lobster" <davidlobsterpot601@hotmail.com> wrote:
>small icon denoting the battery charge in the system tray.

It's a Power option under Control Panel.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

It doesn't turn into a battery icon unless you disconnect AC power...

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Your only way is to find a third-party software that offers that
function.

 

[lobster]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

<William P.N. Smith> wrote in message
news:eir3s057udbpg2impniu1trc3ao2chpihv@4ax.com...
> "Lobster" <davidlobsterpot601@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>small icon denoting the battery charge in the system tray.
>
> It's a Power option under Control Panel.
>

Yes that's the same Power Options I mentioned; but when I check the box
which says "icon on toolbar" or whatever, all I get is the Power Options
icon, not the battery itself.

David

 

[lobster]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Hillinsilence wrote:
> Your only way is to find a third-party software that offers that
> function.
>

This contradicts the other replyers, who reckon I should be able to see
this icon with Windows software. Who's right?

David

 

[lobster]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

sleezy beetch wrote:
> It doesn't turn into a battery icon unless you disconnect AC power...
>

Sure, but I don't see it even when AC power IS disconnected!

David

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Lobster wrote:
> sleezy beetch wrote:
>
>> It doesn't turn into a battery icon unless you disconnect AC power...
>>
>
> Sure, but I don't see it even when AC power IS disconnected!
>
> David
Seems to me you should ask this question on this NG, where somebody will
probably know the answer. Specify whether this problem developped after
you installed SP2. Good luck.

> news/msnews.microsoft.com:119/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general



--
John Doue

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Now I know what do you mean . Your problem is, whatever if you
connect the AC adapter or not, the battery icon would never shown on
your taskbar, is it?

Perhaps you will check your CMOS settings, see if there's some settings
about this and you made wrong decision.

Also I'm now contacting to the Microsoft Techinical Support, maybe they
can solve this problem.

John Doue wrote:
> Lobster wrote:
> > sleezy beetch wrote:
> >
> >> It doesn't turn into a battery icon unless you disconnect AC
power...
> >>
> >
> > Sure, but I don't see it even when AC power IS disconnected!
> >
> > David
> Seems to me you should ask this question on this NG, where somebody
will
> probably know the answer. Specify whether this problem developped
after
> you installed SP2. Good luck.
>
> > news/msnews.microsoft.com:119/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
>
>
>
> --
> John Doue

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

The truth is that, you can see at most a plugger icon on the system
tray if you enabled the "Always show icon on taskbar" while you are
using an AC adapter, and you can see at most a battery icon there if
you are using a battery. So, if Microsoft doesn't offer the function
you described above, you can only use a third party software to achieve
that.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Lobster wrote:
> Recently bought my first laptop. I've had plenty of experience of
using
> these in the past, through work, and always it was possible to
configure a
> small icon denoting the battery charge in the system tray. I'm now
running
> Win XP home (SP2) and can't find a way of achieving this extremely
useful
> function. Can anybody help?
>
> I do have an icon for power options, which I can click on and work
through
> to find the battery status, but it isn't the same...

What isn't the same exactly? Does the icon show as a plug icon that
doesn't ever change or something?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Well, here is the answer.
Follow these steps and you'll solve your problem.
1.Open "Add/Remove Programs" in Control Panel
2.Click "Add/Remove Windows Components" on the left of the window
3.Select "Network service" and click "Detail"
4.Remove the tick in front of the item "UPnP user interface"
5.Click OK, click Next, reboot after finished.
6.If your problem remains, contact your power/battery manufacture for
new softwares to install.

Notice: the strings mentioned above may not be exactly as they are on
your computer, this is just a translation, I'm using a Simplified
Chinese version of Windows XP SP2.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Lobster wrote:
> Well thank you - that works!!
>
> What's the reason for this - a Microsoft bug? (surely not...)
>
> Unfortunately, I need to have UPnP enabled for full functionality of
> MS-Messenger, so I guess this means I have to decide which is more
> important... :-(

A lot of Dell users have reported this problem, myself, I stopped the
problem by uninstalling Dell's QuickSet (as it was a pain in my ass
anyway). Using the Windows XP utilities just by themselves. The only
things I have to add to that are:

When starting the computer you can't (for some reason) have your WiFi
card inserted into the PCMCIA slot at the time of computer start.
When installing new drivers, software, etc, you'll sometimes find your
icons won't show up properly directly after a system change. Log off
your account on XP, log back in, and they should be there.

That is what works for me.

As far as why this happens, I'm not entirely sure (as far as I know no
one is). It is certainly a bug, you can try doing some of the
following though...

Go into your services (under Admin tools in the control panel) and
disable UPnP host, your computer doesn't need to HOST UPnP capabilities
unless you are running ICS and people behind your system on the network
need to UPnP their way to the network.

Also, switch UPnP support in the services to manual. This will start
it when its required and not when you're not using it (in theory).

 

[lobster]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Cyclops wrote:
> Lobster wrote:
>>I do have an icon for power options, which I can click on and work
> through to find the battery status, but it isn't the same...
>
>
> What isn't the same exactly? Does the icon show as a plug icon that
> doesn't ever change or something?

I meant, "...isn't the same as having a little battery icon which
displays your remaining charge in real time."

Actually, though, what I wrote was slightly misleading in that the icon
in my system tray is actually for "Dell Quickset" - it's just a
front-end for a series of often-used XP utilities... I meant I have to
click on the "Quickset" icon, then I get a menu option, one of which is
'Power Options' - which takes me into the same XP program I would
otherwise view via Control Panel.

David

 

[lobster]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Hillinsilence wrote:
> Well, here is the answer.
> Follow these steps and you'll solve your problem.
> 1.Open "Add/Remove Programs" in Control Panel
> 2.Click "Add/Remove Windows Components" on the left of the window
> 3.Select "Network service" and click "Detail"
> 4.Remove the tick in front of the item "UPnP user interface"
> 5.Click OK, click Next, reboot after finished.
> 6.If your problem remains, contact your power/battery manufacture for
> new softwares to install.
>
> Notice: the strings mentioned above may not be exactly as they are on
> your computer, this is just a translation, I'm using a Simplified
> Chinese version of Windows XP SP2.
>

Well thank you - that works!!

What's the reason for this - a Microsoft bug? (surely not...)

Unfortunately, I need to have UPnP enabled for full functionality of
MS-Messenger, so I guess this means I have to decide which is more
important... :-(

David

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Lobster wrote:
> Hillinsilence wrote:
>
>> Well, here is the answer.
>> Follow these steps and you'll solve your problem.
>> 1.Open "Add/Remove Programs" in Control Panel
>> 2.Click "Add/Remove Windows Components" on the left of the window
>> 3.Select "Network service" and click "Detail"
>> 4.Remove the tick in front of the item "UPnP user interface"
>> 5.Click OK, click Next, reboot after finished.
>> 6.If your problem remains, contact your power/battery manufacture for
>> new softwares to install.
>>
>> Notice: the strings mentioned above may not be exactly as they are on
>> your computer, this is just a translation, I'm using a Simplified
>> Chinese version of Windows XP SP2.
>>
>
> Well thank you - that works!!
>
> What's the reason for this - a Microsoft bug? (surely not...)
>
> Unfortunately, I need to have UPnP enabled for full functionality of
> MS-Messenger, so I guess this means I have to decide which is more
> important... :-(
>
> David
This tip is so interesting - and so unexpected - I suggest you share it
on > microsoft.public.windowsxp.general.

Regards

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

As Microsoft's support says(I called them at their 800 phone), it's
because of the power management program don't stay peacely with the
UPnP device.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Hillinsilence wrote:
> As Microsoft's support says(I called them at their 800 phone), it's
> because of the power management program don't stay peacely with the
> UPnP device.

That is bull... I disabled all of the UPnP devices on my network, even
blocked those ports in the router, no devices could be detected no
matter what and it still happened to me while I had the factory setup
on my Dell.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

I've no idea, I've never used some devices that supports UPnP. The only
thing I know about it is if I enable it in BitSpirit, BitSpirit will
not response while loading =)