Low battery notification doesn't show up in windows 7

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On my Lenovo Y410 model laptop I've installed Windows7. Earlier I used to have Windows XP. In XP I used to get low batter notification when my battery reaches 10% life. In Windows 7 I've even set the low batter notification on, but still it doesn't notify me when battery reaches 10% life and when it reaches critical level 5% it automatically hibernates. This is getting quite irritating for me.

Can anybody tell me the reason why it is not notifying me when it reaches low batter level? I'm using balanced power mode. Low batter notification is on and low battery level is 10%. Critical battery level is 5%.

UPDATE: During googling the problem, I kept my laptop running on battery and I was observing the battery level every minute. Earlier when I was using Windows XP, it used to last for 3hours with dim light. Now, with Windows 7, it lasts for one hour and as some other user asked a question saying that battery life suddenly drops from 26%-5% (Question is here) even my laptop right after when I saw 26% it went into hibernate mode as per the critical level action. I admit that some things are similar to that user such as my battery is a year old one. But, I dont understand why this started happening suddenly when I switched to Windows 7 from XP. This is bit doubtful to me. Do I need to accept the solution given in that question, or is there any other thing should I try?

JayaprakashReddy

Posted 2010-11-28T19:21:03.377

Reputation: 327

Answers

4

Steps to change icon and notifications for power icon:

  • [Right Click] the Taskbar
  • Select Properties
  • Click Customize button
  • Find the icon label Power
  • Select Show icon and notifications from the drop down
  • Click OK

Is this is already the case then it could be a battery issue. Such as the one post in this question. To test, change the low battery notification percentage to a higher number such as 30%. Then watch, wait, and learn.

Steps to change notification percentage:

  • [Right Click] the Power Icon
  • Select Power Options
  • Click Change power settings of the selected power profile
  • Click Change advanced power settings
  • Scroll to and expand Battery via [+]
  • Expand Low battery level
  • Change the On battery to 30% or higher
  • Click OK

Here are some other reasons. There has been a bug dating back to Vista. However, some issues are BIOS related. So try updating it. Another solution is take off the battery and clean the contacts with a pencil eraser. One person said that when he or she changed the Critical Battery Action to "Shut Down" from "Hibernate", the Low Battery Notification popped up.

EDIT: The notifications that you can set are just Low battery [level, notification] & Reserve battery* [level]. There is no notification for Critical battery in Win7 [just level & action].

If, for example, you've set Low battery at 6% & Critical battery at 3% [the lowest mine accepts], you could set Reserve battery at 4% so that it acts as a last ditch warning to connect to power before the Citical battery action takes place without any further warning.

[* Reserve battery level is not associated with any action other than bringing up a warning dialog - "Critical battery warning. You are now running in Reserve power mode. Your battery is very low (4%), please plug in immediately. If you don't, your computer will soon automatically hibernate."]

So to sum it up - your Reserve Battery level should be HIGHER than the rest.

Reference link of this research: Low Battery Notification does not... -- Microsoft Answers . There are more solutions and reasons listed throughout the post. Also, Battery charge... -- SuperUser that was found by JayaprakashReddy.

SgtOJ

Posted 2010-11-28T19:21:03.377

Reputation: 6 843

@ADTC, Write a new question and link it from here. – Pacerier – 2015-01-19T03:15:56.360

1@Brian: It is already set to that only. Any other setting? – JayaprakashReddy – 2010-11-28T19:29:35.040

I know that you selected Show Icon... but are you able to see the power icon next to the time? – SgtOJ – 2010-11-28T19:35:25.783

1Yes, I can see the power icon too in the taskbar. – JayaprakashReddy – 2010-11-28T19:39:37.043

Updated. Added reference link. – SgtOJ – 2010-11-28T19:48:55.607

1I've also updated the question with my findings. Let me check your update, then I can say whether it is a bug or battery life over. Thanks Brian. – JayaprakashReddy – 2010-11-28T19:52:00.560

1

I would accept that answer. The one you posted in your question. Working internal tech support, I wouldn't rule out batteries issues. It is very common. It would also explain why you don't get the notification too.

– SgtOJ – 2010-11-28T19:57:00.063

If you accept that answer, don't forget one up that question and answer. Also, it might be a good idea post a link to this question with in its comments to help the next guy. Isn't that why we're here? – SgtOJ – 2010-11-28T19:59:06.863

1Thanks Brian, I just did a small exercise to find the notification problem. I set the notification level to 30% and it immediately notified me that battery is low. Now, I've to accept that its time to change my battery. Thanks for your help. Yes, I know to upvote. I'm big user of stackoverflow and I support everyone who helped me or improved my knowledge. But, problem here is I cant upvote until I get 15 points. :( – JayaprakashReddy – 2010-11-28T20:02:31.970

1Is it advisable to set the Reserve Battery Level above the Low Battery Level? The reason I did this is because only Low and Critical has actions and they only have balloon notifications, while Reserve has an in-your-face message box notification (no action). I think this might be useful because quite often I tend to ignore the low battery balloon notification and forget to plug in, and the computer goes into hibernate in the middle of my work (which takes a long time to resume). Instead, I set Reserve to warn me with message box first, Low to sleep and Critical to hibernate. – ADTC – 2013-07-29T04:25:24.563

Asked: 2010-11-28T19:21:03.377

Viewed: 27 254 times

Active: 2015-09-14T14:47:12.403