2-8
Dell OptiPlex Gs and Gs+ Low-Profile Systems Reference and Installation Guide
POWER MANAGEMENT
can be implemented at three
levels—options are
MAXIMUM
,
REGULAR
, and
MINIMUM.
(The different levels apply to the monitor only; hard-disk
drive operation is the same for all three.) The feature can
also be set to
DISABLED
.
NOTE: The Dell Energy Manager utility (available only
on systems running Windows 3.x or Windows for Work-
groups) lets you assign time-out settings that deviate
from the predefined
MAXIMUM
,
REGULAR
, and
MINIMUM
settings available through the
POWER MANAGEMENT
cat-
egory. If you have used the Dell Energy Manager to
customize your time-out periods, the
POWER MANAGE-
MENT
category may display
CUSTOM
as its setting. (For
more information on the Dell Energy Manager, see
“Using Drivers and Utilities” in your online System
User’s Guide.)
Saving Monitor Power
If you have a Video Electronics Standards Association
(VESA
®
) Display Power Management Signaling (DPMS)-
compliant monitor, enabling the
POWER MANAGEMENT
category reduces monitor power consumption during
periods of keyboard and mouse inactivity.
NOTE: The power management feature monitors the activity
of a mouse connected to the Personal System/2 (PS/2)-
compatible mouse port.
By setting
POWER MANAGEMENT
to
MAXIMUM
,
REGULAR
,
or
MINIMUM
, you can set predefined time-out periods (see
Table 2-2) for the two successive monitor shutdown stages,
standby and off.
NOTE: Each monitor manufacturer defines the details of
the shutdown stages for its own monitors. But in all
cases, power consumption decreases with each stage
from “on” (full power) to “standby” (reduced power; the
display image usually disappears) to “off” (where power
consumption is minimal). To determine these stages for
your monitor, see the documentation that came with the
monitor.
From any of these shutdown stages, you can return full
power to the monitor in one of the following ways:
•
For most DPMS-compliant monitors, any subsequent
activity—including moving the mouse—should return
full power to the monitor.
•
A few DPMS-compliant monitors require that you
turn monitor power off and then on again to return to
full power.
Check your monitor documentation for information on
how your monitor is designed to operate.
Saving EIDE Hard-Disk Drive Power
For most systems, enabling
POWER MANAGEMENT
at any
level causes EIDE hard-disk drives to switch to low-
power mode after about 20 minutes of system inactivity.
NOTES: All EIDE drives shipped with your system
support this feature. (For more information on Energy
Star systems, see “Energy Star Compliance” in
Chapter 1.)
However, not all EIDE hard-disk drives support this fea-
ture. Enabling this feature for drives that do not support
it may cause the EIDE drive to become inoperable until
the computer is restarted and the
POWER MANAGEMENT
category is disabled.
In low-power mode, the disks inside the drive stop spin-
ning. They remain idle until the next drive access, which
causes them to start spinning again. (Because the disks
take a few seconds to regain full speed, you may notice a
slight delay when you next access the hard-disk drive.)
CAUTION: Check your monitor documentation to
make sure you have a DPMS-compliant monitor
before you enable this feature. Otherwise, you risk
damaging the monitor.
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