Problems and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Note: See the PassMark website (www.passmark.com) for the latest version of the FAQ |

Q. How accurate is BatteryMon? BatteryMon is only as accurate as the battery pack which supplies the information. Due to their chemical nature it is often hard to get a precise indication as to the charge level in the battery. Q. Are all types of portable computers and UPS’s supported?

Some older nonstandard battery systems and UPSs are not supported. Machines running Windows95 and WindowsNT are also not supported. Machines running Windows98, Me, 2000 are supported.

Q. How many batteries can be reported on?

A unlimited number of batteries are supported for the graph display. For the detailed, per battery, information up to 4 battery slots are supported.

Q. The log file appears to be limited in size. Is it possible for user to change the log file size, and/or sampling frequency?

The log only stores the last 1000 samples. However it is possible to change the sample rate by entering a new value for "Sample time" in the BatteryMon window.

If you chance this value to 30sec, then the log should cover 8.3hours

If you chance this value to 60sec, then the log should cover 16.7hours

Turning on auto-logging will bypass the 1000 sample limit as each sample will be written out to the log as soon as it is taken.

Q. My battery has a full charge capacity much lower than the design capacity, what is wrong?

The battery has stored the wrong full charge capacity. A battery learns a new full charge capacity from a full charge to a full discharge. If it leans a very low full charge then it cannot re-learn a normal value. A low full charge capacity can be learned in several ways;

The battery reads a ‘false’ full charge signal. This can be caused by excessive heat in the system such as from inserting a cold battery into a hot system and charging immediately, or some other heat source located near the battery cavity. It can also occur if the battery has been unused for a long period of time or has been over-discharged.

The battery has not seen a large portion of capacity drained from it, therefore the battery does not record capacity leaving, only learning the capacity that is actually monitored during the discharge. Another similar cause is when the battery undergoes a small discharge over an extended period of time, such as being in a hibernate or suspended state for a few days, drains the battery but is again not measured.

Q. I am not receiving notification emails?

BatteryMon sends emails through a user specified mail server. If this server is inaccessible BatteryMon will report an error however once BatteryMon has succesfully sent the email it is up to the mail server to ensure delivery. If BatteryMon is not reporting any errors in sending emails but you are not receiving the mails please check that no spam filters are filtering out the message.

Q. How can I set-up BatteryMon to run from a CD or USB memory stick under Windows?

BatteryMon setup

1. Install BatteryMon on any PC using the normal setup program.

2. Make a 'key.dat' file (see below) in the same directory as the BatteryMon executable file (BatteryMon.exe).

3. Copy all the files from the installation directory to a CD or USB memory stick.

4. That's it, you're finished. BatteryMon should now run from a CD or USB memory stick and pick up the license information automatically.

Making a key.dat file

1. Create an ASCII text file.

2. The first line must contain the username.

3. The second line must contain the licence key

4. Save the file in the same directory as BatteryMon.exe with a file name of key.dat.

You can now uninstall PerformanceTest from the PC hard disk and use the CD or USB memory stick in the future on other machines. We recommend using a USB memory stick, rather than a CD, so that log files may be saved. IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are using the unlicensed valuation version you need to be careful that the date and time is set correctly on all the PCs.