Supporting Users and Troubleshooting a Windows® XP Operating System Exam Cram™ 2 (Exam 70-27)

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Chapter 4

162

To configure hardware devices for the new profile, restart the computer and

select the profile you want to configure. You enable or disable devices in a

hardware profile using the device’s properties dialog boxes in Device

Manager. You enable or disable services in a hardware profile by using the

Services MMC snap-in. The computer does not need to be restarted with a

specific hardware profile when you configure services.

When more than one hardware profile exists, Windows XP displays the

Hardware Profile/Configuration Recovery Menu each time the computer

restarts, as shown in Figure 4.13.

Do not confuse hardware profiles with user profiles: the two are not related!

Hardware profiles deal with devices and services settings for the entire computer;

user profiles deal with user configuration settings for individual users.

Figure 4.13 The Hardware Profile/Configuration Recovery Menu.

Managing Power Configurations and

Settings

Using Power Options in Control Panel, you can create power configurations

designed to extend battery life on laptops, create automatic power alarms,

and monitor battery power levels.

Power schemes allow you to specify when to automatically turn off the mon-

itor, turn off the hard disk, go into standby mode, or go into hibernation

mode when your computer is either plugged in or using battery power. You

can specify one setting for battery power and a different setting for AC

power.

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Setting Up and Troubleshooting Hardware Components and Device Drivers

163

When Windows XP goes into standby, it turns off the monitor and hard

disks while maintaining power to memory. When you bring the computer

out of standby, your desktop appears exactly as you left it. You might want to

save your work before putting your computer on standby because, while your

computer is on standby, information maintained in memory is not saved to

your hard disk. If there is an interruption in power, information in memory

is lost.

To save even more power, Windows uses hibernation mode. The hibernate

feature turns off your monitor, saves everything in memory on disk, and

turns off the computer completely. When you restart the computer, your

desktop is restored exactly as you left it.

Hibernation takes longer, of course, due to the transfer of all memory-stored

data to the hard drive. Standby, however, is faster because it does not trans-

fer the current data stored in memory to the hard drive.

You can be sure to expect a number of questions on the exam to come out of hiber-

nation and standby. Your understanding of these options is likely to be tested.

Configuring and Troubleshooting ACPI Issues

The power options, like standby and hibernate, vary depending on the com-

puter’s hardware configuration. To use power options, the computer must be

ACPI-compliant, meaning that all components are capable of power man-

agement. If one or more components are not capable of power management,

you might either not have ACPI functionality or you might experience errat-

ic behavior.

To take full advantage of PnP, you must use an ACPI computer, running in

ACPI mode, and the hardware devices must be PnP. In an ACPI computer,

the operating system, not the hardware, configures and monitors the com-

puter.

ACPI lets the operating system direct power to devices as they need it, pre-

venting unnecessary power demands on your system.

Configuring and Troubleshooting System Power Options

A number of concepts and considerations are crucial to supporting power

management in Windows XP machines.

Users should put their computers in hibernation when away from the com-

puter for an extended time or overnight. When they restart the computers,

their desktops are restored exactly as they left them.