Strange UPS Behavior

[snorkel]

Ok, this is a brand new UPS (APC Back-ups 750 ES) running on XP SP2 and it was fully charged when I tested it. I wanted to test the Powerchute automatic shutdown, so I disconnected the UPS power plug from the AC power. The PC waits 1 minute as I have it set in the PowerChute Personal Edition 2.0 software and the PC is put into hibernation mode without any problem. I then plug the UPS AC power back in, wait for 30 seconds and then press the power button on the computer. The PC resumes out of Hibernation mode and I login and everything is just fine. Everything is as I would expect up to this point.

Then about 30 seconds later, I hear the UPS beep 4 times (as if there were no power) and it also clicks and then the PC shuts down as if someone unplugged the power cord from it. This should not be happening!!!!!

Trying to troubleshoot this problem I did notice that in Device Manager under Batteries it says "APC Battery BackUP" instead of "HID UPS Battery" as I believe it should. Or does it sound more like a problem with the actual UPS unit.

 

[snorkel]

Never mind about my comment above ""APC Battery BackUP" instead of "HID UPS Battery"" I now understand that when using Native USB power management it says HID UPS Battery and when using Powerchute it says APC Battery Backup.

The problem still remains the same.

 

[wahnula]

Eliminate the software as the source. Uninstall PowerChute and try again...disconnect UPS from mains, shut down PC. Plug UPS back in, turn PC back on, what happens?

My guess is that "Hibernate" is not the best option. Try with total shutdown, if the above works fine.

I never have liked APC (yes I know they are one of the best) preferring instead CyberPower's UPS & software, a lot more versatile and better logging options...

Tony

 

[snorkel]

Let me verify what you are saying. You mean use native Windows UPS shutdown capability to shut down the machine after uninstalling powerchute??? That's what APC is recommending, but I just find that it hard to believe that the software is causing this. I'll try it.

I'm looking for all suggestions, because I have to go out to a client's house to work on it and I don't want to make 3 trips to fix a stupid problem like this.

 

[wahnula]

You mean use native Windows UPS shutdown capability to shut down the machine

No, don't use ANY shutdown software. Shut down manually, once you've unplugged the UPS and waited a little. See how the UPS behaves afterwards, once you've plugged it back in and rebooted.

If it freaks out, and shuts down the PC again, the problem is with the UPS.

If it's OK, reinstall the PowerChute software and try again, but not into Hibernation, have PowerChute shut down the PC totally. Then see what happens. Sorry for the confusion.

Tony

 

[snorkel]

Ok thanks. APC suggested uninstalling Powerchute and doing a native shutdown. I'll try your suggestion first and then I can try their suggestion.

Also I think you mean to try HIBERNATION manually (not shutdown) because the behavior has only been seen after resuming from hibernation.

 

[snorkel]

Just thinking - could this behavior have anything to do with the power settings in the BIOS???

 

[snorkel]

Just to close this out - something was wrong with the way Powerchute was interacting with Windows XP. I removed powerchute and used the native UPS shutdown parameters under POWER in Control Panel and the PC shut down just as instructed at 85% battery life left.

I think somehow the powerchute and native ups shutdown were interacting even though powerchute is supposed to "take over" and render the native stuff inactive when installed.

 

[cjelec]

If you switch off the Windows battery power management, it should work.

What I think is happening is that:

1) Power goes off
2) UPS kicks in
3) UPS software shuts down (or hibernates) the pc
4) You plug it back in
5) You switch the pc on
6) Window reads that the UPS has less than 85% battery, because it hasn't recharged yet, so shuts down the pc again

I hope this makes sense?

 

[snorkel]

Yes - this is what seemed to be happening, BUT that's not supposed to happen. When you install APC Powerchute, it's supposed to disable all native windows power management functions and take care of all those functions itself. Something was just farked with her installation of Windows. Probably too many programs added/removed and some piece of an old program was causing a hangover.

 

[cjelec]

I can't see another program effecting the ups, unless there was a ups installed before?


Anyone, what would happen if the windows UPS service was set to Manual startup?

 

[snorkel]

Don't worry about it too much - I already fixed the problem, so it all just post analysis now.