XS BX 900R, PC-PE 2.0: Blackout Time Incorrect, Control Panel Not Modified

[BillP]

Greetings:

Config: Back-UPS XS BX 900R Connected USB to XP SP3 PC via APC Cable. XP Device Manager for Batteries shows "APC Battery BackUP" with APC driver version 1.0.0.0 dated 9/5/2001, with "No Driver Files Loaded or Required for this Device" under Driver Details. PowerChute PE 2.0 Installed from CD that came with BX 900R. XP DM also shows HID entry "American Power Conversion USB UPS" with (Microsoft) Driver Version 5.1.2600.2180 dated 7/1/2001.

Several anomolies here:

1. The BX 900R recently experienced its first utility company power outage ever and did a successful switch to battery. I then manually shutdown the one PC and LCD etc as I was online at the time. Load at the time of the switch was only about 150w. Time before all devices powered off ~5 min max. The actual outage duration was 2 hours, 52 minutes by my clocks. I did not use the PCs any more that day/evening. Power came back on and BX went off battery per unit indicator LEDs.

The next day, I manually powered up PCs & networking, every came up normal. Checked PowerChute PE and it shows a "Blackout Time on Battery" of 4 hours and 52 minutes for the 1 event. Why an almost exact *2 hour* discrepancy? Tech Support says it was "still on battery because of dirty power". I don't believe it. Unit went back Online immediately. Outage was a local cable failure, once repaired everything was back to normal within a minute or so. Hard to imagine "dirty power" for 2 hours here. Also, PCPE shows no Under/Overvoltage or Noise events ever. Ideas? Suggestions?

2. In checking the XP PC further, found Power Options Control Panel still has a UPS tab, contrary to KB 2497 which says: "Step 3: Enter the Power Options applet from within Control Panel. Notice that the UPS tab has been removed and replaced with an Alarms tab and a Power Meter tab. The USB UPS is recognized by the system as a battery, and does not use or require the UPS service. The UPS service will be disabled upon installing a USB UPS." My control panel does not have an Alarms tab or a Power Meter tab. Ideas? Suggestions?

3. My PowerChute PE seems to always be running quite slow, lagging response times and long startup & shutdown times, even when it is the only application running on a relatively new Intel Dual Core 2GB PC. It seems to be very sluggish. Are there any PowerChute configuration or XP options that need to be set to improve overall PowerChute performance on XP?

Also, is anyone using PowerChute Business with a BX 900? Will it work? Looks like PCBE 1 Node package provides a lot more info than PE does.

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions as to next steps!

ron

[BillP]

Greetings:

Config: Back-UPS XS BX 900R Connected USB to XP SP3 PC via APC Cable. XP Device Manager for Batteries shows "APC Battery BackUP" with APC driver version 1.0.0.0 dated 9/5/2001, with "No Driver Files Loaded or Required for this Device" under Driver Details. PowerChute PE 2.0 Installed from CD that came with BX 900R. XP DM also shows HID entry "American Power Conversion USB UPS" with (Microsoft) Driver Version 5.1.2600.2180 dated 7/1/2001.

Several anomolies here:

1. The BX 900R recently experienced its first utility company power outage ever and did a successful switch to battery. I then manually shutdown the one PC and LCD etc as I was online at the time. Load at the time of the switch was only about 150w. Time before all devices powered off ~5 min max. The actual outage duration was 2 hours, 52 minutes by my clocks. I did not use the PCs any more that day/evening. Power came back on and BX went off battery per unit indicator LEDs.

The next day, I manually powered up PCs & networking, every came up normal. Checked PowerChute PE and it shows a "Blackout Time on Battery" of 4 hours and 52 minutes for the 1 event. Why an almost exact *2 hour* discrepancy? Tech Support says it was "still on battery because of dirty power". I don't believe it. Unit went back Online immediately. Outage was a local cable failure, once repaired everything was back to normal within a minute or so. Hard to imagine "dirty power" for 2 hours here. Also, PCPE shows no Under/Overvoltage or Noise events ever. Ideas? Suggestions?

2. In checking the XP PC further, found Power Options Control Panel still has a UPS tab, contrary to KB 2497 which says: "Step 3: Enter the Power Options applet from within Control Panel. Notice that the UPS tab has been removed and replaced with an Alarms tab and a Power Meter tab. The USB UPS is recognized by the system as a battery, and does not use or require the UPS service. The UPS service will be disabled upon installing a USB UPS." My control panel does not have an Alarms tab or a Power Meter tab. Ideas? Suggestions?

3. My PowerChute PE seems to always be running quite slow, lagging response times and long startup & shutdown times, even when it is the only application running on a relatively new Intel Dual Core 2GB PC. It seems to be very sluggish. Are there any PowerChute configuration or XP options that need to be set to improve overall PowerChute performance on XP?

Also, is anyone using PowerChute Business with a BX 900? Will it work? Looks like PCBE 1 Node package provides a lot more info than PE does.

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions as to next steps!

ron

[Anonymous user]

Regarding the time recording error, this thing never really worked well here too. The Powerchute PE doesn't know how to count! 😄

[TheNotoriousKMP_apc]

As for the Time discrepancy, I can look into that further for you the earlier part of next week.

PCBE will not work with a new Back-UPS, so unfortunately, you'll have to stick with PCPE.

As far as the software lag and performance issues, my system is running with probably 1/2 the specs of whatever else is included in your setup with 2GB RAM. I'm constantly running multiple MP3 services at the same time, and PCPE still works as fast as it should.

[BillP]

Rau & Kevin -

Thanks for the replies!

I would appreciate any additional info that you can come up with on the outage time discrepancy, thanks in advance, K!

Since the Power Options control panel entry does not appear to have been correctly modified to add the Alarms & Power Meter tabs, would that indicate a problem with the initial hardware installation? Everything appeared to install OK in accordance with the "User's Manual" (Chart), but that's a fairly non detailled document! Or, does PCPE go in and undo them when it's installed?

I also have experienced occassional system restarts (just from launching a web browser) ... seems to have settled down recently tho. Can't duplicate it on demand.

Some PCPE data points: When I start PCPE from the task bar, with no other applications running, it takes about 6 secs for the Welcome screen to fully come up. Is that close to your experience ... or might that indicate some config/install issue?

Also, after prowling around the forums some, I have seen the topic of "Fans" come up several times.

The fan in this unit has run continuously since it was first plugged in right out of the box. I continues to run even with a fully charged battery (per PCPE) and No load on the unit, even overnight or over several days. Is this normal for a BX 900?

Again, thanks for any additional info, clues, suggestions, etc!

Cheers -

ron

[TheNotoriousKMP_apc · Accepted solution]

Ron,

Unfortunately either Erasmus, Winna, EZ Button or The Backup will have to assist you further in what I was supposed to look into for you at the company.

I never obtained the information before my tenure there expired.