What Has Gone Wrong: Batt Life 6hrs → 4hrs after 2nd SSD Installed

highon2str on 12/04/2021 - 14:38

I decided to install a 1TB Samsung Evo 970 Plus in the second SSD2 slot of my Dell XPS 15. Before this I would get around 6 hours run time off the battery but since installing it, I'm down to 4 hrs or less!

I've tried moving my cloud syncing folder off the Samsung drive and that seems to have helped with the temperatures somewhat. But just sitting here (22 deg ambient) typing this, on the battery, Hard Disk Sentinel is reporting 36 deg from SSD1 (C:) and 48 deg for SSD2 (D:).

My OS remains on C: and the only thing I'm using D: for at the moment is as a downloads folder. I'm not downloading anything at the moment so the drive should be idling, but it's still showing as 48 deg - I'm assuming this is what's killing the battery life.

I have ordered a heatsink for the SSD2, but even then, it's not going to change the battery life situation. Heatsink was more because I've had the Samsung drive drop out (off file explorer and Disk Management) when trying to edit videos off D: - the temperature at the time was over 80 deg!

Did I get a dud or is the Evo 970 Plus just not suitable for laptops? I'm not sure what else could be causing the drain apart from the new drive. Tried googling it and there are some comments about high power consumption, but the general consensus was that adding a second SSD shouldn't affect battery life by much?

Computing 15.6inch Computer Dell Laptop

Comments

  • deme on 12/04/2021 - 14:51
    +4

    Does it still suck if you remove the additional ssd? Don't just unplug it, remove it and report back here.

    • highon2str on 12/04/2021 - 15:12

      At this stage I'm going to assume so. It's a laptop so the only way to unplug it is to open up the chassis again which I'm going to leave as a last resort.

      • deme on 12/04/2021 - 15:14
        +5

        Do it! Otherwise it could be a thermal or power issue and you'll be trying everything else.

  • No Username on 12/04/2021 - 15:01

    Are the drivers installed correctly? Check Task Manager to see any processors with high abnormal usage due to a programming error. Also try and update the firmware.

    • highon2str on 12/04/2021 - 15:11

      thanks for the task manager tip, I did try to upgrade the fw but I installed samsung magician and it couldn't pick up the drive, I looked into it and it was something to do with using RAID mode instead of AHCI. There is a YT video of how to boot to safe mode and use AHCI instead but I wasn't sure if I should do that..

      • FireRunner on 12/04/2021 - 15:29

        RAID mode is only used for combining multiple drives either for data redundancy and increased performance (the latter is pointless on SSDs).
        It shouldn't be on by default since your PC only came with a single drive. I think it would also need to be setup when you added the secondary drive (I'm not 100% sure, I've never used RAID)

        • highon2str on 12/04/2021 - 15:38

          I thought the same thing as you also. My knowledge of RAID and HDDs comes from back in the 90s when I was building PCs, so I'm well and truly out of date with all the latest tech.

          The laptop default was definitely RAID in the BIOS. I read up and to change it to AHCI would involve a re-install of windows… or some guy has a video of how to do it a shortcut way on YT.

          http://www.differencebetween.net/technology/difference-betwe…

          • highon2str on 12/04/2021 - 15:42

            @highon2str: Here's someone else with a similar RAID/AHCI scenario https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/XPS-15-9550-AHCI-or-RAID-…

            • FireRunner on 12/04/2021 - 15:49

              @highon2str: Just did a bit of digging myself. According to the response of this thread, the Samsung NVMe drivers don't work if set to RAID, instead it uses the Intel Rapid Storage controller. You might be able to update the Intel Rapid Storage driver but I think you need to change to AHCI and that'll probably fix the issue.

              • highon2str on 12/04/2021 - 15:51

                @FireRunner: yeah that was what I meant at the start if you scroll up when I said I tried updating the fw/drivers but couldn't. Maybe I should really try switching to AHCI with this method -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ngnIKqPOc4

                • holdenmg on 12/04/2021 - 19:06

                  @highon2str: Also: https://www.windowscentral.com/upgrade-ssd-dell-xps-15-9570
                  Look at:
                  How to switch to AHCI (and why)

                  • highon2str on 13/04/2021 - 00:05
                    +1

                    @holdenmg: Well as a quick update, I've switched to AHCI following those instructions. Installed Samsung Magician and the Samsung NVMe drivers. Doesn't seem to make a difference, temp differential is still 13 deg between C: and D: and total laptop run time is still < 4hrs. Will have to pull out the Samsung drive tomorrow and see if the battery goes for 6 hrs again.

                    *though I just remembered that D: will always run hotter due to not having a heatsink

  • FireRunner on 12/04/2021 - 15:03

    Is there some app that's constantly reading/writing from the drive?
    If you open up task manager, under performance tab there shouldn't be any activity on the drive if you're not using it

    • highon2str on 12/04/2021 - 15:09

      Thanks for the task manager tip, I did not know about this one. I can confirm now that there is ZERO activity on D: - still idling along at 48 degrees.

      • FireRunner on 12/04/2021 - 15:22

        That's definitely high for an idle drive. My primary SSD sits at 40 degrees while the secondary drive (completely idle) is at 30 degrees. They're also share the same heat shield which might raise the temperature of the secondary a tiny bit. I'd expect 48 degrees temperature after some time reading/writing so either it's faulty or some wierd driver issue. Do you have another machine you could test it on?

        • highon2str on 12/04/2021 - 15:24

          No I don't have another machine unfortunately :( Bought this from centrecom if that helps at all.

  • SnowDragon on 12/04/2021 - 15:58
    +12

    Missed the opportunity to title this "Watt Has Gone Wrong".

    • highon2str on 12/04/2021 - 16:11

      hahahah good one :)

    • HelpMeiCantSee on 13/04/2021 - 08:39
      +1

      I’m shocked. Maybe it’s a lack of current affairs? Perhaps a potential difference of opinion was a concern. Maybe he’s just a bright spark.

      Ok, I’m done. I’m out of energy

  • dono2 on 12/04/2021 - 20:24

    why not upgrade the 1st hd to only have 1 in the system?

    • highon2str on 12/04/2021 - 22:13

      There was a spare SSD2 slot inside and I thought just adding on another drive would be the most painless way of upgrading storage without having to migrate the data and buy an enclosure to do it and all that trouble.

      • dono2 on 12/04/2021 - 22:29
        -1

        just ghost the main HD to the new one, and only keep one inside

  • NotAnExpert4 on 13/04/2021 - 10:39

    Use BatteryBar Pro to find out the actual discharge rate of your laptop, then remove the SSD and compare.

    • highon2str on 13/04/2021 - 10:49
      +1

      I have batterybar pro, it reports 20 - 30W discharge rate with the Samsung SSD installed. Will remove it later and report.

      • NotAnExpert4 on 15/04/2021 - 11:05

        Wait a minute - 20-30W discharge when doing what? Surely not sitting idle?

        • NotAnExpert4 on 15/04/2021 - 11:06

          Nevermind - just saw your new comment. I knew 20-30W was way too high for idle.

  • Gekov on 13/04/2021 - 10:44
    -4

    Your problem makes me glad that I'm running a desktop PC off the mains.

    I have no desire or need for a mobile, battery powered device thank God, and probably never will.

    Many advantages to a desktop, especially having a full sized (24") screen rather than compromising with a tiny mobile screen

  • Gekov on 13/04/2021 - 11:29
    -6

    What is it with people too lazy to write things out fully?

    When I saw the title "Batt Life 6hrs → 4hrs" I was curious what this "batt" was until I read the full article.

    Obviously too much effort to have written "Battery"!!!

  • geekcohen on 14/04/2021 - 11:06

    Did you check the power settings? is the HDD running all the time? I think you can configure it to wake up when it is required. That is what I have noticed with the two HDDs in my laptop. Whenever I access the additional drive, I can feel it start up and you can sometimes hear it.

    • highon2str on 14/04/2021 - 15:12

      Fortunately/unfortunately my HDDs are whisper quiet SSDs!

  • airtime on 14/04/2021 - 15:52

    Adding electrical components to a laptop comes at the cost of additional power draw.

    According to Samsung's specs, that SSD draws between 6-9W average power consumption. That is between 20-50% of the total power draw of an average modern laptop. So you should expect to see battery life drop by a similar percentage.

    In other words, what you are experiencing is expected.

    • highon2str on 14/04/2021 - 20:57

      that sounds way too high, is that for the laptop spec M2 SSD?

    • peter05 on 15/04/2021 - 00:28

      the 6-9W is during operation. when it is not writing it should draw less than 0.2W

  • highon2str on 14/04/2021 - 21:03

    I've had SUCCESS! Thanks for all the replies and suggestions guys, learnt a few things along the way.

    So I removed the 2nd SSD and keeping everything else the same (apps, 50% brightness etc), the discharge rate was still in the 20-30W region.

    Had a look in task manager and turns out the CPU was idling at almost 4GHz. Went into power management and saw that for some reason the "Highest performance" option was selected!! Flicked it back to "balanced" and the CPU went sub 1GHz and laptop discharge is now sub 10W!!

    This laptop has had a new mainboard, new BIOS and god knows what other updates that might have caused the power profile to jump to the high performance setting. Anyway, it's good now. Might pop in the 2nd SSD to see if there is any noticeable change in power consumption.

  • highon2str on 22/04/2021 - 12:39

    Also just to add on to this, I had (yet another) Dell tech come out, this time to replace my battery. Batterybar was reporting 13.5% wear which seemed consistent with the powercfg battery report generated. I drained it all the way to 1% and let it charge up to 99% (to try and re-calibrate) and even then it maxxed out at 73 Wh instead of 86Wh. I'm back to around 7 hrs now with my XPS 15 which is I think is decent for a 15" 4k touchscreen.

    Fingers crossed this is the last issue I have with this laptop. It's great features-wise and to Dell's credit their on-site warranty repair service is very convenient.

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