Thursday, April 21, 2011

APM Advanced Power Management

  • Advance Power Management (APM) was created by Microsoft in conjunction with Intel in 1993.
  • It is a BIOS-level programming interface between the hardware and the operating system (OS).
  • APM uses a layered approach to power management.
  • Power States:
    • Full On
      • This is the normal working operation.
    • APM Enabled
      • APM is available if needed.
      • All devices are working at full power consumption but can be powered down if not in use.
      • The CPU clock may be slowed down or stopped
    • Standby
      • Most devices are in a minimal power state.
      • The system state is saved to RAM.
      •  Recovery is quick (near instantaneous).
    • Suspend
      • Most devices are powered off.
      • The CPU clock is off.
      • The system state is saved to disk.
      • Recovery is slow.
    • Hibernation
      • Hibernation is a "special implementation of the AMP Suspend state."
      • The system state is saved to the non-volatile hard drive.
      • The computer is powered down.
      • The BIOS must start up with POST.
    • Off
      • Computer is powered down and inactive.
      • The system state is not necessarily stored.
      • The system must go through the entire boot process to start up.
  • APM has been replaced by ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface).

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