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Power Save Mode issue
Hello, I have my brother's Dell pc, and it keeps going into power save mode whenever I run anything power-heavy, such as some game (Call of Duty 4 or any other such power-intensive game). I tried a lot of things, including scanning for viruses/trojans/etc. Nothing came up. I also went into control panel -> power options and set plan to disable power saver (this wasn't the issue and didn't help). I went into bios, but bios was very basic; it didn't contain any information pertaining to power saver mode. None of that helped so I decided to reformat windows regardless. That didn't help either. Finally, I decided to try a different videocard that I had lying around from one of my other computers (nvidia 8600 GT). Although fps were lower in games like Call of Duty 4 and every other game than the original videocard, it didn't go into power save mode once. Now I was wondering what I should try next. I was assuming the problem is either with the videocard or the powersupply is dying and isn't able to give enough power at full load. The 8600 GT uses slightly less power than the GT 220. I do not know what the powersupply is; it looks like some generic PSU (all of the PSUs I buy last 4 years MINIMUM but I guess Dell goes cheap on these generic PSUs).. I do have a backup powersupply I can try too, but everything seems almost hardwired inside the Dell case lol.. Think the issue is with the PSU? I am willing to plug in my other Antec EA430w PSU and just pull out the old Dell PSU if somebody thinks that is where the issue lies. Any ideas?? Thanks! The original specs of the pc (btw it is from end of 2009 - unfortunately, dell only provides a 1yr warranty even for phone support - very cheap considering the amount that was paid for the pc originally -
Inspiron 546 Minitower
Inspiron 546 Athlon; 64 X2 7550 (2.50GHz,512Kx2)
3GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHZ- 3X1GB DIMM
21.5" Dell SX2210 Full HD Monitor with Integrated 2.0 Megapixel Webcam, Dual Microphones; 21.5" viewable image size
1024MB nVidia GeForce GT220
320GB NCQ Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) w/ 16MB DataBurst Cache
Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium 64-Bit Edition English
osprey4
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November 21st, 2011 05:00
Hi Bladefd123,
Can you clarify the exact problem? "Power saver" can be an OS function (sleep, hibernate), but it's also a monitor function that would indicate your graphics card is failing. Is the GT220 the one that came with the system?
Keep in mind that this is a low end desktop, not a gaming machine by any means.
bladefd123
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November 21st, 2011 15:00
Hey!
Basically what happens is that after any game gets turned on, the computer goes into "Power saver" mode within 5-10 minutes of being in-game. My brother has been playing Call of Duty 4 for years on it, and the problem started up within the last 6-7 months. I was going to try another monitor or another videocard (I have a newer 8800GT lying around).
I have a spare 8800GT, powersupply and monitor that I can test. I am guessing the issue is not with the monitor because the 8600GT ran Call of Duty 4 without a single "Power Saver mode" issue popping up. That means the issue is either videocard or PSU. Powersupply could be an issue because 8600GT draws less power than the GT220 so I was going to try my spare powersupply unless if you have a better idea.
And yes, the GT220 is the one that came with the system. I understand that it may be a low-end desktop, but it should be able to play last generation games. Maybe not on high settings but at least medium.
osprey4
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November 21st, 2011 17:00
So when the system goes into "power saver mode, is the computer running or turned off? How do you "wake" it up?
bladefd123
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November 23rd, 2011 12:00
Well, I have to pull the plug out. I try everything else to wake it up. It isn't like sleep mode where if you just press a key, it comes out within seconds. I also hit the power button on the case itself but that does nothing either (I think you come out of hibernation mode if you press the power button, right?). I don't know exactly what this power saver mode is but it isn't like sleep mode or hibernation mode. And the sign for it only shows up on the monitor after computer goes into that mode.
All I know is that it is a widespread problem with Dell computers. There are too many different things that people did to solve it though. It seems like there isn't a single solution to this issue.
osprey4
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November 24th, 2011 07:00
I would not say this is a "widespread problem", since we haven't yet determined what the problem is.
So let's start troublehooting the problem by running the Dell diagnostics. I've got a link to the procedure below. Run the whol battery, but you can skip the extended hard drive test. I'm interested to see if any video card or RAM problems show up.