P2412H, blank, power button on

Thanks for your response.

Yes, the diagnostic and troubleshooting steps that you noted are also in the monitor's documentation.  I followed all these steps to no avail.

I have a new Dell Laptop, purchased in late June.  This monitor connects to the laptop, and for the first couple of weeks it was working fine.  The problems started when I began to optimize the power management of my new laptop/monitor/external keyboard configuration.  Last week I adjusted some of the power settings so that I could close my laptop display but still have the external keyboard and monitor working.  It worked fine for the first day, but this first day the laptop didn't go into power saving mode.  I then set the "floating dialog box" display option from "auto" to VGA only -- thinking that that will help the monitor know where the cable source will be coming from.  NOW, the floating display no longer appears.

This is what the monitor now does:

  - when all cables are unplugged from the monitor (usb, vga) and the monitor is unplugged, it does nothing (expected)

  - when I plug in the power into an outlet, the blue power button blinks (about every 1.5 seconds).

  - when I press the power button to turn the monitor on or off, nothing happens.  (not expected)

  - when I plug in the vga (or unplug the vga) I no longer get the floating dialog box.  (not expected)

Basically I just get a black screen.

I just simply want to know what steps I need to do to either:

1) reset the monitor (the button 1-4 combination does no good)

2) Return the monitor for a replacement (I'm right near the 21 day return policy)

Hi jddalek, 

Is it a Dell computer you are using with the monitor?

If it is a Dell computer, check the power light status on the computer. Please also check if the Caps lock, Num lock and Scroll lock keys respond or not.

Let's run a self-test on the monitor to determine the monitor's functionality. Please follow these steps to run the self-test:

1. Please turn off both; your computer and the monitor.
2. Disconnect the video cable from the back of the computer. Please remove white connector and the blue connector cables from the back of computer.
3. Turn on the monitor.
4. If the monitor cannot sense a video signal and is working correctly, the floating dialog box should appear on-screen (against a black background).Also, depending upon the selected input, one of the dialog boxes shown below will continuously scroll through the screen.                                                                                                             
5. This box also appears during normal system operation if the video cable is disconnected or damaged. 
6. Please turn off your monitor and reconnect the video cable; then turn on both your computer and the monitor.

You may also try to run the built-in diagnostic tool that helps you determine if the screen abnormality you are experiencing is an inherent problem with the monitor, or with the computer and video card.

NOTE: You can run the built-in diagnostics only when the video cable is unplugged and the monitor is in self-test mode

To run the built-in diagnostics:

1. Please disconnect the video cable(s) from the back of the monitor. The monitor goes into the self-test mode.
2. Press and hold Button 1 and Button 4 on the front panel simultaneously for 2 seconds. A gray screen appears.
3. Carefully inspect the screen for abnormalities.
4. Press Button 4 on the front panel again. The color of the screen changes to red.
5. Inspect the display for any abnormalities.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to inspect the display in green, blue, black and white screens.

The test is complete when the white screen appears. To exit, press Button 4 again. An image for the front panel buttons is shown below.

 If you do not detect any screen abnormalities upon using the built-in diagnostic tool, the monitor is functioning properly. Check the video card and computer.

Please check if more than one cable is connected for the video signal. Please ensure that you are using either VGA or DVI.

You can refer to the user manual for this monitor for future reference

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

Do write back with the findings.

Glad to be of help.

Thank you for the response.

It seems to be a hardware failure; I will certainly take care of this issue as soon as possible. I am sending you a private message. Please reply with the Order number under which the monitor was purchased and the monitor PPID. An image showing the location for the monitor serial number (PPID) is shown below).Refer to number 4.

Please accept my friend request and reply with the information on the private message.

Thank you Manpreet!  I appreciate your very fast service. 

I sent you the information you requested through the Dell Community site (as a conversation).

Thanks again!