Bios power settings

Question

I have a problem getting the power options on my machine to work. I have a Dell dimension 4100. When I open "power options properties" I have a choice of 6 different power schemes. However, the only power scheme that works (?) is "minimal power management". After the 1 minute time, the monitor will go off for 5 seconds then come back on. A minute later it goes through the same cycle. If any other power scheme is used (like home/office desk) the monitor will not go off. in other word, any power scheme that requires more than 1 minute will not make the monitor turn off. I have a similar problem with the screen saver. It only come on when the 1 minute function is chosen.
I downloaded an update to my BIOS. I went to version A11. I noticed, just as with my old BIOS, that there are no options for power management.

In summary, my monitor will not turn off (it will if I hit the monitor off/on switch). Also my system will not turn off the hard disks nor will it go into standby.

Any help is appriciated.
Thanks
Mike

Majestic · Answer

As you found out your system's BIOS lacks any of the more common Power Management options found on the other Dell systems.   The best you're going to be able to do is play around with the Windows settings for Power Management.  I don't know which version of Windows you are using, but on my system I have the Power Schemes set to Always On,  System Standby to Never (this option is intended for laptop systems and not desktops),  Turn Off Monitor set to 30 mins and Turn Off Hard Drives set to 2 hours.  Give those settings a try.

zavier_15757f · Answer

Majestic: Thanks for replying. I have Windows XP Pro. and I have played with the power scheme settings many times. I have search this site and others trying to find someone with the exact problem but have not seen it. I will set the power scheme settings you suggested, but bottom line is no matter what setting I use, the monitor will not turn off.
I will write you back in 30 minutes.

Mike

RoHe · Answer

Don't know if this will help, but you may want to run a system file check in case some XP file is corrupted.

click start>run
type in: sfc /scannow
(space between sfc and /)
click ok

sfc will replace missing/damaged XP system files. Insert the XP CD if sfc requests it. Reboot when it's done and try again.

Ron

zavier_15757f · Answer

RoHe: Thanks for responding. I was reading this post this morning and I saw a comment regarding that test. So I ran it. It took about 20 minutes and at the end nothing happened. It closed the run wizard and that was it. I was expecting some kind of report but...nothing.
So, in the meantime, I will leave the monitor on tonight and see what happens tomorrow morning.
Thanks
Mike

RoHe · Answer

Mike,
Unfortunately, sfc does not tell you what -if anything- it did, good, bad, or ugly. If it asked for the XP CD then you know it needed to replace some files and couldn't find suitable backup copies in c:\i386 on the hard drive.

Open Event Viewer and click System in left pane. Look in "source" column in right pane for entries that say "Windows File Protection" around date/time you ran sfc. There should be at least 2 entries. Double-click them. The first one should say "Windows File Protection scan started". The second one should say "...completed successfully." If there are more than 2 WFP entries or the second one doesn't say "successfully", then you have additional XP system file problems that need to be fixed.

Ron

zavier_15757f · Answer

Ron: Thanks for the reply. I went to Event Viewer as you suggested. Under the heading of Source I found two events for Windows File Protection. I right click, then properties on them and this is what it read:

Report #1 Description--Windows Protection file scan was started 7:11:04
Report #2 Description--Windows Protection file scan completed successfully 7:40:33

Mike

RoHe · Answer

OK, sfc did its thing successfully. Is the problem resolved? Ron

zavier_15757f · Answer

Ron: No...problem not solved. I even disconnected the keyboard and the mouse and still it does not turn off the monitor nor does it go into the screen saver mode. Any other suggestion ?? Thanks Mike

RoHe · Answer

Is something running in the background (Windows Indexing Service, antiviral scan, some updater trying to 'phone home', network or broadband connection...) that prevents it from going into screen saver mode?

Run msconfig and uncheck everything on Startup tab except items related to antiviral and firewall, mouse, and video card). Exit msconfig and reboot. When the message pops up after the reboot, just check the "don't show this..." box. Will the screen saver run now?

And see these
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;326719

Line 51, left column
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Ron

Locked Topics – Desktops General

Bios power settings

Was this post helpful?

Register Now! for Secure Secrets with Kubernetes & DevSecOps - and grab a lab!

Dell Technologies at SpiceWorld 2022