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8673
March 15th, 2006 00:00
after idle monitor power off, laptop screen won't turn on
I have an Inspiron 5160 with XP pro.
For the power options, I set the monitor power to turn off after 30 minutes idle. I set the screen saver to the Windows blank screen saver after 25 minutes of idle.
This works, and the Inspiron screen goes blank as expected.
But it doesn't come on again when I type or use the mouse/touchpad. Sometimes it works OK, but mostly it stays blank. This started happening a couple months ago.
The laptop screen has never failed to come on when I turn on the laptop, and it never fails to come on after hibernate. I have hibernate set when I close the lid. As a last-resort workaround, when the screen won't turn on, I close the lid to force hibernate, then power on and it acts like nothing is wrong. I ran the LCD diagnostics a few times (boot-F12-etc), with no problems.
It's not overheating. I have dusted the heat sink with canned air (while turned off). I haven't let dust become a problem.
Windows is not dead. If I have the TV connected, I can see the mouse move on the TV. I know WinXP asks for my login after the screen saver kicks in, and if I type my login I can see my app windows on the TV, but the laptop screen stays dark.
Is Windows confused? Is Power Management confused? Is the laptop screen dying? Is it hardware or software? What can I do to diagnose/fix it?
Suggestions/diagnosis anyone?
--Mike
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pookguy
10 Posts
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May 26th, 2006 17:00
Dell has not given me any solution/workaround to this!!!!
--Mike
2 Posts
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May 31st, 2006 18:00
I downgraded the BIOS. This fixed it. The BIOS upgrade and the video drivers didn't play well together. I recommend you try different combinations of BIOS and video drivers from the DELL web site, and don't expect the latest versions to be perfect. In my case I now use the latest video driver and the second-latest BIOS.
It's still not perfect. If I come out of sleep mode, the cpu fan runs at full speed, so I avoid sleep mode and use hibernate and enjoy a quieter laptop.
pookguy
10 Posts
0
July 13th, 2006 17:00
Check out this link:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917332/
it "could" be a windows problem..
pookguy