Inspiron 1720 - Changes resolution when case is closed

Question

The resolution changes on my Dell Inspiron everytime I close the screen. This only happens when the option to put the laptop into sleep mode when the case is closed is set. The proper resolution is 1440x900 and it's reset to 1024x768. However if I put the laptop into sleep mode manually it doesnt do this. This made me think that this is a driver problem.

So I searched on Google for others with the same problem. Many others have this problem but not just with Dell laptops but with others and it doesn't matter what OS is installed either. The only pattern I could see was that most of the people who had the faults had NVIDIA graphics cards. I then went to the NVIDIA site to look for an update and was told that Dell make the drivers for the card because they wanted to be able to control what the laptop does when the case is closed (further confirming it's a driver problem) amongst other things. I went to the Dell site to look for a driver for my card and there isn't one at the moment.

Does anyone else have this problem? Does anyone know how to fix it? Is it a driver problem or it it something else? I briefly saw something about a registry edit that could work but may affect the use of using an external monitor.

My spec is:

Windows Vista Home Premium

Intel Core Duo T7250 2.0GHz

2GB RAM

250GB SATA HDD

NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics card

EDIT: I also set it to hibernate when the case is closed to see what would happen and the same thing happened. The resolution changed.

Message Edited by MartynPhillips on 01-31-2008 08:42 PM

MartynPhillips · Answer

I had it the beginning of this week. The difference I can see between the difference in our two laptops is that I have the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT 256Mb and you have the NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS 128Mb. On the Dell site there are updated drivers for you card and other but not mine. maybe it's because its a relatively new card. I've e-mailed Dell with my problem so I will wait to see what they say.

Bronco74777 · Answer

Sorry, I'd like to help or confirm your problem but I can't. I reset my computer from 'Do Nothing' when I close the lid to 'Sleep' when I close the lid. I closed the lid waited 2 min and opened the lid. I signed in and it was still set at 1440x900 32bit. No change for me. My 1720 was built on 11/29/07 so whatever driver Dell installed on that day works fine. So if you bought yours before mine you might want to look again for a new driver update. Or if you bought it after me maybe you need a driver update close to my build date.

Bronco74777 · Answer

Yea thats best see what they say in answer to your e-mail. I did get 2 updates for my card from microsoft updates. I usually just do updates from there because if its bad enough everyone sends it to microft to include with their updates. On my other computers I found the more you mess with the dell downloads the more they mess you up, so I usuall wait till I have a problem or if they send it to microsoft.

MartynPhillips · Answer

Just noticed something wierd. Vista says the card is a Nvidia GT but i checked the BIOS setup settings and it says it's a Nvidia GS. Maybe the BIOS needs updating

flamestar07 · Answer

TMM, Vista's process that looks for multiple monitors and attempts to intelligently modify resolution. If you aren't using multiple monitors, you can disable TMM:

1. right-click on 'computer' and select 'manage'
2. on the left pane, expand 'task scheduler' then ' task scheduler library' then 'Microsoft' then 'Windows' then 'MobilePC'
3. select TMM in the center pane, then on the right pane, choose 'disable'

rpolansky · Answer

So Bill, what do we do if we're using multiple monitors when docked or sometimes when giving presentations? Wouldn't it be a problem to disable TMM? My nVidia control panel settings are the same as Vista's settings.

Can Dell contact nVidia and MSFT and find out when they will fix this bug?

rpolansky · Answer

It was the installation of the latest driver that caused this problem.

When I have the time to play with my system, I may try turning off that Windows feature. I guess I should also open a support call with DELL in order to get them to try to address this issue as this forum is not for that.

rpolansky · Answer

I am amazed, but after a couple of reboots, the problem I had appears to have been fixed by disabling that TMM scheduled task even though I'm using a port replicator at times. I'm hoping it continues to prove to be a valid workaround for this nVidia/Microsoft bug.

rpolansky · Answer

As I said before, that's the driver that caused the problem.   Anyway, I can handle hitting Fn+F8 or whatever whenever I switch modes.

rpolansky · Answer

I downloaded the R180802 package off of support.dell.com on April 15th, 2008. The exploded archive has 103 files, all dates 2/22/08. version.txt in there says

Title      : Video:nVidia Quadro FX 360M, Quadro NVS 135M, Quadro NVS 140M Driver
Version    : A02
OEM Name   : nVidia
OEM Ver    : 174.31 Vista32
Computers : Latitude - D630, D830, D630c;
Precision - M4300
Oses       : Windows Vista 32-bit Business, Windows Vista 32-bit Home Basic, Windows Vista 32-bit Home PremiumWindows Vista 32-bit Ultimate
Languages : Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese-S, Chinese-T, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish
Created    : Wed Mar 26 00:30:21 CDT 2008

The version of my driver on the display adapter driver tab is 7.15.11.7431 (provider is NVIDIA, date 2/22/08). Most of the DLLs in the driver file details window have that same version. Some are "unknown" and some are just different. :-)

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Inspiron 1720 - Changes resolution when case is closed

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