Dell S2409w Power Save

Question

OK, I'll try and throw everything I know about this out there.

I bought a Dell Studio XPS with a 24" S2409w monitor back in June. During the first week, I never really shut my computer off and I would just leave it there for hours, and nothing happened. One day, I came home to see it in power save mode, and no amount of key-bashing, mouse-wriggling, or monitor-cable-adjusting seemed to fix it. So I rebooted the only way I could, by pressing that big shiny button. And after a long start up it was fine. And it has never happened since then, even though I still leave it on over night.

Until tonight. The exact same thing happened. I did the Self-Test and the monitor seems to be working fine. The tower's power button is on perfectly. At first, when I pressed enter, I heard my custom sound for the log in, I entered my password, and I heard the custom sound for a successful login. I was pressing a bunch of other buttons after that to no avail, so now I have no idea what the monitor will show. But, the moral of that story is that the computer itself is working fine.

Also, for other random tidibits of information, I have the monitor and computer connected with the DVI, not the VGA, since the setup manual recommended it. I'm using Windows Vista 64 bit. And....I can't really post pictures of the problem since it's just a black screen. Any help would be appreciated; I really don't want to hard boot it again.

Thanks,

Nate

Mr Nate · Answer

UPDATE: Also tried the VGA cable, everything is the same as if I was using DVI.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

Mr Nate, Is there another monitor to test on that PC?

Mr Nate · Answer

Sure, I can run the one I'm using now up to my computer.

Mr Nate · Answer

1. New Monitor just went into power save mode too.

2. The resolution is set to 1920x1200

3. Instead of following the above steps like I probably should have, I just powered off and powered on the computer. And, again, everything works fine now. Is there a way to prevent this from happening in the future, because I can't believe regular hard reboots can be very healthy? Or are the above steps a good way to prevent it?

DELL-Chris M · Answer

Is the resolution set to 1920x1200?

* Power off the PC
* Power off the monitor
* Disconnect the power cord from the monitor
* Disconnect all monitor cords from the PC video card
* While disconnected, press and hold the monitor power button down for 3 seconds
* Reconnect the VGA cord from the monitor to the PC video card
* Reconnect the power cord to the monitor
* Power on the monitor if it does not power on by itself
* Power on the PC
* Press the Input Source Select button to choose VGA

Mr Nate · Answer

Oops I'm sorry, I misspoke.  I actually checked it instead of going off memory and it is at 1920x1080.  Sorry for that one.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

Does this occur if you set the resolution to the default of 16x9 1920x1080 instead of 16x10 1920x1200?

DELL-Chris M · Answer

Since two monitors are doing this, I am leaning towards the video card. What video card and operating system?

Mr Nate · Answer

Wow thanks a lot for the advice. I will definitely set this up soon. While I don't expect this problem to recur all the time, this looks like a great idea. I guess if it doesn't work I'll be back on here in a month or two.

Thanks for all your time today, Chris.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

* Some Ati video card users have had success using the Ati Tray Tools
* Install ATI Tray Tools and see if a Hot Key combination will wake it up
* Menu- Hot Keys- Enable Hot Keys (make sure it is checked)
* Menu- Hot Keys- Customize
* Add new Hot Key
* Miscellaneous- Reload display driver
* Assign a Hot Key (I used ALT + T) - Ok
* Now, every time your monitor goes into power save mode you should be able to revive it by pressing ALT + T (you can use any keys you want of course). This also works if you have completely powered off your the monitor

Mr Nate · Answer

Video Card = 512MB ATI Radeon HD 4850 OS=Vista 64-bit Home Premium

Monitors

Dell S2409w Power Save

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