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871671
January 2nd, 2001 19:00
Power Save Mode
Throughout the last six months I've come across computers at my work with monitors that just wont display at all. Instead I get the message, "Monitor is in power save mode, activate using PC." Now this is happening when the PC is booted and running. Beyond turning on the PC's power, how can you activate the monitor? Is this message an indication of some other problem?
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foopilot
6 Posts
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September 11th, 2003 18:00
-foopilot
st1y
4 Posts
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November 14th, 2003 13:00
Looks like everyone is running PCI video cards and I had the same problem with my Dual monitor (VGA), I ended up opening up the box, reseated the video card, fired it back up and bada bing bada boom everything was fine.
Now I have no idea why this worked it just did good luck,
Dell support line for canada is as useful as a kick in the ****. I just found this so fourm so keep the answers and questions a coming.
foopilot
6 Posts
0
November 14th, 2003 16:00
Finally something struck me. I almost always had a CD in the CDROM drive because some programs require this to use them. It was when I had a CD (which was nearly all the time) in the drive that the computer would lock up when it went into power save mode. When I removed all CDs and let it go into power save mode it did not 'lock up' or 'freak out' this time!
My system came with 2 CD drives (one dvd/cd burn and one cd). I removed the CD drive and only plugged the CD/DVD+RW drive into the IDE cable and changed the settings in the bios to have only one cd drive. Now the problem is *mostly* gone (as long as I don't leave CDs in the CD drive!... which I shouldn't have to do but....).
After reading some Google Groups discussions it seems that it may be a problem with the IDE configuration (hence the problem with CDs, etc) so that when the machine tries to read the CD drive it gets confused, etc, etc.
The problem is *not* totally gone though. In fact, it is very frustrating because every once and a while it will lock up and go into the unrecoverable state. The most frustrating thing is that this can happen on reboot *even when there is no CD in the CD drive*. This is *bad* when you do something like update the OS, reboot, and then it locks up... you wonder if your system has been messed up.
Anyway, I recommend to everyone to experiment with removing the video card, using a different monitor, changing your CD drive, removing CDs from the drive, etc.
The next thing I plan to do is to upgrade the firmware (on-board software) for the CD/DVD+RW drive and the motherboard, etc.
Note that these were things that *I* figured out alone, gold tech support was unable to help. Not bragging, just frustrated (why, oh why did I bother to pay more for gold tech support?). They told me all that they *could* do is send a new monitor. My advice is that if you bought the machine within 30 days then call up customer service and tell them that it is defective and you want to return it for a refund. Or if you're like me and you tried to fix it yourself for a long time and now you're stuck you could still try to return it or, like me, make it your qwest to fix the thing.
p.s.
Based on what I've read here this problem is obviously complicated and the 'power save mode' can be a symptom of many different problems. So either try everything in this forum or return the machine and buy a pre-fab machine with a more 'standard' set-up from BestBuy or something. Either way call customer service right away and report the problem so that you have grounds to return.
curtnsheri
1 Message
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November 29th, 2003 18:00
st1y
4 Posts
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December 1st, 2003 11:00
foopilot
6 Posts
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December 1st, 2003 13:00
My Dell shipped with two Y adapters.
One has a black interface to the video card and then two blue interfaces where you can plug in a 'normal' monitor cable. It is made by 'Molex' and has the number
CN-0R0914-52204-37H-1145
on it.
The other is black with two white interfaces where you can plug in a 'DVI' digital monitor cable. It is also made by molex but has no numbers on it.
Hope this helps but I still think the power save problems aren't monitor related.
woodliefg
1 Message
0
December 22nd, 2003 14:00
(1). Unplug the machine's power cable from the back!
(2). Open the case!
You will see a round battery on the motherboard, can't miss it!
(3). Take a flat head screw driver and gently put it under the battery on the left hand side, and push up a little so you can take it out with your fingers. This will reset the CMOS data. Then, all you have to do is turn the pc on, hit F2, enter the bios setup, and configure your Hard Drive to auto, plus cd-rom. Thats it people!
jteel
1 Rookie
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93 Posts
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December 26th, 2003 01:00
Woodiefg
Do you think this situation would be because of corrupt CMOS data as well? I've had my OptiPlex GX270 for just over a month now. I use a Dell 1901FP monitor connected with the digital cable. My problem seems to occur only when I bring the system out of a sleep state with Wake On LAN network card from another PC. After waking the system so I can access the shared drives (which I can do fine) I also try to do a Remote Desktop connection and that's when the problems begin. The video part of the OptiPlex stays in the Power Save Mode and that keeps me from making a Remote connection since there is no video being sent to the system that I'm using to connect to the OptiPlex machine. If the OptiPlex is awake and the monitor is in Power Save Mode I am able to make a Remote Desktop connection like normal. Also....after trying waking the OptiPlex with Wake ON LAN the monitor will not come out of Power Save mode until I re-boot. Then it's back on again.
I've asked if any one has experienced this on other Dell boards where they are having Power Save issues and have had no replies. The CMOS corruption that you have mentioned is the first time that I have heard this.
Dell seems to be having a hard time getting it resolved for their customers!!
Thanks
Jeff
st1y
4 Posts
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December 29th, 2003 13:00
I have an amber blinking power switch and I have disconnected everything possible and tried to reboot same problem. I have removed the batter as instructed not luck. Finally got through to the Optiplex help desk and they are sending out a new power supply. I also asked if the system is under powered but they had no answer.
So is it possible that the power supply is under matched and can not supply enough power? I have added the 128 video (came with a 64 oops ) to run dual crt and a CD burner?
Thanks for the help
ST1Y
rangrfn
2 Posts
1
April 19th, 2004 23:00
tbratcher
1 Message
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May 14th, 2004 15:00
st1y
4 Posts
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May 14th, 2004 16:00
I ended up having dell on site and they replaced the power supply in the PC and that solved the problem.
I bought 8 systems at the same time 1 additional one with the same configuration as mine and had no problems today 8months in.
Sorry but this is the only Help I have/
rangrfn
2 Posts
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May 15th, 2004 00:00
Part 2 of my story:
Last week I got tired of playing with this issue so I called Dell & I asked for a supervisor. I explained to him what I had been through and I was not a happy customer. "Mike" was from Texas and he was great, he talked me through about 5 steps which basicly took my computer apart. I mean everything - it was in pieces - mother board - PC Card - Ram you name it. We tried on/off switches - power ups & nothing worked.
He ended up ordering me a new power supply - mother board & processor. A Dell service tech installed the items last Friday plus put everything I took apart back together and I am up and running. So far so good.
I suggest that you call Dell and do what I did. I tried pushing all these buttons & following all these instructions & nothing worked.
Mike was great - easy to talk to - very helpful and when I got done, I let him know that I was now a happy Dell customer.
Good Luck...
Message Edited by rangrfn on 05-14-2004 08:41 PM
BillJovi
5 Posts
0
January 7th, 2011 12:00
I got the same problem with a ST2220M monitor when I was using it as one of a dual display. I searched the internet and these forums but found nothing worked then I stumbled upon this fix which was simple and worked for me. Right click your desktop area and chose Personalize (Windows Vista) or maybe Properties for some of the other operating systems. In the display settings where you see icons of the two monitors, right click on the icon representing the one which is in Power Save mode and chose Attached from the list of options. Then click Apply and OK. And your monitor should now display.
walsh910
1 Message
0
July 31st, 2011 11:00
I have disabled all of these pluss disabled in the bios as well and still the computer goes into power save mode at random times also i have another dell that i cant even access because of this issue. I need a solution to this problem that will work .