Monitor Power-Down (XP Pro SP1)

Topic

New Reply

I know there’s probably a gazillion reasons this could happen, so I ask just in case someone has a lead on a probable cause. Since the early days of XP, I don’t use ANY screensavers. Instead I use the Power Options in Control Panel to power-down my monitor after a period of inactivity. Seems like every other day that quits happening and I can’t figure out what the cause might be. I’ve tried closing my browser, email, Mailwasher and non-critical items in the tray. Obviously, I’m fearful of shutting down Zone Alarm or PC-Cillin and a few others. Does anyone have any ideas or a similar experience?

Reply | Quote

Replies

Many times I’ve found that it’s a program that is causing it, which it seems you’ve already investigated. Have you tried re-applying the time-out period for the monitor’s shutdown? I recently encountered this exact same problem, and reapplying the settings appears to have fixed it.

Reply | Quote

Yes sir, that’s exactly what I do. Of course, in the Power Options applet, I have to select something “different” for the Apply button to light up, but that always fixes it – for that time! As you may remember I re-boot my machine every morning whether it needs it or not, and that also fixes it if it has happened overnight.

Reply | Quote

Big Al,
Came across this. It`s not a solution as such but might give you something to check out.

http://www.mytechsupport.ca/support/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1947%5B/url%5D

Elaine

Reply | Quote

Big Al,
Came across this. It`s not a solution as such but might give you something to check out.

http://www.mytechsupport.ca/support/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1947%5B/url%5D

Elaine

Reply | Quote

Al,

Do you think it may be some Auto Update thing that’s fooling your system activity timer to re-set?
Or System Restore writing a new restore point?
Sounds like some background work that may be running at the wrong “quiet” time.

Bob

Reply | Quote

Yeah, I think so. That’s why I said I’ve been afraid to disable ZA and PC-Cillin, both of which check for updates “on their own.” Funny thing is that it doesn’t happen all the time. Like now for instance, I’ve been away from the computer for about 5 hours and the monitor was off when I got home. I guess I could unplug the internet, disable those two and see what happens in 24 hours.

Reply | Quote

Al, I just had a thought that may bear fruit. Check your BIOS settings and make sure that the BIOS is not controlling power-down periods, so that Windows has full control over it. Also, some drivers do not respond appropriately to the standby request from Windows, so you may want to check your display and GPU drivers for compatibility or any known issues.

Reply | Quote

Thanx fer thinkin’ about me, Mark. I jst did my daily reboot and checked the BIOS to confirm that I do have power management disabled. This is an Intel SE440BX2 motherboard with a PIII 600 and a Phoenix BIOS. I also checked the “power failure” states and I have it set to “Last State” but wake on LAN, etc. are all set to “stay off.” If the problem persists, I might just try changing the last state to stay off just for the heck of it. My video card is an ATI 3D RAGE II PCI that’s a few years old but for what I do with the computer it’s satisfactory. The ATI web site says to use the XP supplied drivers.

Funny thing is that for the past 24 hours the monitor has been powering down OK at my 30 minute setting – and I’ve checked it a number of times between uses of the system. Overnight, I had a slew of mail in the OPEN Mailwasher screen AND a PC-Cillin data file update notice screen. Neither of those two seemed to cause the problem, ’cause the monitor was powered off when I got up. It just may be another one of those things like the tray-tool-tip-hiding problem of some time ago that a lot of us were complaining about. I guess I might not find the answer and if not, it’s no big deal – just an annoyance I’d like to correct.

Reply | Quote

Are you walking in your sleep and using the computer? Looks like you may be taking lessons from Hans who never sleeps.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

Reply | Quote

Are you walking in your sleep and using the computer? Looks like you may be taking lessons from Hans who never sleeps.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

Reply | Quote

[indent]

---

just an annoyance

---

[/indent]Lord knows there is no shortage of those in the world of computing!

Reply | Quote

And He also knows that after almost two years with XP, my opinion is that it’s the most solid OS we’ve had to date. Any complaints I’ve had so far are miniscule when compared to the stable behaviour and smooth performance. S’funny how these things come and go too. For some time I was concerned about my Palm Desktop program, which I have in Startup displaying my calendar at all times. Sometimes at bootup, the calendar would be on the screen but missing from the Taskbar. If I minimized it, the program would “appear” to have closed. Not so, because if I opened the Task Manager, there it would be and all I had to do was click on “Switch To…” and the taskbar entry would show up. Well, that behaviour suddenly stopped and I have NO IDEA how come! The software hasn’t been updated since 4.1 and I don’t think I did anything. Such is life; don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, etc.

Reply | Quote

And He also knows that after almost two years with XP, my opinion is that it’s the most solid OS we’ve had to date. Any complaints I’ve had so far are miniscule when compared to the stable behaviour and smooth performance. S’funny how these things come and go too. For some time I was concerned about my Palm Desktop program, which I have in Startup displaying my calendar at all times. Sometimes at bootup, the calendar would be on the screen but missing from the Taskbar. If I minimized it, the program would “appear” to have closed. Not so, because if I opened the Task Manager, there it would be and all I had to do was click on “Switch To…” and the taskbar entry would show up. Well, that behaviour suddenly stopped and I have NO IDEA how come! The software hasn’t been updated since 4.1 and I don’t think I did anything. Such is life; don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, etc.

Reply | Quote

[indent]

---

just an annoyance

---

[/indent]Lord knows there is no shortage of those in the world of computing!

Reply | Quote

Thanx fer thinkin’ about me, Mark. I jst did my daily reboot and checked the BIOS to confirm that I do have power management disabled. This is an Intel SE440BX2 motherboard with a PIII 600 and a Phoenix BIOS. I also checked the “power failure” states and I have it set to “Last State” but wake on LAN, etc. are all set to “stay off.” If the problem persists, I might just try changing the last state to stay off just for the heck of it. My video card is an ATI 3D RAGE II PCI that’s a few years old but for what I do with the computer it’s satisfactory. The ATI web site says to use the XP supplied drivers.

Funny thing is that for the past 24 hours the monitor has been powering down OK at my 30 minute setting – and I’ve checked it a number of times between uses of the system. Overnight, I had a slew of mail in the OPEN Mailwasher screen AND a PC-Cillin data file update notice screen. Neither of those two seemed to cause the problem, ’cause the monitor was powered off when I got up. It just may be another one of those things like the tray-tool-tip-hiding problem of some time ago that a lot of us were complaining about. I guess I might not find the answer and if not, it’s no big deal – just an annoyance I’d like to correct.

Reply | Quote

Al, I just had a thought that may bear fruit. Check your BIOS settings and make sure that the BIOS is not controlling power-down periods, so that Windows has full control over it. Also, some drivers do not respond appropriately to the standby request from Windows, so you may want to check your display and GPU drivers for compatibility or any known issues.

Reply | Quote

Yeah, I think so. That’s why I said I’ve been afraid to disable ZA and PC-Cillin, both of which check for updates “on their own.” Funny thing is that it doesn’t happen all the time. Like now for instance, I’ve been away from the computer for about 5 hours and the monitor was off when I got home. I guess I could unplug the internet, disable those two and see what happens in 24 hours.

Reply | Quote

Al,

Do you think it may be some Auto Update thing that’s fooling your system activity timer to re-set?
Or System Restore writing a new restore point?
Sounds like some background work that may be running at the wrong “quiet” time.

Bob

Reply | Quote

Yes sir, that’s exactly what I do. Of course, in the Power Options applet, I have to select something “different” for the Apply button to light up, but that always fixes it – for that time! As you may remember I re-boot my machine every morning whether it needs it or not, and that also fixes it if it has happened overnight.

Reply | Quote

[indent]

---

…Have you tried re-applying the time-out period…

---

[/indent] Bringing back up this old thread with a quote of yours, Mark, since it’s kinda appropriate to the weirdness I’m about to describe! My problem with the power-down of the monitor has continued all this time. An example: It’s 11 PM and I’ve been watching TV and before going to bed, I go to the PC to check email. The monitor power is off, as it should be. OK, I click the mouse to wake up the monitor, click on Mailwasher on the taskbar (it’s already running, as is the browser and email client). Mailwasher opens up and I see that there’s no new mail. I never minimize those three programs so I go on to bed. At 6 AM when I get up, the @#$%& monitor is ON! Go figure.

Several days ago, in a fit of anger, when I opened the Power Options window to re-apply the time period, I chose 15 minutes instead of the normal 30 minutes that I like to use. The stupid power-down has NOT failed for these past few days. Go figure, again! Gremlins in there someplace!

Reply | Quote

Funny you mentioned this. Not funny ha ha, funny strange. I physically moved my desktop PC last weekend for purposes of connecting it to a set of speakers in a different room in the house, and ever since then, my monitor does not power down, the screen saver does not kick in, and even stranger…the firewall started prompting for every application that wanted to access the network, as if I had just installed it.

Mind you, I didn’t change a thing, all I did was power down, move the ‘puter for a while, then power down and move it back. Somewhere in there, all these settings did what they wanted to instead of what they had been instructed to do. The only thing that I can suspect is the fact that CHKDSK ran in the interim, during one of the boot cycles.

I’ve given up on the settings in Windows. Now I make myself content with hitting the power switch on my monitor when I leave the room.

Reply | Quote

Funny you mentioned this. Not funny ha ha, funny strange. I physically moved my desktop PC last weekend for purposes of connecting it to a set of speakers in a different room in the house, and ever since then, my monitor does not power down, the screen saver does not kick in, and even stranger…the firewall started prompting for every application that wanted to access the network, as if I had just installed it.

Mind you, I didn’t change a thing, all I did was power down, move the ‘puter for a while, then power down and move it back. Somewhere in there, all these settings did what they wanted to instead of what they had been instructed to do. The only thing that I can suspect is the fact that CHKDSK ran in the interim, during one of the boot cycles.

I’ve given up on the settings in Windows. Now I make myself content with hitting the power switch on my monitor when I leave the room.

Reply | Quote

[indent]

---

…Have you tried re-applying the time-out period…

---

[/indent] Bringing back up this old thread with a quote of yours, Mark, since it’s kinda appropriate to the weirdness I’m about to describe! My problem with the power-down of the monitor has continued all this time. An example: It’s 11 PM and I’ve been watching TV and before going to bed, I go to the PC to check email. The monitor power is off, as it should be. OK, I click the mouse to wake up the monitor, click on Mailwasher on the taskbar (it’s already running, as is the browser and email client). Mailwasher opens up and I see that there’s no new mail. I never minimize those three programs so I go on to bed. At 6 AM when I get up, the @#$%& monitor is ON! Go figure.

Several days ago, in a fit of anger, when I opened the Power Options window to re-apply the time period, I chose 15 minutes instead of the normal 30 minutes that I like to use. The stupid power-down has NOT failed for these past few days. Go figure, again! Gremlins in there someplace!

Reply | Quote

Many times I’ve found that it’s a program that is causing it, which it seems you’ve already investigated. Have you tried re-applying the time-out period for the monitor’s shutdown? I recently encountered this exact same problem, and reapplying the settings appears to have fixed it.

Reply | Quote

Would increasing your shut down time help this for services to be able to close–if I understand this correctly by quits happening you mean you’re not able to power down the way you have been?

Increasing Shut Down Time To Allow Services to Close[/u]

Start/Run/Regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControl. On the Edit menu, click Add Value. Value Name: WaitToKillServiceTimeout, Data Type: REG_SZ , String: In milli-seconds; default is 20,000. Ok/Exit/Reboot

From Kelly’s A to Z — Power Management:

Power Management – Change Power Management Configuration

This parameter allows you to specify the primary role of the computer so that predefined power management configurations can be used. For example a laptop will have different power saving features than a home desktop PC.

Possibly these will help you get the right “mix”:

Enable Monitor Power-off on the Logon Screen

Power the Computer Off After Shutdown

Power Management – Change Power Management Configuration[/u]

Go to Start/Run/Regedit and find the key below.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelPowerCfg]
System Key: [HKEY_USERS.DEFAULTControl PanelPowerCfg]

Value Name: CurrentPowerPolicy
Data Type: REG_SZ (String Value)

Modify the existing value, or create a new string value, called “CurrentPowerPolicy” and set it to a value (0 to 5) from the table below.

0 – Home/Office desktop
1 – Portable/Laptop computer
2 – Monitor on for presentations
3 – Network computer (no Wake-on-LAN)
4 – Optimized for high performance
5 – Optimized for power saving
Restart Windows for the change to take effect.

SMBP

Reply | Quote

Would increasing your shut down time help this for services to be able to close–if I understand this correctly by quits happening you mean you’re not able to power down the way you have been?

Increasing Shut Down Time To Allow Services to Close[/u]

Start/Run/Regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControl. On the Edit menu, click Add Value. Value Name: WaitToKillServiceTimeout, Data Type: REG_SZ , String: In milli-seconds; default is 20,000. Ok/Exit/Reboot

From Kelly’s A to Z — Power Management:

Power Management – Change Power Management Configuration

This parameter allows you to specify the primary role of the computer so that predefined power management configurations can be used. For example a laptop will have different power saving features than a home desktop PC.

Possibly these will help you get the right “mix”:

Enable Monitor Power-off on the Logon Screen

Power the Computer Off After Shutdown

Power Management – Change Power Management Configuration[/u]

Go to Start/Run/Regedit and find the key below.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelPowerCfg]
System Key: [HKEY_USERS.DEFAULTControl PanelPowerCfg]

Value Name: CurrentPowerPolicy
Data Type: REG_SZ (String Value)

Modify the existing value, or create a new string value, called “CurrentPowerPolicy” and set it to a value (0 to 5) from the table below.

0 – Home/Office desktop
1 – Portable/Laptop computer
2 – Monitor on for presentations
3 – Network computer (no Wake-on-LAN)
4 – Optimized for high performance
5 – Optimized for power saving
Restart Windows for the change to take effect.

SMBP

Reply | Quote