Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

I have my E6400 set on the "Balanced" power plan with the display set to turn off after 5 minutes (on battery) and the computer to go to sleep in 15 minutes. I also have a screen saver set to go on 3 minutes after inactivity (a standard Vista screen saver - "Mystify", I think). The problem is the display never turns off. The screen saver comes on after 3 minutes as it should but the display does not go off after 5 minutes. The computer just goes to sleep after 15 minutes and the screen saver stays on the whole time up until it goes to sleep. I have all the latest drivers installed. Also, in the advanced settings I turned off the adaptive display option (adjusts time to turn off display based on mouse/keyboard usage). I also looked around Dell Control Point but couldn't find anything. Any ideas?

Thanks,
TJ

 

I never use a screen saver on a notebook. They are a relic of the era of CRTs and the risk of screen burn. they also keep the hardware busy when it could be snoozing. What happens if you disable the screen saver?

Also, I find it preferable to use one of the DCP power plans, customised as necessary.

John

 

Thanks for the reply John.

I just tried disabling the screen saver and waited 5+ minutes with no mouse/keyboard activity and the screen still remained on. I've also tried some other power plans and the same problem exists.

 

John, I trust your opinion 100%, and since I don't have a satisfactory answer yet:

1. can i use the XP re-installation disk that came with my laptop for my older dell desktop? (can't find the old one)

2. will that prevent me from using the re-installation disk on my laptop later?

Thanks

 

I've had times when the display doesn't go off. This is usually after a few hibernate / resume cycles. I've never tried to figure out the underlying cause. The other place i would look is at the Power Management options in Device Manager and make sure all the wake up options are disabled.

I suggest a 90% success rate. I am sometimes wrong.

I have read elsewhere in this forum that any Dell XP disc will work in any computer. The installer is locked to Dell hardware which it checks early in the installation.

The Windows keys are in a range allocated to Dell. If you need to enter the key, use the one on the computer.

John

 

I agree with John on checking in the device manager. The common culprits are the mouse, touchpad, network adapters (Ethernet & WLAN) and bluetooth PAN. Check to ensure none of them can wake the computer from sleep.

Another common cause is the display adapter but with it, there's only the driver that you can check. Technically, it can't wake up the computer from sleep but if the driver is not right (compatibility or bugs) then it can prevent the screen from swithching off or preventing the computer from going to sleep altogether.

 

disable screen saver
the screen will turn off, even though you have hard disk activity, as long as the mouse and keyboard are not being used

 

jwarren, I take offense. I already told you that you can use the disc in ANY machine. if you have a valid license for the machine, it SHOULD pick it up. If it does not, all you have to do is call the activation line, and MS will give you the code (when you provide the key off the certificate of authenticity). i am 1000% sure.

and 2. NO, there is nothing special about the disc. It checks the bios/hardware for the auto-license. You can use it a million times on 1 million different laptops. It does NOT contain a unique key. as john mentioned, it is just specific to dell, and MS allows it full access.

 

Veritas, humble apologies for any offense, none intended. I'm (clearly) not a big techie so I'm just a bit worried about making things worse with a re-install that backfires. Just trying to refresh a three year old Dell that's slowing down no matter how much clutter I try to take off of it. Now I feel assured I can go for it, so thanks very much for your assistance!!

Which brings up another question. Since the desktop is what my cable modem goes through, and since I recall somewhat of a nightmare when I first installed it (requiring calls to the cable company and them programming my computer remotely or some such nonsense), will a re-install of XP likely throw a monkey-wrench into my internet/cable use?

 

What exactly are your issues jwarren?