I have a refurbished Dell E1505/6400 running XP prof. w/SP3. It has not been heavily used since being purchased a few years ago. In fact, I just started really using it just recently. I've found an issue that seems to be baffling. When the lid is closed for an extended period of time, and is reopened, the screen does not come on, and nothing on the keyboard seems to turn it on. The audio buttons on the front (pause, volume, etc) also do not function. And still, the computer seems to be on and functioning. Music that is playing, continues to play normally (even though the buttons on the front which normally work stop working). The only solution I have found is to turn of the power and reboot.

The amount of time until this happens after closing the lid is still unknown to me. At first, it would happen immediately after closing the lid. I tried changing all the settings in power settings to "never" (standby, turn of monitor, turn off hard disks, and hibernate). This seemed to clear the problem; when I would close the lid for a short time, and open it, everything would be normal.

But today, after having the lid closed for several hours, while listening to music, the same thing happened when I tried opening it. I never suspected anything, as the music continued normally the whole time.

- Power cord is plugged in, so there is no power issue.
- There has never been any heating issues.

Thanks in advance for any information. Perhaps this is just a normal function that I am ignorant about...

This post has been edited by alpinewarrior: Sep 27 2009, 01:37 PM

Hi, sorry to hear of the problems with your Dell.
Have you tried the following?:
1 Fn+F8
2 Fn+Esc
Although you have checked your power settings I think the answer lies there.....

You may need to check both the Windows power settings and the dell power settingsand make sure you have no conflicts...
When resuming these Dells from Standby its normal to press the power button once.
They are usually put into standby on closing the lid, but these settings can be changed if you prefer something else. (see pages 40 to 43 of the owners manual)

Perhaps an important consideration is heat..... heat is the enemy of laptops (or most computers for that matter) and generally it's not a good idea to use a laptop for anything that will generate heat...ie use processor resources/cycles with the machine's lid in the down position.

Even when shutting down the laptop its good practice to leave the lid in the up position for 10 minutes or so to allow heat to dissipate.
Hope this helps
regards
paws

Thanks for the reply.

I tried both fn f8 and fn esc when this happend, and it did nothing.
Heat isn't an issue -- it never gets that hot, and I almost always use a cooling pad w/fans.

What are Dell power settings, have not heard of this before? I checked power settings in the BIOS -- doesnt seem to be anything that would conflict there.

The thing is that the computer isn't on standby, as windows media player is still playing music even after this has occured.

This is the part that is really weird to me. The windows player is still function, but the keyboard and mouse do not seem to me. I intitially figured that if the screen wasn't working, but the computer was still playing music, then it should at least still take some input from the keyboard/mouse. I tried alt-f4 repeatedly + clicking the mouse in random places (to make sure that the WMP application was on top, so that the alt-f4 would normally close it)...... but to no avail.



Power settings in control panel:

- All times in the power schemes are set to never, i.e. always on.

Hibernate = enabled (although this hasnt made any difference)

When I close lid = set to do nothing

Press power button = ask me what to do

Sleep button = do nothing

Hi


Fn+Esc should take you to the Power Settings menu...... if it doesn't then its evidence of configuration errors.

Here's an extract from the owners manual

Use the Power Management Wizard to select options to optimize your computer’s power usage. These
options can also be set to change when you press the power button, close the display, or press
<Fn><Esc>. See "Configuring Power Management Settings" on page 43 for more information on
using the Power Management Wizard.

For Dell power settings (See page 43 of the owners manual, you should have an Icon for accessing this placed in the System Tray ( notification area)
Here's an extract

You can use the QuickSet Power Management Wizard or Windows Power Options Properties to
configure the power management settings on your computer.
• To access the QuickSet Power Management Wizard, double-click the icon in the taskbar. For more
information about QuickSet, click the Help button in the Power Management Wizard.
• To access the Power Options Properties window, click the Start button→ Control Panel→ Performance
and Maintenance→ Power Options. For information on any field in the Power Options Properties
window, click the question mark icon on the title bar and then click on the area corresponding to the
information that you need.

The reason for my comment is that it is not good practice to allow your machine to operate whilst the lid is in the down (cclosed) position as this encourages heat to build up so keep it open when you are using it!
Regards
paws

- Well, the FN button still doesnt work. But I dont see what this has to do with the psuedo-standby?

- Oh, those power settings. I thought those were standard windows settings. Those were the ones I was referring to earlier.

- Ok, thanks for the tip. I try to be conscious of heat; I figure that with a cooling pad, plus low CPU usage, it would be just fine in this case.

But again, I have never seen this type of mode before. It is definitely not standby, as applications do not function in standby -- the CPU isn't running. What I wonder is if anyone else has seen a computer do something like this.

Thanks for the help so far

Hi,

if the Fn button on your keyboard is not working then this indicates possible configuration errors with your machine.....

The "usual" way to come out of standy is not to move the mouse or the other things you mention in the first post, but to press the power button once....

Some machines are set up to play CD's in this way..(as a value added feature!).. I have a Toshiba in the workshop at the moment that will do exactly the same.......
Have you checked thoroughly the owners manual for your machine....
Regards
paws

Doesn't sound like the laptop is going into any type of power saving mode that Windows recognizes.

It is probably the motherboard/BIOS that recognizes the lid is closed and so it shuts down the devices associated with having the lid open like the screen, keyboard, and touchpad.

An external keyboard would probalby function just fine (using alt-f4 to test, like you said) even in this condition.

However, my best suggestion for something like this, because I don't feel it is a software issue or setting, is to try and update your flash BIOS. It probably has a bug in it.

Also, not sure that you mentioned what operating system you are using?