going into standby: an unwelcome event

_dinsdale_ · Feb 4, 2013

Have a Dell inspiron 6400 laptop running XP SP3.

Suddenly this faithful lappy is going into standby mode (battery or wall power) after only a few minutes of inattention. I have changed the power settings so that it "never" goes into standby on any power source but it continues to do so!

Have also hunted around bios to see if there is any setting that might cover this. Couldn't find anything BUT it didn't go into standby when in BIOS ie before loading XP.

Any thoughts please?

plodr · Feb 4, 2013

It could be that the laptop thinks the lid has been closed because it goes into standby normally when you close the lid.
I've read threads where people close the lid, the laptop goes into standby but then comes back out because the screen can be seen as lit with the lid closed.
Others report that closing the lid puts the computer into standby but when opening the lid again, the computer will not come out of standby.

All of those problems sound like a hardware problem.

Here is a disassembly video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6YsxHANmdI
and from Dell, pictures and a note

NOTICE: The standby switch is fragile and easily broken. Avoid knocking the switch when removing and replacing the display.
Click to expand...

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins6400/en/sm/display.htm

I suspect the standby switch is broken.

_dinsdale_ · Feb 4, 2013

Thanks for the thought (and the video).

Just trying to understand the logic. If it is the display/lid switch, then why would it come out of standby ever since it would always think the lid is closed.

plodr · Feb 4, 2013

If it is broken (different from completely non-functioning), it doesn't operate as it normally would. Sometimes it thinks the lid is closed when it is not, other times it thinks the lid is up when it is not.

mcsmc · Feb 4, 2013

You can test the broken lid switch theory by choosing "do nothing when the lid is closed" in the power options. If it still goes into standby after that, it's another issue.

_dinsdale_ · Feb 4, 2013

mcsmc said: ↑

You can test the broken lid switch theory by choosing "do nothing when the lid is closed" in the power options. If it still goes into standby after that, it's another issue.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. Did this...as well as turned everything to "always on". Still falls into stand by after about 2-3 minutes of no use EVERYTIME not random at all.

_dinsdale_ · Feb 4, 2013

SOLVED Re: going into standby: an unwelcome event

I'm an idiot!

After rebooting into Ubuntu (using a USB stick) and not experiencing the same thing, I narrowed it down to the OS.

It had to be something in XP... after a brainwave I looked at the screen saver setting. Usually don't have it enabled but "Someone" had changed this to "blank screen" every 3 minutes.

Now fixed! Sorry to have taken other people's time on this... but I did learn a few things and got that excellent link to the video

Cheers

D

plodr · Feb 4, 2013

Thanks for letting us know what it was. It might nudge someone else with the same problem to look at the power and the screensaver settings.

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going into standby: an unwelcome event

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