Monitor not coming out of power save on startup

Dodge777 · 19 Mar 2007 at 22:21

Hey all,

Have had my PC for about 6 months now. Until now I've not had a problem with it. Bit of a weird one really. I started up the computer a week ago and the monitor light just stayed on orange (this means power save) even though I could hear the hard drive and everything whirring nicely in the background. I restarted a few times, tried turning the monitor on and off and still not joy. Each time I turned the monitor back on, after a few seconds of blank screen it just said "enterping power save mode".

Eventually I managed to get it back on by shutting off the PSU to the computer for a about a minute and turning it back on. The monitor then seem to work fine. So the fact that it takes me to shut off the PSU suggests that it's not a problem with the monitor. So anyways, this doesn't happen everytime I shut down the computer and turn it on again. Only every now and then. But i'm worried it'll eventually be a permanent thing!

Anyone else had a similar experience or might know what's going on?! Thanks.

Dodge777 · 20 Mar 2007 at 09:38

Ok... how do you do that?!?! I did a brief google search but it doesn't really explain why I'd be doing it and what the risks are involved.

Dodge777 · 4 Apr 2007 at 08:57

Bump - it's started to happen more frequently now. Literally every two start-ups. Desperately need help please.

Dodge777 · 5 Apr 2007 at 10:26

Yeah, it's a dell 2007 wfp 20" monitor. My graphics card has two DVI connectors so I swapped to the other one and it seemed fine. But I guess we'll see what happens the next time I shut my computer down.

Not sure if this might make a difference, but I always tend to shut down my pc using the remote as supplied by asus with my mobo. Perhaps this is doing it?!

Dodge777 · 5 Apr 2007 at 15:40

Yeah, that's how I solve the problem usually. Just turn the PSU off for a minute and then back on and then it's ok until the next time I shut down. Still, it's very annoying and clearly something is wrong!

Syngress - the fact that it's happening to you with the exact same combination suggests that it must be some sort of compatability issue maybe? What mobo do you have?

Dodge777 · 19 May 2007 at 12:01

Right... so the problem seemed to go away for a few weeks, but then it came back. Normally I can just trurn off the PSU for a few minutes, turn it back on and voila, there's picture again. However, this time I actually had to open up my case, check everything was wired properly, and after doing this the screen came back. This stopped the problem for another few days but then this morning, there was no picture on boot again! Just a blank screen! It's driving me nuts! I've also tried turning the monitor on and off again, but after a few seconds it just says entering power save. I've tried pressing the two buttons next to the power button to try and force a signal but that's not working either.

I've checked the DVI cable is connected properly, the graphics card is firmly in place, etc, etc. Could it be a driver problem? I'm using the 7.1 catalyst drivers. Or maybe a DVI cable problem?!

Can anyone else think of what the problem might be and how I may resolve it? Please, I'm getting desperate.

Dodge777 · 21 May 2007 at 12:06

Well we can rule out DVI cable and 7.4 catalyst drivers.
The same problem occurred this morning with the new drivers and with a different cable. Once again I did the same ol trick of turning off the PSU and turning it back on, and the screen came out of power save. No problem. This is really starting to annoy me.

Dodge777 · 21 May 2007 at 13:34

I highly doubt it's the PSU (in my case anyway). I've got a 600W Tagan. The problems for me started happening around about the time I installed vista. It had never happened before when I was on XP. But at this time I made a few changes to the bios as well. Not overclocking changes though. I had been running an overclocked system for 6 months before this started happening.

Dodge777 · 21 May 2007 at 15:16

Will do. Should I just clear the CMOS (removing the battery and setting the jumper right?) or just change the relevant fsb, etc.

Dodge777 · 24 May 2007 at 08:29

Latest update... so I removed the battery, cleared the CMOS and updated the bios to 2004, and still the problem persists, and even worse than before. Literally every morning when I turn on my machine I have to unplug the PSU for a minute and turn it back on. Sometimes I have to repeate this multiple times. At least now I can rule out the cable, the bios, the drivers... it's looking increasingly like a hardware problem.

I don't know if this changes anything, but I actually hear the computer booting into windows. The sound plays and everything, so I now everything is theoretically fine. I've tried everything with the monitor - turning it off and on again, trying to force the DVI signal, etc. Nothing.

I may be wrong here, but I'm starting to think it's the PSU or the monitor. The fact that the computer is clearly getting into windows fine suggests that maybe there's just not enough power going to the monitor? Or that the monitor itself is screwed. What do you all think? The monitor is a 20" Dell 2007 WFP and the PSU is aa 600W Tagan.

Thanks for the continuing help. It's much appreciated amid this immensely frustrating problem!!!

Dodge777 · 25 May 2007 at 09:19

Feel like I'm running a little blog... sorry for the incessant posting on this thread but if you think that's annoying, just think how annoying it is that my screen won't come on every morning!

Latest update... tried another monitor, but the problem persisted. So that rules out the monitor.

Are there any sort of tests that I could try to check if it's the ram or GPU or PSU or what? Problem is that I don't have access to another GPU or other bits of kit very easily.