Power Problem, is this true

[TNGPicard]

I have a Latitude D620 Vista Ultimate 32-bit w/ docking station.

If I leave my computer for several hours and do not lock the screen prior to standing up and just let the screen saver take over (which does not lock the desktop) there is no problem. The screens will auto-turn off, etc. (such as going to sleep at night), I get up in the morning, hit a few keys and I'm back to what I was doing...no problemo and life is good.

I leave for work and I hit the lock button, or I do windows+L and go to work. Why lock during the day 1) so my cat doesn't send IM mash to my friends should he get in my room 2) so my roommates can't use my computer while Im' gone. When the system is locked, the screens turn off after 3 hours and then the system never can be woken back up. The numlock lights stay on, the power to the LED in the optical mouse stays on, the lights indicating power status are solid green and not indicating a sleep mode. Pretty much the only way to get back to normal is to hold the power button in until the system is completly off then restart (and of course) I get a message that the system did not shut down properly, etc.

Being that this is a brand new computer, had about 11 days, I called Dell and talked to gold tech support whose answer was "thats just what vista does, its a power saving feature" and it is not supposed to be able to wake up for security. I don't think that is an acceptable answer but before I call back, speak to somebody else and file a complaint for getting a bad answer when I pay for the gold level support, I would like to know if anybody else has a problem with their machine not waking up if the desktop session is locked.

I've not been able to find in some quick google searches anything similar to this (but will keep looking) and am hoping that somebody here on tek-tips.com may have seen this or could tell me what happens if you leave your desktop locked for several hours if your computer just stops responding.

TNGPicard / MAL

 

[Nelviticus]

No, that's rubbish. Of course you're supposed to be able to resume from a locked state! What would be the point of locking otherwise?

I suspect that it's either a BIOS or driver problem rather than a faulty machine, so even if Dell swapped your Latitude for an identical one you'd have the same issues. See whether Dell's web site has newer versions of the BIOS or motherboard drivers that you can install. If they do, check the release notes for whether your problem has been fixed.

It's something that Dell need to fix.

Regards

Nelviticus

 

[gpalmer711]

There is a feature of Vista where if you leave it in Sleep mode for 3 hours (i think) it will go into hibernation mode. This is to save power and I believe the default behaviour. The power options can be changed and I would recommend that you check what yours are before taking it further.

What you should be able to do is hit the power button and log back in - it should then restore any programs etc.. that you had open. If not then it is not hibernation.

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[TNGPicard]

gpalmer, pressing the power button doesn't do anything. The keyboard LEDs stay on but will not toggle, the beam on the optical mouse stays on, there is no HDD.

I think I'm getting closer on hammering out the exact circumstances but won't be able to tell until tonight, stay tuned!

 

[Beowulf005]

Go into power management and turn off hibernation. Most likly Vista and Dell are not working nicely when trying to hibernate.

When frustrated remember, in the computer world there is almost always a backdoor.