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Stuck in Sleep Mode

4967 Views 6 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  silverwire
I have windows vista. My computer is a Desktop Dell Inspiron 530 it is stuck in sleep mode. I can't find anyone with any answer that has fixed this issue. The unplugging waiting holding power button all that stuff hasn't worked. I have taken the Ram cards out and tried turning it on, i have taken the battery out on the mother board and tried turning it on. It still stays in sleep mode when it turns on, which means black screen that only says the computer is in sleep mode. I am at a loss. I thought about installing something on a disk to try to fix it but will it even do anything since i can't get to any kind of menu with it in sleep mode. ANYONE with a way to fix this please PLEASE help!
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Ok what that measn is its not sending out a video signal. If you are using a addin graphics card, remove it and try using onboard video. If you ARE using onboard video , you may need to replace the motherboard, which being as old as it is, would warrant getting a new system.
Ok what that measn is its not sending out a video signal. If you are using a addin graphics card, remove it and try using onboard video. If you ARE using onboard video , you may need to replace the motherboard, which being as old as it is, would warrant getting a new system.
So because my monitor is telling me that my computer is in sleep mode which it is and would usually do if it were in sleep mode while running normally. That is the graphics card? I am not sure i understand what that means. I am not trying to be rude just trying to understand, the exact computer is on ebay for 40$ but i don't want to buy it if i can fix mine. Also no addin graphics card.
I didn't think you were rude, fyi.

No the monitor itself is in sleep mode. When it says Sleep or similar it's the MONITOR going into sleep mode because it isn't receiving any kind of signal. It's essentially a power saving mode.

So what that means is that the computer is not fully booting and running into an error somewhere causing it not to complete POST (Power On Self Test) and then display a picture on to the monitor.

It is most likely a failed motherboard considering the fact you have tried with all the RAM sticks removed and removing the CMOS battery as well, which would have defaulted the motherboard settings back to OEM, causing any settings that were possibly an issue to be removed and put back to functional, OEM settings.

Now seeing as you do not have an adding graphics card, that means you are using the onboard video controller and that likely has failed at this point. I really am not sure what other troubleshooting you can do aside from what you have already done.

If you have another computer or device that you can connect to that specific monitor, that would at least tell you if it is a monitor issue, which, again I highly doubt at this point.

If you DO have to/decide to get a new computer, DO NOT simply get another Dell Inspiron 530. That computer is almost 9 years old and is not going to run anything modern 100%.

Now if you're partial to Dell, then go with a newer Inspiron model, like a 620 or 660 or even newer.
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I didn't think you were rude, fyi.

No the monitor itself is in sleep mode. When it says Sleep or similar it's the MONITOR going into sleep mode because it isn't receiving any kind of signal. It's essentially a power saving mode.

So what that means is that the computer is not fully booting and running into an error somewhere causing it not to complete POST (Power On Self Test) and then display a picture on to the monitor.

It is most likely a failed motherboard considering the fact you have tried with all the RAM sticks removed and removing the CMOS battery as well, which would have defaulted the motherboard settings back to OEM, causing any settings that were possibly an issue to be removed and put back to functional, OEM settings.

Now seeing as you do not have an adding graphics card, that means you are using the onboard video controller and that likely has failed at this point. I really am not sure what other troubleshooting you can do aside from what you have already done.

If you have another computer or device that you can connect to that specific monitor, that would at least tell you if it is a monitor issue, which, again I highly doubt at this point.

If you DO have to/decide to get a new computer, DO NOT simply get another Dell Inspiron 530. That computer is almost 9 years old and is not going to run anything modern 100%.

Now if you're partial to Dell, then go with a newer Inspiron model, like a 620 or 660 or even newer.
Ok, thanks a bundle i understand now. Looks like this bad boy has given all it has. I appreciate you explaining it to me i just like to understand fully before i give up. :)
Absolutely! And sure thing! Don't forget to mark your thread as solved by using the green "Mark Solved" button at the top of your thread.

FWIW, if you find another system you're interested in, post it's info into the thread here or PM me and I'll let ya know if it's a good buy or not.

Cheers!
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Ladybarlow,
I don't know if you solved your monitor problem but you might try changing the power options for "Sleep modes" for both your monitor and PC. I had a similar problem years ago (2008) with my LG monitor and posted it on this forum. Here's what I tried that worked, for several years until that monitor finally died in 2011, apparently from a bad capacitor, and I replaced it with a 32-inch TV:

After much searching for 3 days on several forums including this one, one post from someone with similar problem to mine (monitor not returning from black screen after "time-out") suggested changing "Power Option" settings for monitor and computer to the "NEVER" option, so there is no time-out.

I did this yesterday and so far that has worked (both monitor and PC are never "sleeping", and my screen saver (one of Vista's generic ones already loaded) comes on after the chosen minutes but neither PC nor monitor go to "sleep". SO FAR, SO GOOD!

If you want to try this, the path to that option (on my Vista Home Premium) is Start / Control Panel / Hardware and Sound / Power Options / Choose when to turn off the display /
Then change "Turn off the display" to "NEVER"
and "Put the computer to sleep" to "NEVER"
Then click on "Save Changes".

While this undoubtedly uses more power, it may save my sanity while I search for the "real" cause...

P.S. That action did save my sanity!
I never had that problem again, but now I'm searching for a new browser to use on my Vista Home Premium since all the ones I've used (Chrome, IE, and soon, Firefox) quit supporting Vista. Firefox is quitting support in September 2017 and already, I can't get Firefox to connect with most websites and even can't get it to work with Yahoo my Yahoo mail most of the time. (I'm having to use my laptop running Windows 7 for browsing and mail.) I will post my browser problem in a separate forum topic.
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