Help! Monitor will not go to sleep!!!!

markeedee311 · 14 May 2011

Can anyone help?!?! My wife has a Gateway LX6820-01 Desktop Computer w/ Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz, 8GB DDR3, 1TB HDD, NVIDIA GT230 Card, running Windows 7 64-bit SP1. We both run Hanns-G HG281D 28" monitors. We updated her GT230 driver at the beginning of April with GeForce/ION v270.51 (03/30/2011 - Beta). Not too long after, we noticed her monitor would not go to sleep when the system went to sleep. We tried various power settings, but still nothing. We then downloaded the newest update GeForce/ION v270.61 (04/18/2011 - WHQL). Still nothing. So today, I uninstalled the last driver, and went back to GeForce/ION v270.58 (01/18/2011 - WHQL). Same thing. Monitor will not sleep. The monitor driver has never been touched, last updated by Hanns-G 05/2007. Don't know what else to do besides trying a video card upgrade. Any thoughts????

MSInfo:

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name CHRISTINE-PC
System Manufacturer Gateway
System Model LX6820
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9400 @ 2.66GHz, 2670 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. P01-A1, 4/2/2009
SMBIOS Version 2.6
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7601.17514"
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 8.00 GB
Available Physical Memory 5.92 GB
Total Virtual Memory 16.0 GB
Available Virtual Memory 13.9 GB
Page File Space 8.00 GB

dsperber · 15 May 2011

Just want to be sure I understand...

You say that you've got "sleep after n minutes" set in your power scheme, and yet this doesn't happen?? The display driver does not make this happen?

Do you have a screensaver that comes on after say 5 minutes, and supposedly stays active until the sleep time arrives? No screensaver? Are you seeing your screensaver?

You're saying that this monitor used to behave properly with a previous video card, and then you upgraded to a new video card and the monitor stopped going to sleep, and then you tried going back to the old video card and the monitor STILL won't sleep?

Does your monitor go to sleep? Have you tried substituting your monitor for hers, just to see if yours goes to sleep on her PC or not?

Just some trial-and-error hardware swapping would seem like it could zero in on the culprit failing component, if your monitor and your video card induces sleep on your PC... and either works or fails when used on her PC.

markeedee311 · 16 May 2011

Hi,

I began the post with the specs listing the GT230 card, the "original" card that came with the machine. Also, the Hanns-G monitor has been with the machine since the beginning. The monitor went to sleep fine prior to the update around 03/30/11. If you read the post once more, you'll see that the main variable that has changed was the viseo card "driver", not the video card. We're still using the original GT230 card. It seems ever since we updated the "driver" sometime after 03/30/11, that the driver may be the culprit. We did try swapping monitors, and we did go through the power setting, but still the same issue. I also tried changing cables. What did work, was using a VGA cable, but with noticed degradation, so that is not an option. Thanks

TVeblen · 16 May 2011

Have you checked the monitor's settings?

Press the menu button on your monitor and navigate to the power settings.

dsperber · 16 May 2011

markeedee311 said:

I began the post with the specs listing the GT230 card, the "original" card that came with the machine. Also, the Hanns-G monitor has been with the machine since the beginning. The monitor went to sleep fine prior to the update around 03/30/11. If you read the post once more, you'll see that the main variable that has changed was the viseo card "driver", not the video card. We're still using the original GT230 card. It seems ever since we updated the "driver" sometime after 03/30/11, that the driver may be the culprit.

Sorry... I didn't absorb all the details in your original post, apparently. I've now re-read it and understand what you're saying.

But I'm puzzled: if you began to experience your problem right after you installed the GeForce/ION v270.51 (03/30/2011 - Beta) driver, and then you still experienced the same problem even after installing the more current and WHQL release version GeForce/ION v270.61 (04/18/2011 - WHQL) of the driver, why would you "back out the driver update" by only going back to GeForce/ION v270.58 (01/18/2011 - WHQL)? Though the driver date that you show is apparently older in the "back out" driver, the driver version number is apparently newer (i.e. 270.58 vs. 270.51).

Are there typos in your original details, is there some explanation?

Have you tried retrieving a "legacy" driver older than version 270.51, which was when your problem apparently started and has carried through for all driver versions with that version level or higher? I don't know which to believe... the driver version number or the date (assuming you've typed the values properly).

Do you know what driver version you were running before 3/30?

Do you have a "system restore point" dated before 3/30, that you could restore from? This only changes the system itself, and makes no changes to your current data.

Do you have a "system image" backup, in worst case? Is it dated before 3/30 or is it more recent, after you've already installed 270.51 of the driver when this problem started?

markeedee311 · 17 May 2011

Sorry , there was a typo. It was GeForce/ION Driver v266.58 from 01/18/2011. I do regular updates (WHQL), so I figured the issue started at the beginning of April, so it made sense that it may be the driver from 03/30 causing the problem, therefore, I figured I'd try the prior driver since I did update to that version in February, and everything was working fine then.

Anyway, I've done some more digging, and found a registry patch which worked. http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=82031 Post #7. It seems there is an issue at times with various Monitors/Video Cards using DVI to HDMI because the computer sees the monitor as an HDTV.

Thank you all for your help!

dsperber · 17 May 2011

markeedee311 said:

Sorry , there was a typo. It was GeForce/ION Driver v266.58 from 01/18/2011. I do regular updates (WHQL), so I figured the issue started at the beginning of April, so it made sense that it may be the driver from 03/30 causing the problem, therefore, I figured I'd try the prior driver since I did update to that version in February, and everything was working fine then.

Of course. I suspected there must have been a typo.

Anyway, I've done some more digging, and found a registry patch which worked. http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=82031 Post #7. It seems there is an issue at times with various Monitors/Video Cards using DVI to HDMI because the computer sees the monitor as an HDTV.

Aha... new information. You didn't make any mention of the connection cable before now.

But still, this whole arrangement WAS working fine until April, so why would this registry patch suddenly become relevant now, to fix a problem that hadn't appeared before now? Did you always have that DVI-to-HDMI cable?

Of course the Nvidia forums are an excellent place to get Nvidia-specific help from experts there. I use the ATI forums the same way from time to time.

Thank you all for your help!

Well, I at least tried to help.

Glad you finally got your problem resolved.