Activating a "restart" causes the computer to close (black screen) but blue light on start button remains on and the pc does not restart. This is an intermittent situation: around 50% of the time. A possibly not unrelated problem is that the pc does not go into sleep mode, as specified in the power management profile, after the specified time.
This could be due to a number of causes. The first being that certain drivers may not be up to date. The main updates to consider are for your graphics/display card, your network adapters, your BIOS, and any chipset drivers. Proceed to Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States] to find updates for the devices I have listed. There are a few methods for updating drivers.
- Installing and updating drivers in 7
- Driver Install - Add Hardware Wizard
- Driver Install - Device Manager
To fully re-install a driver, use the following steps.
- Click Start Menu
- Right Click My Computer/Computer
- Click Manage
- Click Device Manager from the list on the left
- Find the device you are trying to uninstall by expanding the appropriate set of devices
- Right click the device
- Click Uninstall (do not click OK in the dialog box that pops up after hitting Uninstall)
- Put a tick in Delete driver software for this device (if this option is available, otherwise just hit OK) and hit OK
- Restart your computer
- Install the latest driver for the device once Windows starts.
Alternatively:
- Login as an adminstrative user.
- Click Start Menu
- Click Control Panel
- Click Hardware and Sound
- Click Device Manager (the last link under Devices and Printers)
- Find the device you are trying to uninstall by expanding the appropriate set of devices
- Right click the device
- Click Uninstall (do not click OK in the dialog box that pops up after hitting Uninstall)
- Put a tick in Delete driver software for this device (if this option is available, otherwise just hit OK) and hit OK
- Restart your computer
- Install the latest driver for the device once Windows starts.
The problem may also be caused by not having all Windows updates installed. Install any Windows updates that have not yet been installed.
For further help, please follow the https://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-d...tructions.html to provide us with more information to better assist you.
Thanks writhziden. The drivers for all the devices that you mention are up to date and there are no outstanding Windows updates. I discovered today that another possibly related problem is that when the pc does go into sleep mode, pressing on the start button does not restart it. I have to hold it down until the blue light goes off and then push to start.
When you turn it back on after doing the hard shut down, does it start up as if it had been sleeping? If so, go into your advanced power settings for each of your power plans and turn off hybrid sleep at least for testing (you may want to turn this back on later unless you have a backup battery coupled with a surge protector you are plugging into). See the hybrid sleep functionality in Power Plan Settings - Change [you just need to expand the Sleep setting in advanced power settings; see 5. B)]
Yes it does start up as if it was sleeping. Turning off hybrid sleep did not help. I finally managed to hit on a Dell tech rep in the Phillipines who was several cuts above those charming boys in India, and she focused the problem to the BIOS hardware. If the problem persists after the replacement, the next step will be to re-install the OS
Thanks for trying to help me.
Glad Dell was able to do some troubleshooting with you. :) Let us know if you need any help in the future. Best wishes.
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