Laptop Display Remains Off When Returning From "Turn Off" State

[imjeeves]

Laptop Display Remains Off When Returning From "Turn Off" State

Good Afternoon,

I'd appreciate any help that I could receive for this issue. I'd like to preface this post by mentioning that I have searched these and other forums about this issue and have found people that have had similar problems, but I don't think they are explaining things properly/as clearly as they could be. I'm hoping that I could give a little more incite into what's happening.

My laptop has Windows 7 Ultimate x64. The power options are set to "High Performance" which means that the system never goes to "Sleep" whether it is plugged in or not. However, the display is set to "Turn Off" at 5 minutes on battery or 10 minutes while plugged in.

Here is the issue: After my system's display has "Turned Off" due to inactivity, I will hit a key or move my mouse to bring the display back. Sometimes (not all the time), the laptop display will remain inactive. However, I do have two external displays hooked up. When this problem occurs, I can see my cursor on the two external displays.

Now, in most posts, people say they fix the problem by restarting their computer. I've found a different fix that doesn't require a restart. I'm able to log into the system while the screen is still off (ctrl+alt+del, type in password, press enter). Once logged in, I can see my desktop on the two external screens, but not on my laptop's native display. I then hit ctrl+alt+del, and my laptop's native display returns from it's off state. I press esc and everything is back to normal.

I've seen this now on a couple of systems in the office. We all have generally the same setup:

Dell Precision M4500 Laptop
NVIDIA Quadro Notebook 880M on latest drivers
High Performance Power Option Enabled
Two External Monitors (one plugged directly into the VGA port on the laptop, another using a USB to DVI Adapter) - Monitors differ from laptop to laptop
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Same patches, same software.

So I'm not sure what's causing this. I'm still attempting to recreate the problem. I have a feeling that it only happens when I lock my system and THEN the display turns off rather than the display turning off and the system locking itself. Not sure what difference that makes, but I'll keep testing it. Any help that anyone could give would be welcome. Thanks.

~Jeeves

 

[imjeeves]

I've continued to see this issue. And my assumption was wrong - it doesn't rely on locking my computer. I have come back to my system after the display has turned off, shook the mouse, and the two external monitors come back, but the laptop display does not. The only thing I can think of doing at this point is to turn off the option where the monitors "turn off" after so long, even though that seems like such a waste. Maybe I'll see something funky when I do that though. If anyone has any thoughts, they would be very appreciated.

~Jeeves

 

[firedog7881]

I am having the exact same issue and it is annoying the crap out of me. I went from my screen never turning off when set to 5 minutes to it not coming back on. It seems like this is an x64 issue. I found out about the CTRL+ALT+DEL thing early on which helps, but I don't want to do it every time. I also found out that with my laptop the main screen will stay off and the external monitor will come back, but if I close the lid the display moves to my external and when I open the lid it comes back and the main display is on.
If anybody can shed some light on whey this is happening that would be great. I don't want to reload, and I just updated my display drivers as well as my BIOS with the same symptoms.