Monitor turns itself ON (not off!)

Hi,

My dad got a new computer recently and has a very strange problem. As my dad's computer support provider (!), I am trying to help him solve this problem from the opposite end of the country, so far to no avail. I have googled around and found lots of articles about monitors that turn themself off prematurely, usually due to some incorrect power management setting, but my dad has the opposite problem. His monitor will mysteriously turn itself on i.e. come out of power save mode, all on its own when he is nowhere in the vacinity. His new computer is an HP Pavilion (Athlon). Originally he was using it with an old CRT monitor and noticed this problem so I convinced him to buy a new LCD monitor hoping it would fix the problem but no such luck. The OS is Windows XP Media Center 2005.

According to my dad, he will leave the computer alone and it will do the normal progression to screen saver then eventually the monitor will turn off (powersave mode). Then he will leave the room and at a later time he'll come back and find the monitor is on. Once the monitor comes on in this way, it never goes back to the screen saver or to powersave mode. It is as if the computer is unaware that the monitor has turned back on.

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this problem and things we can try to resolve it? For now, he is physically turning off the monitor when he leaves the room for extended periods.

Thanks,
Goldino

 

Hi, welcome to the BBS.

The graphics card (Display Adapter) is sending a signal to the monitor, causing it to "wake up ". I would suspect a program that is timed to perform a task.

Check for spyware. Try disabling Antivirus when it is not connected to the internet. It may be some sort of "update manager ", especially something that might be involved with the graphics or checking hardware.

You could get him to make a Hijack This log and post it here. Someone might spot something.

Try disabling the screensaver.

Update drivers for the graphics at least.

Try searching for terms like "wake" and "monitor" at the HP website.
www.hp.com/support

As you can see from the Google results, it may be a fairly isolated problem

Matt

 

Matt - Thanks for your suggestions. I am checking with my dad to see how many of these things he wants to try on his own. I am not sure if he has spyware detection software installed but I have used Hijack This before and might be able to walk him through generating a log. Otherwise I will pursue this when I have hands-on access to his computer in early July. I will post a followup if/when we solve the mystery.

 

Goldino,

Check in the device manager, look under 'Network Adapters', double click the adapter to bring up the 'Properties' page. Then under the 'Power Management' tab... make sure that "allow this device to bring the computer out of standby" is not checked. Hopefully that's it.

B

 

goldino--Just adding to what mattman has said.
What is in Control Panel|Scheduled Tasks?
And what other programs, such as Windows Update, Antivirus are set up to seek updates, run scans, etc.?
Usually, except for spending a little more on electricity, this is not a big problem.
But it could be malware, if you see any other problems.
If so, you could consider the following
http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=37074

 

Hi Welshjim - I will have my dad check on the scheduled tasks and other automated updates, though some of this might have to wait until I am sitting in front of his computer.

Re: the comment about just a little extra electricity, that is not my concern. As I noted, once the monitor comes back on, it never goes to screensaver or sleep mode again. So I am worried about monitor burnin (although not sure that is an issue with LCDs as with CRTs?) and just general wear and tear on the monitor if it stays on all the time. My dad is also not too fond of the "persistent glow" coming from the spare bedroom...

-Goldino

 

Just a suggestion. Investigate Remote Desktop. You need XP Pro. You may be able to work on it over the internet.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315328/en-us

Matt

 

Mr B. - My dad tried your suggestion. The box you mentioned was indeed checked. He unchecked it but the monitor still is waking up on its own. He'll be checking on some of the other suggestions (automated tasks, etc.) later today. Thanks for your help.

 

Also in the 'DeviceManager', under 'Universal Serial Bus controllers', right-click any instance of 'USB Root Hub', then select > Properties > then the 'PowerManagement' tab. Make sure there is not a checkmark by > Allow this device to bring the computer out of standby.
(I also uncheck > Allow the computer to turn this device off to save power.)
Also you may want to check the BIOS for any 'similar' settings.

B