Resolved Computer locking after short time

I bought an ASUS UL50VT laptop about 2 months ago and am LOVING it... fast, clear, secure and a nice clean starting point that is mobile! 100% happy with my purchase.

The issue is that I can't find out how to change the setting that tells the computer to lock itself after a certain amount of time. I have looked in the settings that tells it when to hybernate and sleep and what the power buttons do, so on and so forth... I can't for the life of it find out how to make it NOT lock itself after only a few minutes!! It's not that big a deal except when I'm giving presentations or using the wireless mouse, the computer doesn't see those as being active and it locks itself right in the middle of whatever I'm doing... has anyone else had an issue like this or can someone steer me in the right direction to modify that setting?? I've looked all through control panel and the ASUS Control Deck and can't find ANYTHING!!! If I can't figure it out, it is under warranty, but I doubt that me not knowing how to do something falls under a warranty covered issue.

Thanks all!

 

The only thing I can think of right off hand would be the screen saver. Have a look at it. If the line that says "on resume, display logon screen" is checked, uncheck it.

Even if you have the screen saver set to none, if you have a time entered in the wait box and you have that line checked, it will go to the logon screen after there has been no activity for that amount of time. Long shot but it might be what's causing it.

If that is what's happening, it's odd that it would do that while you're using the computer.

 

The screensaver was turned off and the box was already unchecked... I went ahead and changed the time for the screen saver to 500 min from 1 min, then turned the screen saver back off (just in case)... I'll see if that helps, but like you said... long shot! Give me 10min to test

 

OK, hope that's the answer. If it is, you can just uncheck the line and forget about it, or if you want the thing to lock after a period of time, you'll have to find a time that gives you enough time to work but still locks it down after a reasonable amount of time. Better yet, figure out why it's not sensing that you're still working.

 

right at the 10min mark it went to the locked screen... I wonder if I turn ON the screensaver and set it to 5min and the screensaver itself is running, if that will keep the lock from happening.

 

None of the above worked. I turned on the screensaver and it didn't help anything... I have come to the conclusion that the screensaver has absolutely nothing to do with my computer locking itself after only a few minutes.

Does anyone else have any ideas??

 

Well, there's one more I can think of but I kind of doubt it would be causing it. None the less, you can check it out. Have a look at your power options in the control panel. I know you said you've looked at them but have you looked at the part that says require a password on wakeup? If it's checked, you might try unchecking it and then see what happens. Might be that it will go to the logon screen after 10 minutes but then moving your mouse would bring it right back out. If so, it would indicate a problem with the sleep process. At least it would seem that way. It's another longshot but if it would come out of it without a password, it would be a clue as to what's causing it to lock. Perhaps anyway.

If it does come out of it with just a mouse movement or keyboard activity, try disabling sleep and see what happens. This is assuming you're using sleep mode of course.

 

I took the password off of my user account, i did what you said and made it to where the computer doesn't require a password upon waking up from sleep... I have a screensaver enabled after 1min of inactivity and it still locks itself after 5-10min of sitting...

Should I take it in to the geeks and see if they can fix it?? I hate letting other people mess with my computer, but if this is something I can't fix... i want it fixed.

 

I guess I'm kind of out of ideas. The only other possibility I can think of is some program you have running may be doing it. I'm kind of thinking security related software I guess. Antivirus, firewall, that type of thing. I've never used one of them that had a lock down feature in it but there may be some out there that do. I'd have a look in the settings of those programs (if you have any) and see if there's an option in any of them to lock the computer after a certain period of time.

Other than that, I'm kind of out of ideas on it. Sorry. Perhaps somebody else will have some other suggestion for you if you wait a bit.

 

Find your power applet in Control Panel and run it, click change plan settings in the active profile, click Change advanced power settings, Expand the first option (Its usualy already expanded, click the option under "Require a password on wakeup" and change it to No

 

Thanks Hearspilot... I already made that change amongst many others... I'm waiting for a day to take it in and have the warranty used to fix it...
I really don't think it's something in the settings. It will lock after only a couple minutes of inactivity one time, then another it takes it 15min to lock... doesn't seem to be on a set standard.
I'm marking the thread as resolved. If I learn something new, I'll post it in here to help anyone else with the issue.

 

Start computer up in "Safe Mode ".
After an period of time of inactivity equal to above times causing the issue ...
Does computer continue to lockup??
If yes, we have dramatically reduced the number of software / 3rd party apps which could be influencing the problem. We can concentrate on the programs that are running, majority being operating system. It could also be a BIOS setting.
If computer does NOT lock up, good odds it is probably a 3rd party app.

 

The thread is marked resolve. I've been following this thread and if possible would like to know what action that was taken to resolve the issue. Thanks.

 

Thanks for the idea Dennis, I'll try it when I get home tonight.

lj, I marked it resolved because no one was giving any great responses after the first couple days and I planned on taking it to Best Buy to have it looked at under the warranty as I couldn't find any other ways to resolve it. Now that I've got a few responses to try, I am going to try them before I take it in... I'll update the post still...

 

Seventhdaybass thanks for your quick response. Good luck.

 

i did as suggested... I started up in Safe Mode and it worked perfectly... no locking at all. I started up in safe mode with networking and it worked fine again...
I started back up in normal mode and now it locks itself again.

 

The Good
It would appear it is not a hardware issue. (**)

The not so good
Trying to isolate which driver/app is loading / causing issue during a normal window load will be time consuming, pain in the butt.

Unfortunately - More bad news.
Their seems to be issues with this series of Asus notebooks.
The problems appear similar, yet the solution(s) is vague. All of the following threads come for Asus Forums .. (try to find threads closest matching your model)
Global search using this model
If this is a local B&M purchase I would take it in. If possible, call them before hand and schedule a time you could sit down and explain / show tech what has been done / how to create problem (Safe mode / Normal Start-up load). If it can not be resolved in a reasonable amount of time, I would suggest a return / purchase for a different notebook. Before you buy a different laptop, Google to check for any major issues.

Another thought ... Did this issue occur from Day / Week one of purchase??
If NO ... possible this is another way to REDUCE the driver/app "which one causing problem group ". Any software you have added / MS Updates you have installed are suspects.
If YES ... problem has been their from the start, again that reduces the driver/app list to Asus default software/windows load unique to this model.


(**) Qualifying Hardware - This does NOT exclude things like printers, gaming mouse or other attached devices. The root problem will probably be the device driver, but issue was caused by a new / different device attached to computer.

 

There is no printer installed... I use a network printer at my home which is connected to my desktop and this happens when I am connected to my network AND when I'm not connected.

The issue on when it started is kind of vague... as I was never really looking at this issue when I first bought the thing and it probably went un-noticed until it started interrupting slideshows and video.

Some good news on this end is I created an image of the hard-drive the day I bought the thing. It wouldn't be too hard to back up my data on a separate drive as I've only got a month worth of files on it and no pictures or music and all of my programs are easily re-installed. Return the thing to factory condition and see if it is still locking itself. Then re-install each program and see if it has an effect on it.
The only programs installed are my engineering programs and my virus software... all of which are also installed on my desktop which has no issue of this sort. Same version of Windows 7 as well... hard to think it's anything but one of the Windows processes causing this.

Tonight I'll return it to factory settings and condition and play with it. If that fixes it, i'll continue this a different way, but if it still locks itself I'll be taking it in. Only problem with returning it is it has a small chip on one of the corners already from a bad placement on my part with animals in the house... whoops. Although, if it's defective, then they can't complain about that can they?

Thanks for the advise Dennis... been very helpful!

 

Sounds like a good plan.
I would suggest creating another "Image Backup" of current drive in addition to your data backups. No such rule as having to much backup info. If this is your very first "Image Restore" on this computer, I'm wishing the best of luck for a successful one. It's a nerve racking event many of us endure. .. waiting for that initial widows load/desktop view after a 1st time restore.

This is how I would phrase it / reply ... If it caused the problem, it would lockup in Safe Mode ... and you end that level of the discussion.
(Throw in shrugging shoulders and a smile for effect.)

 

I don't get home for another 4 hours... in the mean time though, I did run to Best Buy and talk with one of the Geeks... told him what computer I have and my issue. He verified that if I return the computer to factory condition and the issue still exists, they would fix/replace it under the warranty. Now I just have to convince my fiance that she can't have the laptop tonight!! That's going to be the hardest obstacle!