Computer problem

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Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

I have a problem with my new laptop, I switched it on earlier, it was running on battery power, not connected to the mains, all the lights were still on when it went on to what I assume is the power saving thing where the screen goes black, then I noticed the desktop screen came on a little while later without touching the mousepad and the screen went black again after that, and the lights went off, I assumed it had shut down completely.

So, I pressed the power button, the lights came back on, and the screen said "resuming windows", nothing happened after that, the screen is still black, plugged the mains power cable in to see if that did anything, nothing, all the lights are still on, can hear the fan, but nothing is coming on the screen, just black, there is no off button on it so I can't turn if off, I tried ctrl+alt+del twice to see if that rebooted it, nothing, I know when the desktop is on, if I hit ctrl+alt+del, it give me a menu saying, shut down, restart, lock etc, which I have to click, any ideas what's wrong with it or what to do Confused

Just leave it until the battery runs flat then try the mains again?

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 12:05 am

or if you can disconnect the battery from your laptop it'l be dead, then restart it with the cable in.

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

^^^^^ I was just doing that while you posted, it booted up when I plugged the mains lead in, then said, system resume failed, and gave 2 choices, try system resume again, or, delete system resume and do some other thing, tried number 1 and the screen is just black, going to unplug the battery and try the delete system resume now.

[edit]

Ok, the exact message on screen after unplugging the battery again and rebooting with the mains lead, says:

The last attempt to resume the system from it's previous location failed. Attempt to resume again?

(use the arrow key to highlight your choice)

1) Continue with system resume

2) Delete restoration data and proceed to system boot menu

[edit]

Went with number 2 that time and now it's working again Very Happy

, what caused that problem to happen then Confused

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 12:26 am

Not really sure, sometimes it's just the hardware I know my old Toshiba Laptop would do that kind of stuff all the time but it was 4 years old.

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

I think I will have a mess about with the power saving settings tomorrow and tell it not to do anything, when I use it it's always with the mains, just wanted to check something on it tonight which took 1 minute and forgot to shut it down, the the power save thing must have kicked in Mad

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 1:01 am

If it does it again, another way might be to press and hold the power button till it completely shuts off.....similar to control-alt-delete, but a more direct way to completely shut down.

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 1:33 am

Make sure you switch off Hibernation. Lots of probs with that.
What OS is it? XP?

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 1:33 am

when it starts up, right after the POST screen, press and hold the F8 key. Windows should now give you a choice of startup options. Chose safe mode.

After the computer has finished booting into safe mode chose Start-turn off computer-restart

now the computer should start up again normally.

http://www.ubuntu.com/ Wink

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 1:37 am

^^How come I have to do that about once a week? Confused

Someone showed that to me 3 months ago and I just do, but I don't know why it continues to screw up in the first place.

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 1:44 am

Hi Coronalight,

best option is to disable windows hibernation support. It's still kinda buggy sometimes.

Even linux has probs with powersaving settings.

If you want to keep using the Powersaving options try runining disk defragmenter.

Found in Start-Programs-Accessories-system tools.

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 2:02 am

SP,
Good luck! This kinda stuff plucks my nerves.

Stoker,
Thanks and will do. If I remember correctly, it takes awhile. banghead

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 2:52 am

It's like always, all the nice options that Billy (and others) put in there makes it a bit hard to get it right. The motherboard set-up has some options there too usually if the keyboard and mouse are turned off as a way to "wakeup" your computer nothing will help once it's "a sleep" or "hibernating" Usually you get to that menu by pushing [Esc] or [Del] during the early boot. Especially laptops don't always show the text during booting as the screen hasn't been enabled yet at that time Rolling Eyes

. You can try that option if nothing else works. You get a little menu that will let you make changes in the set-up. Usually you have the option to switch off or on wakeup from Modem- com port- internet-network � keyboard (which will include the mouse) Just have a look when needed, if you�re not sure choose the option �Exit without saving� and nothing has happened and it will reboot like before. If you have questions about it you can always drop them here.
In windows you can click [Start] --> [Control panel] >[ Power Options] there you can tell it never to go asleep again in windows and more options like turning off the monitor after a certain time.
Sometimes the shop that sells the thing will set it up that this happens so you have to visit their expensive helpdesk to get it fixed. Sometimes the motherboard has it as the standard option, because they weren�t thinking.
I hope this helps a bit, if not don�t hesitate to ask.

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 3:11 pm

@ SP. Maybe this piece of technology should be your next 'machine'?

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

^^^^^ Hey, I am not talking about this ME machine, it's the new Vista laptop Razz

Anyway, I have changed the setting on it now, it was set to go in to sleep mode after 25 minutes, changed that to NEVER go in to sleep mode, also made the on button now also able to turn it off, and the same when the lid is closed, it will shut down, shouldn't have any more problems now.

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 9:21 pm

Quote:

shouldn't have any more problems now

Ah! How trusting Very Happy

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 4:07 am

Scam Patroller wrote:

^^^^^ Hey, I am not talking about this ME machine, it's the new Vista laptop Razz

Exactly, it seems that everything technological you touch goes pear shaped.