Monitor won't wake up when coming back from sleep (Windows 7)

Anonymous
2010-01-03T18:44:27+00:00

I recently upgraded my Dell Dimension desktop to Windows 7. In order to do so, I had to install a new grapchis card (NVIDIA GeForce).

I set the PC to sleep after a period of time. When I go to move the mouse and wake the computer back up, the PC itself seems to respond, but the monitor never comes back from sleep. I have no choice but to reboot to get the monitor back.

Any suggestions?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2011-07-11T00:39:26+00:00

A Universal fix would be ideal but - ASUS appears in 14 out of the 16 pages in this thread!!! Not saying everybody having this problem has an ASUS motherboard but if they do, and it seems a high percentage of people do, then they need todisable the PLL Overvoltage in their BIOS!!

IT ACTUALLY WORKS! Not just a workaround, my Computer AND Monitor now both wake from sleep by simply moving the mouse!

Also, obviously only people who have this problem are going to come here. If this is a wide-spread Windows 7 problem, then what about all the complaints large companies like HP Compaq and DELL etc would receive when their customers have the same problem? If they received many complaints and being that  they have a much bigger voice than us they would simply demand Microsoft fix it. I also have a TOSHIBA laptop running windows 7 and it sleeps and wakes just fine.

So if anybody who has friends or family who own a 2011 Dell, Acer or HP etc that came out brand new, factory loaded with Windows 7  please ask them if they have this issue or not. (These companies may have had this problem initially but I would imagine it would be fixed by now??!!)

A lot of people who have this problem also seem to have a separate Video Card (I have a Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 which of course the monitor is connected to) Do any people who are using integrated graphics also have this problem such as people with an H67 mobo?

I am curious as to what percentage of Windows 7 users have this problem. We may find we are in the 1% bracket and 99% of Windows 7 users don't have this problem. It may just be incompatibility of Windows 7  with either our hardware or settings.

In my case disabling PLL Overvoltage works! :-)

Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments

193 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2010-11-28T19:49:57+00:00

    Had a problem with my Samsung Syncmaster 940BF monitor not waking up from sleep.  Had to switch the monitor power on and off a few times before the screen came to life again.  Took the monitor casing off and checked the circuit board and discovered a couple of the capacitors were faulty.  Bought replacements off Ebay for a couple of quid and soldered them on.  Problem solved. Monitor works perfectly.

    Check out http://www.badcaps.net/pages.php?vid=5 to identify the faulty capacitors.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2010-12-03T15:28:25+00:00

    NOTE:  This is about the monitor going to sleep and not waking up, and NOT about thecomputer going to sleep.  (I know both of these have been discussed in this thread.)

     I have an HP Compaq dc7800 Small Form Factor.  I have two HP L2208w monitors.  After upgrade to Windows 7, one of the monitors would go to sleep and, like others' stories, would not wake up; only a reboot would do it.  Switching the monitor connectors would cause the sleep to happen on the other monitor.

    I installed the various correct drivers for my specific hardware.  The system initially had been using all the generic Windows drivers.  One exception:  I was still using the Generic PnP driver for the monitors.  I also tried turning the monitor power on/off multiple times.  No success with any of this.

    What seems to have done the trick:  I installed the specific correct driver for my monitors.  I also set to OFF the "DDC/CI" setting on the monitor.  On my HP monitor, that setting is found here:  Hit the button on the monitor that gives you the main menu for the monitor.  Main Menu > Management > DDC/CI Support > set to OFF.  Before doing these two things, I still had the sleep problem.  After doing these two things, I no longer have the sleep problem.

    I have since set back to ON the DDC/CI setting on the monitor and all is still good, so I'll infer for the moment that it was the monitor driver install that solved it.  But I thought it might be worth mentioning the DDC/CI setting, just in case anybody wants to try it, since it takes 30 seconds or less to do.

    For what it's worth, here is where I got the driver for my HP L2208w monitors: http://download.cnet.com/HP-L2208w-Wide-LCD-Monitor/3000-2108_4-189418.html

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2010-12-05T20:36:11+00:00

    Thanks.  What does the DDC/CI do?

    My problem was that without being able to view the monitor, I couldn't try any fixes even though you could tell that windows was on.  I couldn't restart the right way so I did a hardboot which didn't work so I had a dead computer on my hands.  I had to ship it back to HP to get it back on again, though they didn't explain what had been wrong or what they did to fix it (except that they replaced one of the memory cards, which I doubt was the real issue.)  Anyway, since I got it back it happened one more time, but after a few minutes, it came on with a message that Windows detected a problem and fixed it. 

    What I've been doing since is turning off the monitor switch myself whenever I walk away from the computer.  That keeps it from going to sleep on its own, so it seems to be the best practical solution.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2010-12-08T14:05:07+00:00

    I don't know what the DDC/CI setting does--just that it's related to color somehow.  Sorry I'm not any help on that.  (Don't have time at the moment to go look it up...)

    Bad news:  the sleep problem is back.  I went for a bit without any problems, and now I'm back to one of them being asleep and unwakeable every morning when I get into work.  I'm now resorting to turning off sleep altogether and hoping I'll remember to turn off my monitors before going home every evening.

    :-(

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments