sleep mode problems, have to ctrl/alt/del

Hi there, sorry if this is in the wrong forum for this issue.

I am having issues with sleep mode. I have a Dell Studio XPS 435MT, running 64 bit home premium vista with service pack 1.

After the computer wakes from sleep, all seems fine, and the desktop is always shown- however it won't let me click and open any applications or do anything until I control-alt-delete. I dont have to actually do anything in task manager, I just close it, and then the computer runs normally. If I had left applications open, those will then show up.

This issue happens regardless of screen saver use, and regardless of whether I have applications open or not. If I let the computer sleep without any applications running, I still have to start task manager before I can do anything.

Hello redcrown,

Try booting into BIOS, and check on the sleep settings there.
Is this a laptop?

~Lordbob

Re: Power Options and Sleep Mode Problems

Hi there,

You've got a great tutorial! I had an issue with my new Dell studio XPS before I did a system restore. I am paranoid that it will happen again, so I am trying to figure out exactly what went wrong..

I am running Vista Home premium 64bit with service pack 1. My video card is the ATI Raedon 4850.

When I got up this morning, I turned it on (and I dont remember if it was completely off, or just in hibernation/sleep) and it gave me a "keyboard failure" black screen. I had seen this once or twice before, and had restarted it with the power button and it worked normally afterwards.

Not this time. When I pushed the power button, it turned off- pushed it again and it said "resuming windows", but after I saw the start-up bars, my monitor shut down due to a lack of signal.

I restarted again, same thing. I tried unplugging everything to no avail. It will, however, display in safe mode, but not when I try to boot normally.

After doing a system restore, it booted up fine and the display is working.

So, I am wondering if it has anything to do with the weird issues with restarting from sleep mode... I had been having trouble with restarting from sleep mode or screensaver. 90% of the time when I wake it up it will display normally, but have a semi-frozen screen where the cursor moves but can't click anything. I have to Ct Alt Del and then hit cancel, then everything works normally and any programs I might have left open will reappear. This happens regardless of disabled screensaver. The only thing that seemed to help a little was requiring a password on wake, but that drives my boyfriend crazy, so I disabled that.

So, I went through the tutorial, and created a custom sleep plan based on what was reccomended for sleep and hybrid sleep. I disabled my wireless mouse and keyboard from waking the computer. I tried to check my BIOS settings, but for some reason they wont display... I can see the black box for just an instant before it disappears.

So.. sorry this is so long! Any advice would be appreciated, as this computer was expensive, and only about 40 days old.

Very weird indeed. At this point, my thought is a bad mobo on the laptop, which means returning it. You could try flashing the BIOS, but if the mobo is bad, it wont help.

When Shawn gets back to me about flashing the BIOS, I will put this in a tutorial if it is needed.

FLASHING BIOS:
Beginners Guides: Flashing a Motherboard BIOS - PCSTATS.com

Sorry, but I don't have time to consolidate that right now. Will make a tutorial later maybe.

~Lordbob

Thank you for your reply.

So, last night, I woke the computer up by moving the mouse (which I thought I disabled), however when it woke up everything worked fine.

This morning, I woke the computer up from what appeared to be a deep sleep with no flashing power light by pressing the power button. It said "keyboard failure" again, and I had to shut it down by power button. I started it back up, it said "resuming windows", however everything seems to be working fine...

I think it could be a faulty mobo, in which case your best bet is to return it for a new one....

~Lordbob