You're in luck. I have an Inspiron E1505. I'm going to try to recreate that issue right now.
EDIT: Unable to recreate it. Trying more ideas. I think i've edited all of my posts in this thread.
Another tidbit that might help you here. I went into Device Manager, and I noticed that I have 3 default monitors in there - whenever I try to uninstall them, they just reappear again when I reboot. I don't know if this has anything to do with my issue of the monitor failing to turn back on.
I cannot remember if I have disabled it before or not (I may have), but I'll give it a try. Do you know any possible reason for the 3 default monitors popping up in my Device Manager? Also, why can't they be uninstalled? Any ideas? I have never connected external monitors to this laptop before.
No such luck. I have tried disabling 2 default monitors, with the same results. Tried to uninstall all of them again too, but they reappeared upon bootup.
No, not really. The only things that I can think of is to try to find a driver specifically for your monitor and see if maybe Windows is having a problem figuring out how to tell it to turn back on. The driver it's using right now is probably a generic plug n play driver which is good enough usually, but it wouldn't hurt to try finding a specific driver on the Dell website. I think you will have to get it from Dell yourself instead of using the update driver feature in the Device Manager, since that will only try to update the generic driver. This is pretty much the last thing I can think to tell you to do short of taking your computer to a shop. Good luck...
I called Dell Support yesterday, and this ignorant-sounding CS rep completely miunderstood me and kept playing with the hibernation setting on my machine via Dell Connect. What I was trying to tell him was that once the monitor shuts off, the only way to bring it back on is to hit the power key (which puts my machine in hibernation) - this is when I see the monitor turn back on and display Windows putting my laptop into hibernation.
He started suggesting all sorts of crazy causes, like a monitor cable that wasn't connected properly (hence the 3 default monitors). I pointed out to him that it was highly unlikely, as my monitor would not even be displaying graphics properly if it was improperly connected; it is only failing to turn back on when it shuts off when it's supposed to do so via Power Management.
He then goes on about changing my system motherboard, which sounds rather drastic and Draconian to me. I'm not even sure if this would cure the issue, and it would mean sending back the whole machine to Dell, and who knows what else they could mess up on the system while fixing the motherboard?
I think I'm pretty much resigned to living with this issue as it's not something that is life-threatening to the laptop. I was just wanting to go easy on the LCD panel as I leave it for 30mins-2 hrs at a time occasionally, and I didn't want the display to be on the entire time that it was unattended.
Paul
P.S. Btw, I went to the Dell site - there are no monitor drivers for the Inspiron 1501 available. The Rep confirmed this as well. Do you have any other ideas on how to remove the 3 default monitors?
I hate Dell's support. I'm not sure about removing those other monitors, if the driver isn't available on the Dell website. Just out of curiosity, what happens when you close the lid of your laptop?
This is the strange part. I have tried disabling ALL 3 default monitors, as well as uninstalling all 3 of them, but they just mysteriously appear again upon bootup - all 3 of them!
The computer goes into hibernation when I close the lid, as it's supposed to (I set this in Power Management.) The curious part is that when I hit the power key, it goes into hibernation (also set in Power Management), and the monitor turns on just as it is completing the hibernation process (displays the Windows logo and the hibernation bar moving across the screen.)
Paul
P.S. I'm wondering about the video drivers, because I've updated them. I updated them without uninstalling the old driver - could that cause the 3 default monitor issue?
Linear Mode
