Dell Monitor Power Saving Will Make Me Mental
February 23, 2013 6:48 AM Subscribe
I have a 23" Dell ST2320L monitor that is quite nice in all respects but one. It goes into Power Saver mode when playing games. Hope me.
Once this monitor enters its own power save, it is impossible to bring it out of this state. I have bashed on the keyboard, turned the wireless mouse on and off, inserted a DVD, everything...
I have adjusted every Display setting on the computer (Windows 7) that is available to NEVER TURN OFF THE DISPLAY. Yet any game (Medal of Honor, Football Manager, GTA: San Andreas) will make the monitor turn itself to "Power Save mode." The timing of this shutdown isn't always the same, but is generally 10-15 minutes (but does vary).
-There are no power save settings in the monitor's own menu.
-PC is connected via VGA cable
-Unplugging VGA cable/monitor power source and then plugging back in does nothing
-I have an NVIDIA GeForce GTS 240 graphics card whose drivers are up-to-date. There is some info on the internet that possibly when the GPU gets hot, the Dell monitor shuts
down
I can't think of any more relevant info. I suspect that it is a problem with the GPU, since it only happens with games, but I can't find any solution to this problem.
Once this monitor enters its own power save, it is impossible to bring it out of this state. I have bashed on the keyboard, turned the wireless mouse on and off, inserted a DVD, everything...
I have adjusted every Display setting on the computer (Windows 7) that is available to NEVER TURN OFF THE DISPLAY. Yet any game (Medal of Honor, Football Manager, GTA: San Andreas) will make the monitor turn itself to "Power Save mode." The timing of this shutdown isn't always the same, but is generally 10-15 minutes (but does vary).
-There are no power save settings in the monitor's own menu.
-PC is connected via VGA cable
-Unplugging VGA cable/monitor power source and then plugging back in does nothing
-I have an NVIDIA GeForce GTS 240 graphics card whose drivers are up-to-date. There is some info on the internet that possibly when the GPU gets hot, the Dell monitor shuts
down
I can't think of any more relevant info. I suspect that it is a problem with the GPU, since it only happens with games, but I can't find any solution to this problem.
Response by poster: Sorry, should have mentioned that. Did try it with a "regular" (i.e., square) monitor, and no power save "shutdown."
posted by kuanes at 7:24 AM on February 23, 2013
posted by kuanes at 7:24 AM on February 23, 2013
You say VGA; do you mean the old analog VGA connection with 5x3 pins? Or are you actually using a DVI cable? If you're using VGA the first thing you should do is switch to DVI. Not only will the picture be clearer, but it may fix your problem.
Either way, what you are calling "power save mode" is probably the monitor's reaction to losing display signal. My guess is something is going wrong such that your monitor thinks it no longer has a computer plugged into it and shuts down. I don't know how to fix that, it depends in part on my VGA/DVI question above, but maybe it'll help you diagnose the problem. The only software thing I can think to try is running games at different resolutions. But I bet you've tried that already.
One other possibility is you say it only happens after 10-15 minutes. Maybe your video card is overheating? Does it work better if you take the case cover off the computer or point a fan at it?
posted by Nelson at 7:46 AM on February 23, 2013
Either way, what you are calling "power save mode" is probably the monitor's reaction to losing display signal. My guess is something is going wrong such that your monitor thinks it no longer has a computer plugged into it and shuts down. I don't know how to fix that, it depends in part on my VGA/DVI question above, but maybe it'll help you diagnose the problem. The only software thing I can think to try is running games at different resolutions. But I bet you've tried that already.
One other possibility is you say it only happens after 10-15 minutes. Maybe your video card is overheating? Does it work better if you take the case cover off the computer or point a fan at it?
posted by Nelson at 7:46 AM on February 23, 2013
Best answer: Go grab an app like furmark and run it on one of the not timed burn in tests. How hot does your gpu get? Over 90c is bad, and a bit over that it'll shut itself off to prevent damage, which causes what you're seeing.
This is definitely a graphics card problem, not a monitor problem just judging by the time thing. I've had this issue on my own personal desktops and laptops, and diagnosed it for people on their systems. It's either an overheating thing, or just a failing GPU. Probably just heat though.
If it is a tempurature thing you'll need to remove the card, get some canned air(or even better, a compressor) and blow all the crap out of the heatsink and fan. You'll probably be surprised at how much can really get up in there.
posted by emptythought at 9:51 AM on February 23, 2013
This is definitely a graphics card problem, not a monitor problem just judging by the time thing. I've had this issue on my own personal desktops and laptops, and diagnosed it for people on their systems. It's either an overheating thing, or just a failing GPU. Probably just heat though.
If it is a tempurature thing you'll need to remove the card, get some canned air(or even better, a compressor) and blow all the crap out of the heatsink and fan. You'll probably be surprised at how much can really get up in there.
posted by emptythought at 9:51 AM on February 23, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by dobi at 6:56 AM on February 23, 2013