Why does typing cause my Dell Inspiron 1520 to go into standby mode?
July 15, 2008 2:20 PM   Subscribe

Why does typing (in Word or in a browser) cause my Dell Inspiron 1520 to go into standby mode? This has happened a few times over the past week. It doesn’t happen every session. Mouse clicks do not cause the problem, only typing. This keyboard is part of the laptop, which is less than a year old. It is running Windows XP. Drivers are updated. I’ve reset the power options so that standby should never occur. Any ideas?
posted by Riverine to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)
 
Is a key occasionally sticking, so that you accidentally type some obscure combo that causes immediate standby? Some years back I had a vaguely similar problem with a Thinkpad; turned out the little blue "function" key was sticking, and I was typing "screen brightness" sequences without realizing it.

This has never happened on my old Inspiron, but I'm still gonna mention it as a possibility.
posted by aramaic at 2:37 PM on July 15, 2008


Best answer: My friends laptop had a similar problem a little while ago. Typing strongly on the machine or resting your palm in the wrong place would cause it to shutdown. She gave up and bought a new machine, but later when I took it apart the cause became apparent. The cable connecting the power button to the motherboard had become torn, and some of the wiring was exposed, so any pressure could trigger the button press signal.

Not too much information to go on here, so I'm just throwing that out there as a data point. If you can eliminate a software problem as the issue (for example by booting a Ubuntu live cd and seeing if it happens there), and it's not something obvious you can see from the outside (like sticky buttons), then a physical problem inside is likely. If it were me, I'd probably just open up the thing and take a look, but if you don't feel comfortable doing that then warranty service is probably your best bet.
posted by tracert at 3:26 PM on July 15, 2008 [1 favorite]


I think the physical jarring caused by typing is causing the power to your computer to be intermittent.

The battery could be loose in the compartment, or the contacts could be dirty on either the battery side or the computer side, or the spring tension pushing the computer contacts against the battery contacts could be too low.

If you are using a power adapter, the plug or socket could be dirty, or the wires could be fraying inside their insulation, or the spring tension of the socket could be too low.
posted by jamjam at 3:38 PM on July 15, 2008


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