Best of the ISP-Lists

General

My Laptop Keeps Going . . . and Going . . .

Members of the ISP-Tech list pore over a laptop computer whose screen turns off, but whose power is always on. It just keeps going, and going, and going. . .

[November 19, 2001]

On the ISP-Tech list in October, JB complained,

"I recently bought a cheap Compaq Presario which ran very well on Windows 98. I now have the machine running NT 4.0, and I have no sound, a resolution of 800 x 600, and most importantly, I cannot turn off the machine! The power switch only sends the screen to sleep. As a result, the battery is continually being drained: how can I fix this?"

Some respondents offered the most obvious answer:

[GG noted] "Some of these computers require you to hold the power button down for a full five seconds to turn it off. You may have to do that."

[TB agreed] "Sounds like a soft switch to me. Just hold the button until the computer turns off."

Others suggested exploring more complex solutions:

[VB offered] "Shutdown problems are usually either a bad driver, or a problem with Windows updating the Plug and Play NVRAM on the motherboard. Look for an option to turn off a 'Plug and Play Aware OS' setting in the motherboard config. Alternatively, as far as drivers are concerned, open the machine, see what you have for hardware, and go get the chip manufacturer's generic drivers."

[GW advised] "It could also be a BIOS setting in the power options. Award allows you to set the power switch to either sleep or power off. There is also a setting for either immediate or after four seconds."

[GG added] "Keep in mind that NT 4.0 does not support power management, although several companies did write third party drivers for that purpose. Your only option may be to install Windows 2000 to provide plug and play support. You might also try disabling USB functions in the BIOS, as NT does not support that either. There are also a number of driver support issues that can cause this type of behavior, depending on the chipset and hardware combination."

JB explained that the issue seemed pretty irresolvable:

"Thanks for the suggestions, but none of them worked. I called Compaq support, and they told me the machine was designed for Windows 98 and they won't guarantee it will work with any other OS. Looks like the answer is going to be to just take out the battery every time I want to shut down the machine…"

Others suggested there was an ugly trend in the industry:

[SP observed] "Years ago, I remember Packard Bell telling me the same thing about a Windows 95 system, saying I shouldn't try to go to Windows 98. In their effort to manufacture at the lowest possible cost, their focus on designing it to work for a specific OS buried them."

[GG recalled] "I still remember when all PC companies would bend over backwards to help you, and to make their hardware work with whatever OS you wanted to use. Now there are only a few companies left in the industry that really believe in providing good product support."

—End