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XPS 420 Won't Stay Awake

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1.5K views 11 replies 2 participants last post by  joeten  
A
#1 ·
I've owned an XPS 420 for several years now, running it under XP; factory default is Vista. Today I was trying to do a factory restore, but it didn't seem to work; Vista was installed, but all my old files remained. I take it I was supposed to have done a repair, rather than an install, but I can work on that issue later.

Right now, I can't get the damn thing to stay awake long enough to actually run troubleshooting. Every time I boot it up, in about one to ten minutes the monitor shuts off- Digital power saving- and I can't get it to wake up. I've tried two different monitors, both digital. I'm trying to dig up an old analog connector at the moment, but I'm not sure I still have the analog port on the XPS.

Either way, if I CAN'T get an analog, is there something else I can try here? I backed everything up, since I was planning to do a clean sweep anyways, but I'd like to have a working computer all the same.
 
A
#3 ·
It's a desktop, and I don't think I can reach any sort of power settings before the monitor/computer shuts off.

Small update, I don't seem to have the factory video card lying around anymore, unless one of my family have secreted it away somewhere. Either way, I don't have access to an analog capable video card at the moment, thus throwing that option out the window.
 
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#5 ·
The problem right now is that I can't actually access any of my computer settings reliably. Any time I get past the Windows loading, which is rare in itself, I have one minute tops to try and do anything to the computer proper. I don't think it is sleep mode since it's happening regardless of whether or not my mouse is moving.
 
#6 ·
Ok turn off and unplug then take the side of and check all the cables and connections are firmly seated check the ram and the heatsink and fan are firmly and securely seated also any video card you might also give the inside a clean with a can of compressed air,remember to ground yourself by touching the unpainted part of the chassis
 
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#11 ·
I found out what was going on- more or less.
After several tries I managed to get the Video Card drivers installed, and after that the problem cleared up. I'm assuming that, since it was a newer card (compared to the relatively static PC) it wasn't interfacing properly? Either way, I haven't had any problems since installing the drivers.
 
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