Cabbage, right click on the desktop, and go to properties... Click on the screensaver tab, and click on the 'Power' button under the monitor power section. Make sure all those settings are correct on the problem computer... sometimes these can get messed up.
read Castor's post back up ^^^..he explains it pretty good. Nick...from what he has said...they problem exists more outside of Windows than inside..if a power saving function is screwing up...it may be the power saving setting in the BIOS...
I regret that I am unfamiliar with this. How would I go about performing this task? Nick: I am pretty sure they are all set correctly. The problem is that I haven't been able to buy myself enough time once I'm in Windows to get into the Power settings. The monitor shuts off within seconds if I'm even lucky enough to get in.
I just now was fortunate enough to be able to check the power settings and standby, hibernation, etc. are all turned off. A couple of other things that are strange: 1) The amount of elapsed time between shutdowns seems to be related to how much time before the monitor shuts off. For example, if I wait for an hour after turning off the computer, I can hope to buy myself maybe 10-30 seconds inside Windows. If I turn the computer back on immediately after a shutdown, I will not even be able to back in Windows. 2) For what it is worth, the power button on my computer has never seemed to function. It will turn the computer on, but it won't turn it off or restart. I checked the setings for the Power Button and it is set to restart the computer. The setting for the Sleep button is set to: "Ask me what to do." I am embarrassed to admit that I don't know where the sleep button is. Could any of this have anything to do with the problem?
it is sounding more and more like the BIOS needs some adjusting or even a firmware upgrade. Unfortunately, this can be pretty complex to the uninitiated. BIOS functions can be accessed during boot when you will see the Press delete to enter setup or something similiar. Depending on the model..it may be other keys...but it will invariably be something about Entering Setup. Lets save this stuff for after you try to swap video cards. If you put in a different video card and it still does the same..then we go higher(or lower as it may be)..
OK I am at the part that for deleting partions. I have two currently, one is EISA Utilities and the other is Pavillion NTFS and I also have 7 MB of unpartioned space. Should I delete both partions or keep the one that says EISA utilities, what's that for anyway?
Now it's saying I cannot delete the main partion because there are temporary setup files that are needed there. What to do!?!?!?!
Ok I will try the video card. Thanks greatly for all of your help. Miraculously it's working right now, so I'll look into the video card.
oh hell.. It is a HP...the utilities partition are needed for computer setup utilities....the other is your main partition. you might want to just use the existing partitions then.
Oh ****, I deleted the utilities partion. Something weird happened. It installed XP but it didn't erase everything from the hard drive. I believe it installed the OS on the partion which was utilities. Is this bad? Is there anyway to erase the partion that told me I cannot erase it?
Do you still have the original restore disc that came with the computer? If so, you need to do a restore from that,it shoudl have an option to rebuild the disc from scratch. What model and make is it? It is a HP?
Yeah it's an HP Pavilion. I may have the restore disk but how would that help? I still want to reformt the HD, anyway to do it with a HP?
yes...there should be a way....I havent worked on a HP in a while....but most of the time when you have the restore disc....it will totally restore the drive to the default factory condition( ie, it wipes out everything and reinstalls the diagnostic and main partitions with the original OS).. If the OS it restores is not the one you want, and you need to upgrade it...then we go on from there. but first things first...you will need to restore the drive so you get your setup diagnostic partition back..then we can upgrade it.
With respect to your power button, they are generally designed such that they will perform an immediate power on, but you have to press it from 5-10 seconds to do a power off.
The computer seems to be running quite fine even with two OS on the machine. What problem may occur from what I've done?
