Monitor won't come out of hibernate - M3A mobo

I was so pleased with the help I got here recently on a couple of issues
that I thought I'd try again today now that I have a major problem. My
monitor won't come out of hibernate mode and I can't even get the monitor's
power light to come on.

Last night, we had an unusually long power interruption. In this area, it's
not unusual for power to flicker off for a split second and then right back
on; that can happen once every week or two. However, last night's power
failure lasted several minutes; that's the longest interruption in several
years. I didn't time it but I think it was at least three minutes and
probably didn't exceed ten minutes, just in case that matters.

During the power outage, I happened to be looking at the monitor when it
said "Windows hibernating...."; the progress indicator was roughly at the
halfway point and there were absolutely no options to make it stop so I just
let it do its thing.

After the power came back, I went to the computer and it was so quiet, I
assumed it was off. I pressed the power switch to bring it on again and
realized the computer was actually ON, not off, but it took a few seconds
for that to dawn on me, during which I'd been pressing the power button in,
so I turned it off when I'd meant to turn it on. Anyway, I pressed the
computer power again. It started to boot up and I heard the drives whir and
beep a bit, then it seemed to stop dead. I did a bit of research on my older
computer and found that after hibernation, USB devices could be an issue
with hibernation. I'm pretty sure I hadn't touched any USB devices during
the power outage but I had replugged one a few hours earlier so I replugged
it again and suddenly the boot cycle proceded. It sounded like everything
was whirring and beeping the way it normally does. However, the monitor was
completely black and the power light for the monitor was not even on.

In fact, since finishing the hibernation during the power failure, the power
light on the monitor has been consistently off; it has not even flickered on
for a second.

I've tried plugging it into other outlets that I know are working but I
can't even get the power light to come on. I tried the self-test for the
monitor, which is a Samsung T260 and FAILED. (This is the test where you
power off monitor and computer, then power on the monitor alone; it is
supposed to display "Check signal cable" but this doesn't happen.) I don't
know what's wrong with the monitor or how to get it to turn on again. I want
to emphasize that there was NO storm going on during the power outage so
there was no lightning strike anywhere in this area during the power
incident. Also, the monitor was on an APC UPS that is working perfectly,
according to the APC software.

The monitor has worked perfectly since I bought it two years ago and has
never given me a monents grief. All of this trouble seemed to begin with the
hibernation, which was (apparently) prompted by the power outage. For what
it's worth, the Power Options do show hibernation to be enabled. However,
"Turn off monitor" is set to "after 20 mins" and I'd just about bet my life
that the outage didn't last that long. The other settings "Turn off hard
disks", "System standby", and "System hibernates" are all set to "Never". As
far as I can tell, the computer shouldn't have hibernated at all! (Perhaps
the UPS software made it hibernate earlier??)

I've looked in Device Manager and there are no yellow question marks or red
X's on anything.

My computer and monitor are on a working APC UPS (battery backup). The APC
performance tab says "Your battery backup last intervened on 2011-06-30 at
21:10:12. PowerChute performed 1 managed shutdown of the operating system."
It indicates that the power problem was a blackout, unit switched=2, and
time on battery=28 seconds.

One other thing I should mention is the weird on/off switch on this monitor.
The monitor has 6 buttons on it; 5 along the side that bring up menus and
then adjust settings (when the monitor will power on) and a power on/off
button on the front of the bezel near the bottom right corner. The manual
describes then as "touch sensitive" buttons. The 5 buttons along the side
are actual physical buttons that you can touch and feel; they project a bit
above the surface so that you can easily feel them with your fingers.
However, the on/off button on the front is completely invisible to the eyes
and you can't feel ANYTHING there with your fingers. There is a standard
on/off icon but nothing else. I find it frustrating to touch the bezel on or
near the icon and not feel anything resembling a button. I always wonder if
I should be pressing somewhere else, like under the edge of the bezel, but
there is nothing there either. I can't say that this has been a continuous
annoyance since I got the monitor; basically, I got it turned on initially
and haven't touched that button since. (Honestly, I don't remember touching
the button when I first set up the monitor at this point but the monitor
came on so I assume I did whatever I had to do to make it come on. I just
don't know what it was that I did.) The reason I mention this is that it's
entirely possible that the solution to my problem is pressing the on/off
button for the monitor; the only thing is that I can't feel it so I'm not
sure if I'm pressing it or if I've just missed it somehow.

I've given all the information I can think of but if there is more that I
can tell you to help you diagnose this issue for me, just let me know.

The Samsung was a relatively expensive monitor and I really hope that it
isn't dead. Any ideas on how I can "bring it back to life"?

--
Rhino

"Rhino" <> wrote in message
news:iuli3s$au6$...
>I was so pleased with the help I got here recently on a couple of issues
>that I thought I'd try again today now that I have a major problem. My
>monitor won't come out of hibernate mode and I can't even get the monitor's
>power light to come on.
>

Please disregard this thread. I found the problem and the monitor is working
perfectly again.

Proof once again that you should ALWAYS check physical things like cables
and power before you start looking at the more subtle stuff. It turned out
that the power cord had come off at the monitor end. As soon as I plugged it
back in, everything was working fine. I must have accidentally dislodged it
as I moved the monitor around.

--
Rhino

Rhino wrote:
> "Rhino" <> wrote in message
> news:iuli3s$au6$...
>> I was so pleased with the help I got here recently on a couple of issues
>> that I thought I'd try again today now that I have a major problem. My
>> monitor won't come out of hibernate mode and I can't even get the monitor's
>> power light to come on.
>>
>
> Please disregard this thread. I found the problem and the monitor is working
> perfectly again.
>
> Proof once again that you should ALWAYS check physical things like cables
> and power before you start looking at the more subtle stuff. It turned out
> that the power cord had come off at the monitor end. As soon as I plugged it
> back in, everything was working fine. I must have accidentally dislodged it
> as I moved the monitor around.
>
> --
> Rhino

I've got a monitor like that, where the cord falls off easily.
That one is on my test PC. The connector on the monitor points
straight down, so gravity gets to pull on the thing directly.
A little thermal expansion, a little gravity, and out it comes.

My other monitor (the good one), uses a power brick, and the
cord is thin and light. It's never fallen off. And the monitor
is around six years old and no problems yet. It's a miracle.

Paul

On 7/1/2011 6:08 PM, Paul wrote:
> Rhino wrote:
>> "Rhino" <> wrote in message
>> news:iuli3s$au6$...
>>> I was so pleased with the help I got here recently on a couple of
>>> issues that I thought I'd try again today now that I have a major
>>> problem. My monitor won't come out of hibernate mode and I can't even
>>> get the monitor's power light to come on.
>>>
>>
>> Please disregard this thread. I found the problem and the monitor is
>> working perfectly again.
>>
>> Proof once again that you should ALWAYS check physical things like
>> cables and power before you start looking at the more subtle stuff. It
>> turned out that the power cord had come off at the monitor end. As
>> soon as I plugged it back in, everything was working fine. I must have
>> accidentally dislodged it as I moved the monitor around.
>>
>> --
>> Rhino

The old Doh! episodes, know those all too well.

I just finished up doing some fairly major changes on a machine, and did
some "cable tidyup" and put the whole thing back together.

The SATA drive didn't work on powereup, found the SATA power connector
popped off when I was moving things around. That wouldn't have happened
with the old 4-pin molex connectors... but then I've had the damned pins
pull out of the body on those so I guess it's a wash.


>
> I've got a monitor like that, where the cord falls off easily.
> That one is on my test PC. The connector on the monitor points
> straight down, so gravity gets to pull on the thing directly.
> A little thermal expansion, a little gravity, and out it comes.
>
> My other monitor (the good one), uses a power brick, and the
> cord is thin and light. It's never fallen off. And the monitor
> is around six years old and no problems yet. It's a miracle.
>
> Paul


Is the power connector for 120VAC with the usual | | connector?
|
(Your usual pooter power cord IOW)

If the cord falls out on those, it's the cord at fault. The connector
itself has no retention devices/features, it's all in the spring/rubber
friction on the cord's connector.

I've had this happen with ancient cords, especially the extremely
heavy-weight ones that came with ancient laser printers and copy
machines. Between the weight and the sloppy grip, they would fall (bad
pun) victim to gravity when used in a vertical situation like this.

(IIRC, I've seen spring retainers used on some of those old beasts just
for that reason)






--
"**** this is it, all the pieces do fit.
We're like that crazy old man jumping
out of the alleyway with a baseball bat,
saying, "Remember me mother****er?"
Jim “Dandy” Mangrum