Laptop Standby SNAFU

This just started yesterday.

My laptop decided it would go into standby mode and wouldn't wake up. I shut it down and when it started back up, it appeared to be fine.

However, this morning when I started it up, the screen stayed black even though the power up function was working. There were quick flickers of login information, a split second of the Compaq welcome screen before it went black again.

After getting upset and fiddling a bit, I found that if I repeatedly push the little switchy thing that gets pressed in when the unit is shut, that the screen will come back on. I checked my Standby and Hibernation settings in Control Panel and they have not changed.

Any idea what is causing this and how I can fix it? I'm pretty handy, but have never taken my laptop apart. All my experience has been with my desktop. I have no problem changing, adding and removing hardware in the desktop.

The first question I would ask of you is "How old is your laptop?"

Is it running on battery, is it running off of the adapter/battery charger?

It's running off wall current. And it's about 3 years old. I've never used the battery.

I downloaded and ran XoftSpySE yesterday and it found 17 pieces of malware that AVG and AdAware missed. This began after removing them.

I'm going to try running RegCure on it, but in case that's not it, I'm all ears for other suggestions.


[Edit to add last 2 paragraphs]

[edit on 12-5-2007 by MajorMalfunction]

Originally posted by MajorMalfunction

I downloaded and ran XoftSpySE yesterday and it found 17 pieces of malware that AVG and AdAware missed. This began after removing them.

Hmmm.....

That doesn't sound very good.

Since I wouldn't know either how to approach it from this point, other than to say don't use that computer until someone else can help to figure out the trouble.

I have never heard of XoftSpySE, btw. Do you have a link to their website?

Some so called anti-spyware programs are actually malicious in themselves.

Not saying it is the case here since obviously I don't know that, but it is odd that the problems started after you used that program.

Here's the link:

xoftspy.com...

I had issues on my desktop last year, when I suspected my ex had installed a keylogger. I researched for the best malware removers and Xoft came up over and over, which is why I used it. It's never caused issues on my desktop, but it figured out that a program a friend of my ex's had put on my system was actually spyware, though it was disguised as a program downloader.

The other one I'm thinking of buying and running is CounterSpy, but it annoys me on my desktop when it updates, because it takes forever so I'm not sure I want to.

I'm going to go on the Compaq site and see if they have anything to say about it too. I'll keep you updated, if you're interested.

Thanks for the help!

Okay I did a quick search for "XoftSpySE".

I didn't see any red flags that would indicate that that program itself is malicious, but apparently (to me at least) there is a possibility that it removed something that was needed?

Or possibly made other changes to your computer? (I'm thinking registry or some other settings)


Wait for someone to come here that has more knowledge than I do about problematic (apparent) software issues.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

[edit on 5/12/2007 by Mechanic 32]

If it gets real sticky, best place for free help I've found is Castle Cops. They'll have you download and run a program called "Hijack This" and post it on a forum. Then one of their experts will go through step-by-step and walk you through any corrective steps you need to take. It'll likely take a couple of days with the back-and-forth, but well worth the effort. They're extremely knowledgeable and patient.

I got to thinking, you said that it always runs from the power supply, and never the battery.

And the going into standby mode is what would happen if you were actually running from the battery and the battery was near the end of it's useful power.

I am thinking that it may not be a software problem after all. Could be a power issue.

Have you tried working from the battery since this problem happened?

I am thinking it could be that the power supply is going bad.

If you try using the battery and nothing happens, it most likely means that the power supply did not supply enough current to run the computer and keep a full charge on the battery as well.

Also, your battery itself could be the problem if it is in your laptop, even though you are using the power supply.

Again, I'm no expert. Just some more thoughts.

Again, thank you.

I logged onto Compaq's online tech support and the person at the other end of the chat window had me set all my power settings to Home/Desktop and all the standby stuff to Never. Said it would solve the problem.

I have shut down and restarted and so far, so good.

I'll keep you posted if interested, because somebody else may have this problem.

That was fast.

Sounds good.

Hope that your problem is resolved.

Hee hee I'm one of those women who go out and fix their computers themselves, or at least try to ask those who can help.

Sure intimidates the hell out of some guys though.

Update:

Well, it worked for a while, then started acting really squirrelly again.

Lucky for me a friend owns a computer company and he had one of his techs look at it.

They blew out the circuits and then left it on for two days and it didn't act up at all.

So the verdict is, it was just dirt.