[darrencax]

This has been an ongoing issue for a while not and quite frustrating...

Basically I've got Windows 7 Home Basic on my Mini 9. The install if fresh with almost no modifications done.

A few months ago, I used it, closed the lid, then returned to a piping hot netbook which was stuck on a black screen... I pull the battery and let it cool for a while then try again. Now when the lid is closed, the screen will go black (as the lid is closed) but never go to sleep)

To confirm it was some kind of software fluke, I booted to a live Ubuntu and confirmed it will sleep just fine when the lid is closed. With this confirmed, I reloaded Windows. Everything seemed to be fine for a while...until it started doing this again.

It's obviously the switch still works as I mentioned the screen does turn off as it closes... Power settings are all defaults, and I even checked and reset them to confirm all were right.

The only recent change I've done; I swapped out the wireless card and loaded the latest driver (Some Atheros BGN card; I forget the model right off). My previous Broadcom ABGN card was getting WAY too hot. I'm considering trying another card, perhaps an Intel 4965 or 5100... Not sure if the wireless has anythign to do with it though...

Which, BTW, it's not like the laptop can't sleep. You tell it to sleep, it'll go to sleep just fine and wake up just fine...

[lswartz]

The boot up & shutdown is so fast I never used hibernation. Win 7 is almost as fast so I would probably not use it there either. Please note that I am guessing based on the boot speed of my son's I7 desktop. However, I do have it enabled on my wife's desktop (also uses Ubuntu 10.04) which she prefers. Have you considered just using Ubuntu?

[rrfranczak3]

in the power settings there is an option that you can set for what to do when they lid is closed....what is yours set to?

[DELL SudheerK]

Hi Darrencax,

My name is Sudheer K and I work for the Social Media and Community Team at Dell.
Here are few things which I can suggest you to try and check
1. Try updating chipset drivers, BIOS update from support.dell.com website
2. Try disabling the wireless card from device manager and see if the sleep mode works fine.
3. After setting the power options to default , go to the advanced options in power settings and confirm if the option is set to sleep when closing the lid as well.
4. Sometimes updating video card drivers also will help you in fixing the problem. Try reinstalling the video card driver from device manager and update it.
Check if this helps you and let me know
Thanks
Dell_Sudheer_Kota
Dell Social Media Responder

[darrencax]

OK, I actually had a nice long reply referring to each of the replies but for whatever reason I accidentally didn't post it. I might come back later and retype, but I do have an update to further confuse you all :P

The netbook CAN sleep just fine. Earlier today I left it sitting and I returned to it asleep. I tapped the power button and it woke up just fine.

Ready for the kicker? I put it to sleep again then closed the lid. Reopened...it woke up! And yes, it WOKE up, not simply the screen turning back on...

All drivers are installed, updated, etc... Nothing is missing in device manager, everything else works like a charm. The ONLY thing I can think of could possibly be some of the tweaks I did to help prolong the life of the SSD. However, I did the exact same steps on my primary laptop and it works just fine. Strange and frustrating...

[lswartz]

That is puzzling. I hope it continues to work for you. At the same time, it would be nice to figure out how you fixed it too.

[darrencax]

Ahem... *^^*

OK, problem has been solved. I'm a little embarrassed to say what it was (and might be banned) buuuut.... It was my Windows 7 crack! I reloaded Windows 7 Home Premium (which I did have a key for, verses Home Basic) and it works like a charm.

I know this topic is something we're not supposed to bring up, but I wanted to let people know what was going on, and others to know what my problem was if they too had the same thing going on...

But yeah, it's happily sleeping now. Not sure what I'll do with it though. I still love it, but I recently purchased an Acer Iconia Tab W500 (Windows-based tablet) and suspect it'll replace that Dell. Well, I'm sure it'll be used now and then...

[lswartz]

That is super, you found the solution. Cracks are indeed named for a reason.

I just ordered the Win 7 family pack for $70 so wish me luck. While rebuilding my wife's computer (the MB is failing) she has demanded Windows back. It seems she likes Picasa for photos & Picasa has recently decided not to support Linux. My vote was to skip Picasa but since she gets 2 votes to my 1 Win 7 has been ordered.

[darrencax]

Haha... Well, Windows 7 on the mini's really isn't that bad. I have it drastically trimmed down with nearly every service I can disable gone, no AV running, etc etc... With Opera going, I'm only using about 512MB RAM (no paging file either) with 28 services going.

[lswartz]

I found out it was the RAM. Now my wife is using Ubuntu 12.04 & loves it. Not sure if I am going to redo her computer to dual boot with Win 7 or not. Now I have 2 extra installs of Win 7 for someting or other