Dell Inspiron 15R (N1550) sleep problem

Getronicle

Hi

I purchased a Dell Inspiron 15R laptop about 1 month ago. From the very beginning, whenever I wanted to put it into sleep mode (by closing lid or start menu > sleep) it would just blackout the screen and completely lock up, kinda half stuck in sleep, I had to force shutdown to make it respond. The specs are:

Windows 7 home premium 64 bit, core i7-2670QM, 6GB RAM, 750GB HDD, nVidia GeForce GT 525M.

I contacted Dell and they got me to system restore then reinstall the OS, didn't work. They then sent a technician to replace the mobo which resolved the problem for about 1 minute but as soon as he left, it was back to the way it was. Dell wanted to have the mobo replaced again but the technician didn't go ahead with the replacement the second time because he was sure it was a software conflict. He couldn't resolve the problem so Dell had me reinstall the OS yet again because they discovered it wasn't reinstalled correctly the first time. After this, it started to sleep more and more often. Dell agreed to replace the laptop at this stage however.

Now I have the replacement and it has the exact same problem. So I'm wondering if anyone else had a similar experience or does anyone know what could be done (software-wise without reinstalling OS, if it goes to hardware I'm asking for a refund and going elsewhere)?

Any help is appreciated.

_AVALANCHE_

Dell Tech guy is right, it's most likely software and their'll be no easy fix for it either. Things like this are a bitch to diagnose.

Article on stuff to try.

Have you a printer/mouse connected up to it when putting it to sleep? Disconnect and try if you have.

Try disabiling hibernate, may work. Far from ideal though as laptop will use hibernate if it runs low on power in sleep mode.

Someone here on Dells Forums linked it to Realtek drivers so try that.

Could be a loose screen connection.

This is such a common problem on some Dells that if you google it, it pops up as a suggestion!!!

Let us know if you find a fix.

Getronicle

Thanks a lot for your help. I don't have any external devices connected. I disabled the realtek driver and it didn't work, should I uninstall it rather than simply disabling?
I forgot to mention hibernate doesn't work either, but I'll try the solutions mentioned in the article and let you know!

Getronicle

Unfortunately none of the solutions worked. I am unsure whether to pursue fixing it or to get a refund and go elsewhere. I cannot find the same specced laptop for anywhere near as cheap as the inspiron (€750).

Any advice in this situation?
Thanks

_AVALANCHE_

Getronicle wrote: »

Thanks a lot for your help. I don't have any external devices connected. I disabled the realtek driver and it didn't work, should I uninstall it rather than simply disabling?
I forgot to mention hibernate doesn't work either, but I'll try the solutions mentioned in the article and let you know!

No harm to try it.

Getronicle wrote: »

Unfortunately none of the solutions worked. I am unsure whether to pursue fixing it or to get a refund and go elsewhere. I cannot find the same specced laptop for anywhere near as cheap as the inspiron (€750).

Any advice in this situation?
Thanks

You could spend alot of time at this and not find a fix, unless someone has a better idea I'd just send it back.

Similar spec/price alternatives,

Toshiba €680 €70 cheaper for near same spec (smaller HDD) but may not have HDMI port, Toshiba still don't include it as standard across the range. Komplett Forum if you want to ask.

Lenovo €790 Bit more expensive but better GPU. (Well reviewed Model)

Samsung €820

_AVALANCHE_

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Samsung_RF711_1153738.html

carbon nanotube

Getronicle wrote: »

Hi

I purchased a Dell Inspiron 15R laptop about 1 month ago. From the very beginning, whenever I wanted to put it into sleep mode (by closing lid or start menu > sleep) it would just blackout the screen and completely lock up, kinda half stuck in sleep, I had to force shutdown to make it respond. The specs are:

Windows 7 home premium 64 bit, core i7-2670QM, 6GB RAM, 750GB HDD, nVidia GeForce GT 525M.

I contacted Dell and they got me to system restore then reinstall the OS, didn't work. They then sent a technician to replace the mobo which resolved the problem for about 1 minute but as soon as he left, it was back to the way it was. Dell wanted to have the mobo replaced again but the technician didn't go ahead with the replacement the second time because he was sure it was a software conflict. He couldn't resolve the problem so Dell had me reinstall the OS yet again because they discovered it wasn't reinstalled correctly the first time. After this, it started to sleep more and more often. Dell agreed to replace the laptop at this stage however.

Now I have the replacement and it has the exact same problem. So I'm wondering if anyone else had a similar experience or does anyone know what could be done (software-wise without reinstalling OS, if it goes to hardware I'm asking for a refund and going elsewhere)?

Any help is appreciated.

something could be stopping it from going to sleep, check your hardware drivers (wlan etc) and look for conflicts with sleep modes

Getronicle

_AVALANCHE_ wrote: »

Similar spec/price alternatives,

Toshiba €680 €70 cheaper for near same spec (smaller HDD) but may not have HDMI port, Toshiba still don't include it as standard across the range. Komplett Forum if you want to ask.

Lenovo €790 Bit more expensive but better GPU. (Well reviewed Model)

Samsung €820

Thanks for that, I should have looked harder

carbon nanotube wrote: »

something could be stopping it from going to sleep, check your hardware drivers (wlan etc) and look for conflicts with sleep modes

Cheers. There's no indication of conflicts in the individual driver properties, but should I have all of these drivers?

Getronicle

Update: Sleep function is working properly now. I don't know what happened to fixed it. I had sleep disabled for a couple of days and when I decided to try it again, it worked. I didn't change any settings but I'm thinking it was a windows update because one was downloaded during that time.

Thanks for the help guys

_AVALANCHE_

Getronicle wrote: »

but I'm thinking it was a windows update because one was downloaded during that time.

Don't think so, this is the only update I got in the time frame and it wouldn't have fixed it, BUT WHO CARES, it's working is the main thing.:):D

Getronicle

Just checking my update history, it looks like windows reinstalled the Realtek driver when I removed it. That must have been it! I knew it wasn't magic

_AVALANCHE_

Getronicle wrote: »

Just checking my update history, it looks like windows reinstalled the Realtek driver when I removed it. That must have been it! I knew it wasn't magic

Oh yea, that's how it works, I never said. When you uninstall drivers and turn off the machine, on restarting windows will install from a backup or go looking for their own ones or the Manufacturers original.

You must have left it for the few days on restarting after removing Realtek. LOL.

The easiest fix worked!