Pwr Options

[DL]

Dell Vostro; bios & chipset updated, Vista Business updated
No other hw connected, no background tasks running, printer switched off,
sys runs 24/7
Ever since installing a usb connected HP photo printer (includes scanner) -
firmware & drivers upto date - the pwr options have become eratic.
ie sometimes screen saver & pwr off display functions, other times not. The
screensaver can kick in then without any user going near the PC the desktop
becomes active
I've tried resetting & changing Pwr Options, ensured usb hubs have the
option to allow to be turned off set - mysteriously on occasions this option
has been reset.
Screensaver set to 10 minutes but generally wont start for at least 45
minutes
No events logged
This is 'she who must be obeyed' PC the new printer was purchased because
she wanted to do a lot of scanning / printing of photos and didnt like my HP
business class printer that was connected via the wireless printer server.
HP states its a Dell bios problem, Dell says nothing
Any thought?
T/Y

 

[Mark Levitski]

Wait for a more knowledgeable answer, but I'd like to mention this:

HP printers, even $70 little cheapies, come with sometimes half-Gigabyte
worth of software.
As you might guess, instead of good old approach where you install a driver
and done, or it gives you an option to add add-ons (photo, graphics/etc
utilities HP thinks you need, but you really don't); nowadays companies
install a thick forest of BLOATWARE.

In plain English your printer installed more than just drivers, but certain
conflicting bloatware you need to uninsatll or at least disable in Services.
Now goto Services console and find what appeared there new, start disabling
naything that starts with "HP" but ONLY after Googling Web for each service
meaning, so you won't disable an essential Windows process!!

For example, my HP 6940 (?) besides drivrers attempted to install various
photo and connectivity agents known to conflictwith Vista's power manegemnt.
it's impossible to shutdown when this garbage runs on some computers. I was
lucky I never had problems but still disabled HP Net12, HPmonitor, HP port
resolver, etc I dont remmeber.
When power management restored to normal, I started reenabling those
services until I pinpointed the culprit which broke Power controls in Vista.

It was some kind of HP software discovering netwroks, etc... I dont
remember, 2 years ago.
So see what services this printer added.

Also be sure you insatlled HP drivers for Vista 32 bit if thats your case.
Do NOY trust CD that came with your printer, or Vista's own driver.
Goto HP website and search for you rprinter, see if an update exists, in my
case 2 updates were posted resolving "severe instability" on some machines,
if I trusted CDtha tcame with HP printer I'd be in trouble.
This happened because WinXp drivers existed and were polished to perfection
for years, while Vista was still new at that time. SO drivers were
buggy....

Go check HP website, and start Chat with Support profesional there if you
wish, it's free