WHY? - Power Button Blinks while computer sleeps

[Jack]

Is this normal? When I place my Vista Machine to sleep, the power
button of the computer tower starts blinking and does this until I
wake it up.

Can someone tell me if other PCs do this and this is normal? If it is
normal, can someone tell me if there is a setting I need to adjust to
make the computer stop blinking its power button when it sleeps?

thanks!

 

[Slap]

depends... who makes the vista machine.

 

[Jack]

Gateway makes it. I did call Gateway but something as specific as
this, is something that may not be known by a call center. So they
didn't seem to know. So if anyone else has seen this, please let me
know. Could this be a BIOS setting? If so, where within BIOS would it
be?

 

[Guest]

I have an HP PC and mine does the same thing. I've owned different brands and
they've all done this. Yes, it is normal for sleep mode.

 

[Richard G. Harper]

Yes, it's normal.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[Travis King]

Yes, it's supposed to blink. In fact, the blinking is to let you know that
it is in sleep and not off.

 

[Jerald D Montgomery]

Hi,
mine does the same thing

 

[Ketzl's Dad]

Is this normal? When I place my Vista Machine to sleep, the power
button of the computer tower starts blinking and does this until I
wake it up.

Can someone tell me if other PCs do this and this is normal? If it is
normal, can someone tell me if there is a setting I need to adjust to
make the computer stop blinking its power button when it sleeps?

thanks!

Every PC I've had does this: HP, Gateway, Dell, Mac. It's just a way of
reminding you that the machine is asleep, not off.

 

[Lang Murphy]

Normal. Why does the blinking light freak you out?

Lang

 

[Scott]

Normal. Why does the blinking light freak you out?

Lang

Please. Please. Make it stop.! Make it stop! waaah.
--
Scott http://angrykeyboarder.com

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
NOTICE: In-Newsgroup (and therefore off-topic) comments on my sig will
be cheerfully ignored, so don't waste our time.

 

[Lang Murphy]

Please. Please. Make it stop.! Make it stop! waaah.

Well... maybe it's a medical condition or something. Isn't there some
condition in which folks who see blinking lights go catatonic? Seriously...
don't know... maybe that's just TV.

My father-in-law hates the running bar at the bottom of CNN, right? Haw! He
taped off the bottom of his TV screen so he doesn't have to watch it. LOL!

Lang

 

[William Dowell]

lang,

i dont think i have a medical disorder, but all these running banners,
bottum, top side and centre do start to get a bit annoying! SKY news seems
to be good at that!

 

[Jack]

It bothers me because my computer is in the living room and I'd rather
not see a blinking light all the time.

I would use my old XP PC as my media center and place it in the living
room as well. I would place my PC when I was not using it to standby
(so it could wake up and start recording a TV show). When I placed it
to standby, it did not blink, and so it was not annoying.

I now use my Vista PC for the same purpose. I put it to sleep when I'm
not using it, but it can automatically wake up when it needs to record
a TV show. I'd rather not have a BIG blinking light.

Whatever the reason may be, that's not really important.

Does anyone know of a way to stop it. Obviously it is programmed to
blink when it's placed to sleep mode, but where is this set? Is there
a registry setting I need to change?

 

[andy]

It bothers me because my computer is in the living room and I'd rather
not see a blinking light all the time.

I would use my old XP PC as my media center and place it in the living
room as well. I would place my PC when I was not using it to standby
(so it could wake up and start recording a TV show). When I placed it
to standby, it did not blink, and so it was not annoying.

I now use my Vista PC for the same purpose. I put it to sleep when I'm
not using it, but it can automatically wake up when it needs to record
a TV show. I'd rather not have a BIG blinking light.

Whatever the reason may be, that's not really important.

Does anyone know of a way to stop it. Obviously it is programmed to
blink when it's placed to sleep mode, but where is this set? Is there
a registry setting I need to change?

It's programmed in a chip on the motherboard. Unless the BIOS allows
you to change its behavior, there is no practical way to stop it other
than covering the LED.

 

[Lang Murphy]

Do like my father in law did with his TV... tape over it. Or put something
over it to block it. Not being factitious, either...

Lang

 

[Lang Murphy]

Not familiar with SKY news... and too many running banners are distracting
to me also.

Lang

 

[Jack]

Do like my father in law did with his TV... tape over it.
I've been actually considering that option.

It's programmed in a chip on the motherboard.

I know sometimes the motherboard is affected by physical switches. Do
you think something like this could be modified manually by changing a
physical switch on the motherboard? Or is it more likely what you
said, that it's programmed within a chip and there really is no way of
changing it?

Much thanks!

 

[Lang Murphy]

Jack,

I wasn't the one who wrote about chips on MB's... but, and I'm not trying to
minimalize the issue because I know it's important to you, I kind of doubt
there's much you can do about it. Have you looked in your BIOS? Have you
tried googling "disable blinking sleep power button" or something like that?

Good luck,

Lang

 

[Jack]

yes, those are the first things I tried. I even called tech support
and one of the first tech guys told me to set a restore point, which I
know from experiencing tech support in the past is a tried and true
way of getting a customer off the line because you have no clue what
how to resolve their issue. However, since then, I've asked other tech
support people about this issue and they don't know if there's a way
to disable it. One guy even felt my pain by saying that his computer
does the same thing, and he has to throw something over the computer
so he can get some rest, b/c he lives in a 1 room apartment.

I guess there's no easy way to disable this "feature", and I guess I
too will have to place something over the power button when I'm not
using the computer.

thanks all!

 

[Richard Urban]

That is the way the "hardware" is made to function. They want you to see a
difference between OFF and SLEEP (S3) - which emulates off. Call the
motherboard manufacturer.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban MVP
Microsoft Windows Shell/User