Question : Windows 7 Sleep Issues

Greetings,

I just wiped out my Alienware M11X laptop and rebuilt it. I got all the drivers installed (right from the Dell website), all my programs installed, all my games installed, all the updates installed, etc.

Now I find that 90% of the time, it won't go to sleep or hibernate.  If i close the lid, it begins to sleep (screen goes blank, I can hear the hard drive making noise), but it never shuts off, the lights on the laptop stay on, the fan continues running etc.  I have to open the lid, and hold down the power button until it shuts off (hard shutdown), requiring me to boot all the way back up the next time I power it on.

I've tried resetting the power management settings, but nothing has helped.  I uninstalled the ACPI drivers, and let Windows 7 re-install them, but that didn't do anything.  I tried running the Intel Chipset driver (again, from the Dell website), and the installer takes about two seconds, and says everything was installed OK (without any appearance of having copied any files).

I'm at a loss as to what to do.  I DON'T want to have to re-wipe out my system, as I've invested several days getting it set back up, only to find this somewhat critical issue.

Please advise.

Thanks!

Answer : Windows 7 Sleep Issues

Something that you have installed (software or hardware) is preventing your laptop from going to sleep.

Since you have just done a reinstall, I would suggest reinstalling without installing any software or hardware you have added.  Then test the sleep function.  If you are still having a problem, then perhaps something in the bios has become corrupted.  You can find the most current bios here: http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?os=W764&catid=1&dateid=-1&impid=-1&osl=EN&typeid=-1&formatid=-1&servicetag=&SystemID=ALW_LP_M11X&hidos=W764&hidlang=en&TabIndex=&scanSupported=False&scanConsent=False

I think this is the best approach since at this point it could be almst anything.