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I am developing a web thin-client for an information kiosk running Win7. I make sure the screen saver is turned OFF and the "Turn off display" setting is set to NEVER.

After I leave the kiosk for part of the day (have not measured exactly how long... I am in classes and meetings) I return to find the video card to our projectors has turned off, defaulting to "no signal" displayed at the kiosk. (less than desirable)

After kicking the mouse, the display turns back on and I look to find the Turn Off Display Setting has reset to "15 min".

I've seen similar questions having problems NOT shutting off according to the power plan. This problem is the opposite... Display shuts off, ignoring the power plan.

Thoughts?

5 Answers 5

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This Microsoft Support article may explain this mystery:

The "Turn off the display" setting may change unexpectedly when you configure the "Put the computer to sleep" setting in Windows Vista :

the Turn off the display setting is automatically set to the next shortest value when you configure the Put the computer to sleep setting.

Catch 22: This means that whenever you set the Put the computer to sleep setting to Never, the Turn off the display setting is changed automatically by Windows to a shorter time-period.

Solution:

To work around this behavior, set the Turn off the display setting to the value that you want, and then click Save Changes.

and, of-course, do not touch Put the computer to sleep afterward.

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  • Thanks for the suggestions! I looked into the support article, and that does not look like the problem. In a fit of inspiration, I decided to create a New Power Plan called "Kiosk" with the settings I need. 15 min later, the system had switched back to the "High Performance Plan" and shut down the monitors. -- So looks like a Power Plan switching problem... ugh... Feb 17, 2010 at 19:25
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Heard back from our IT guys...

Our computing labs have a refresh policy that resets display properties and power plans in case students modify. With hundreds of computers across campus, it saves a wad of energy to have them power down when not being used.

So for folks experiencing a similar mystery, check with your administrator for group policies that reset or refresh power plans across the network.

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HD Tune can also produce similar results by resetting the monitor's power setting. Version 4.5 (Pro only I think) added a way to deselect this feature. In options under the "General" category, uncheck "Allow change of power settings during tests".

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    Welcome to SuperUser. Please summarize or quote from your link and expand upon your answer. We want answers to be able to stand on their own over time. Thanks. Apr 23, 2013 at 18:23
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Thanks for the suggestions! I looked into the support article, and that does not look like the problem.

In a fit of inspiration, I decided to create a New Power Plan called "Kiosk" with the settings I need. 15 min later, the system had switched back to the "High Performance Plan" and shut down the monitors. -- So looks like a Power Plan switching problem... ugh...

The "kiosk" system is in a semi-secure classroom with windows (panes of glass, not the OS) along the interior hallway so folks can see the content on the projector screens (2, dual monitors). The Kiosk user account is pretty restricted to keep students from adjusting the system.

I will continue to work with our system administrators to make sure the group policies for this computer do not override the local changes in the power plan, which is looking like the root of the problem...

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  • @williamlweaver: You should have stated from the beginning that you were in a domain environment. GP is most probably the source of the problem.
    – harrymc
    Feb 17, 2010 at 20:21
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I too ran into this issue. Upon running ProcMon.exe and looking extensively at what was going on I discovered the culprit to be winsat.exe. In researching on why this would cause my display to turn off I discovered that winsat is scheduled to run in task scheduler when the computer is in the idle state. When it runs it changes the active power plan to "High Performance". I had created my own ppwer plan and the default "High Performance" plan was set to turn off display after 15 min. Since the system was already in the idle state for 15 min when winsat changed the plan the display automatically turned off. Upon disabling the scheduled task I no longer have the issue. You could also probably change the "High Performance" plan to never fall asleep.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2854058

  1. Go to Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Task Scheduler
  2. Browse to Microsoft\Windows\Maintenance
  3. Select “WinSAT” task
  4. Under “Actions” choose “Disable”.

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