[question] Turning off Monitor

[D8TA]

I've browsed throuhg some threads on this board regarding Hibernation and Standby but not sure if that will work in my case. We are running Windows XPsp2 and we use a Legal Notice warning prior to the login of the workstation. We have several users who don't turn their monitors off at night and the screens are getting burnt in with that legal notice message. I tried some tests and was unable to get hibernation to work, not sure if you have to be logged in for this to work.

What I am trying to do is if a user restarts their PC I would like the monitor to shut down or a screensaver to work so we can prevent the screen burns we are experiencing. We also use the Novell NetWare client. The Important Notice is applied to the registry, HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system we use the legalnoticecaption and the legalnoticetext fields. I have set hibernation to 30 minutes and after I restart and have the Important Notice message on the screen and come back 45mins - an hour the screen is still up displaying the Notice message.

Any ideas on what I can do to shut down the monitor to prevent any future screen burn issues?

[Shoshoni]

Read this article: http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/zenwor...nt4lock_zw.html

I don't know if this is what you want.

[D8TA]

This looks like something the user would have to click on, icon on the desktop. Our procedure is to restart the PCs then power off the monitor. The problem is the users restart the PCs but don't turn off the monitors. I need something that will prevent the screen burn, having the users do so isn't an option obviously, powering down the PC or turning off the monitor.

Thanks for the link though, it does look cool.

[Shoshoni]

maybe this "ll work! http://www.theeldergeek.com/logon_screen_saver.htm

it doesn't turn the monitor off but it sure does save the screen!

[D8TA]

Thanks but that didn't work either. I think it has something to do with the Important Notice and the focus is constantly on that. The Important Notice is what is getting burnt into the screens. Any other ideas??

[allen2]

You may try to run a service that will check if someone is logged one and shutdown the computer if noone is logged on after 30 or 60 min.

A simple batch could do this job, use psloggedon -l (from sysinternals part of pstools).

[Takeshi]

I don't quite follow: why would the users need to restart their workstations if they're not there to click OK on the legal notice? The machines aren't doing anything useful if not logged on, so why not just shut them all down, locally or remotely?

[Shoshoni]

Sometimes that's not an option. He stated twice that the systems need to rebooted. I think that says enough.

[D8TA]

We are using HP Radia for software deployment and application verification. We also use Radia for Patch distribution and we do this in the wee hours of the morning. That is why the PCs need to stay on so these will run, verify, and install. Thus, our policy for the user is to reboot the PC then power off the monitor, prevent the screen burns. However, the users aren't always shutting down the monitor and that is where I am looking for some help.

I hope this clears up the air, if not, I will try to provide any additional information anyone needs.

[Takeshi]

Now I understand the situation a bit more. Would it be possible to delay reboot after patch deployment so that hibernation can kick in overnight? I'd avoid screen savers if possible as they use more CPU and generate more heat.

Leaving the legal notice aside, I'm not sure if you can power off the monitor from Windows. You can turn off the video display but the monitor is still powered on.

[D8TA]

How can I turn of the video display? That would work also so the screen is either hibernating or blank. I've tried hibernation mode, standby mode, etc and I've set everything to kick on after 30 minutes, hibernation and standby mode that is. When I return to the PC 30 minutes - 45 minutes later the Important Notice box is still displayed. Of course if I log into the PC and lock it everything works alright. My dilemna appears to be going in the wrong direction because my thoughts are the Important Notice message we implemented is causing the PC not to kick into the hibernation or standby modes.

Any other suggestions??

[Shindo_Hikaru]

not sure if the services or softare you are using will not allow this, but my network i have setup a network group policy that enforces Power Save options.

Turn off monitor after 15 mins

Turn off Hardisks after 1 hour

Standby mode and Hibernate both are disabled. As i belive that any updates and/or background services will disrupt them.,

[Takeshi]

What I'm saying is, do not reboot the PC immediately after patching at night. This way, you won't have the Legal Notice to deal with. I was hoping that after patching, you could still get the PCs to hibernate or standby while logged on. When the workers come in the morning, they can manually reboot the PCs. That's one workaround I can think of.

EDIT: on further thought, I still think shutting down after patching is the simplest thing to implement. When the workers come in the morning they can reboot the PCs. That doesn't actually power down the monitors - I'm not aware that there's any other way but to physically press the power button - but at least you don't get the screen burns.

Edited July 21, 2006 by Takeshi

[pmshah]

Why not use the ACPI function in the bios itself to switch off the monitor after specified inactivity period? This is not exactly switching off but disabling the v-h synch signals, in effect blanking the monitor. No more burnt images!