[Charles_Bukowski]

Dell Lattitude D610 works fine when its on the docking station but when you undock the screen is black when Windows loads. You can see that the screen is still active but its like it is still trying to work with the monitor that is hooked to the docking station. Plugging it back into the docking station and everything works fine. If you hit undock button from the start menu and you undock the computer will work, until the next reboot and then it does the same thing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Charles_Bukowski]

The computer is running Windows XP SP3.

[arknorth]

When docked, are you using the D610's screen, or an outside monitor?

While undocked, have you attempted to press the Fn+F8 keys to turn the laptop's screen back on?

Have you checked your BIOS settings, which does have a setting for which setup (docked or undocked) is the DEFAULT?

A-N

[Charles_Bukowski]

When its docked we are using an external monitor. I have tried the FN+CRT/LCD key combination with no success. In the BIOS I checked the docking section. I didn't see the setting for docked or undocked. I did turn off the setting that doesn't create a hardware profile. Laptop still has the same symptoms as before.

[arknorth]

Unchecking the 'Docked' in BIOS is what I was referring to, soooo...

Two odd things to check then - since you CAN get the screen to cooperate after a fashion, and it doesn't turn off after you reset it (correct?), then check these two beasties - first, up between the screen and the keyboard is a tiny finger switch, which turns the screen off if you close the lid - when its not showing a picture after boot, have you pressed this thing and released it to see if that jars the screen into life? It can also be done by simply closing and opening the computer quickly.

SECOND - have you checked the power/hibernation settings? On the desktop, right click anywhere there isn't a shortcut and bring up the Properties screen. Under the tab SCREEN SAVER find the MONITOR POWER button and bring up that window. On MY D610, I have it set as follows -

Tab 1 - Power Schemes

- When the computer is plugged in -

- - - Turn off Monitor - NEVER
- - - Turn off Hard Disks - NEVER
- - - System Standby - NEVER

- When the Computer is Running on Batteries -

- - - Turn off Monitor - After 30 Minutes
- - - Turn off Hard Disks - NEVER
- - - System Standby - NEVER

Tab 2 & 3 - Ignore

Tab 4 - Advance

- POWER BUTTONS

- - When I close the lid to my portable computer - DO NOTHING (On this machine, closing the lid does shut off the power to the screen, so having it do anything else is not needed when it is docked)
- - When I press the Power Button on my computer - SHUT DOWN
- -When I press the Sleep Button on my computer - ASK ME WHAT TO DO (I never allow my computer to do things automatically - it just causes problems)

Tab 5 - Hibernation

- Make sure that the hibernation option is UNCHECKED.

See what that does for you!

A-N

[Charles_Bukowski]

I didn't realize that with the docking station and this brand of laptop that you have request and undock. I have an HP EliteBook and I don't have to do that. The fix to this was to hit the undock request button and then wait for the eject button to light up and poof. Everything is good to go. Thanks for your help.

[arknorth]

Heh - that's Dell for ya! Confuse and make difficult in unique ways!

Oh hell, it's a Dell...

It's odd that yours is doing that, as the one I've worked with hasn't had that problem undocking. But, then again, I've seen two exact same machines work completely different from boot to shut down as well - such it is with Windows.

Good luck!

A-N