This happens when the monitor is not receiving a signal from the computer to put on a display, which can be due to many reasons, or one of the many associated hardware has malfunctioned. You may also be experiencing a display for a short while, but then the monitor goes to sleep. If you are experiencing such problems with your computer, no need to panic (just yet). There are a bunch of mitigation methods using which you can resolve the problem and restore your screen’s display.
Stop Display from Going to Sleep
As we mentioned, there are a bunch of fixes you can try to restore your system’s display. We suggest that you perform all the tasks given in the order mentioned before you resort to an extreme solution.
Stop Display from Going to Sleep Wake Up PC Check All Cable Connections Clean RAM Modules Replace Display Device Update Monitor Driver Set Computer to Never Sleep From Settings App From the Control Panel From Screen Saver Settings Increase System Unattended Sleep Timeout Final Thoughts
Wake Up PC
It may be possible that your computer has entered Sleep Mode where it turns off all display devices. To confirm this, try waking up your computer by clicking your mouse buttons or pressing some keys on your keyboard. If your computer is in Sleep Mode, doing the above will wake it up. If this does not fix your problem, proceed with performing the following methods:
Check All Cable Connections
It may be possible that your display cable has become loose, or signal transmission is being interrupted by the carbon buildup at the connection ports. To rule out this possibility, we suggest that you disconnect your display cable from both ends, clean out the ports, and then try reconnecting it. If the problem persists, you can also try replacing the cable with another to check if the display cable is faulty.
Clean RAM Modules
Damp or dusty RAM module contacts to the motherboard are often found to be the reasons a computer is unable to forward the display signals to the display device. In fact, in our personal experience, this happens at least once every two years when using a desktop computer at a location with dust particles in the air. Therefore, we suggest that you try cleaning out your RAM module (gold) contacts. We have summarized the process in a few easy steps. If you find that your display is still entering Sleep Mode, continue performing the following methods:
Replace Display Device
If none of the methods have worked thus far, we suggest that you try replacing your display device since it can be faulty. We do not recommend that you go ahead and purchase a new one, just simply replace it with a display device lying around your office or home. If the same issue occurs on a new monitor as well, then this will confirm that the original display device was not at fault and can be reinstalled. So far, the steps we have discussed can be performed even while there is no display on the monitor, and it is fast asleep. However, the methods we will discuss are those which require the screen to display. These can be used if your monitor falls asleep a short while after giving out a display.
Update Monitor Driver
The problem may be caused by an outdated monitor driver. You can try and update it to see if it resolves the problem.
Set Computer to Never Sleep
By default, Windows computers are set to go to sleep mode after a certain time in case they are left idle/inactive. Once they fall asleep, so do the monitor(s). This can be disabled using one of the following means.
From Settings App
Perform the following steps to prevent your computer from going into sleep mode from the built-in Settings app: Your computer will now never go into sleep mode.
From the Control Panel
You can solve the problem of the computer entering sleep mode by performing the following steps through the control panel: You have just changed the settings for only one plan, if you have more than one power plan, you need to change the settings for each plan when you are selected as the current plan.
From Screen Saver Settings
If the above configurations have not worked for you, you can also perform the steps given below that will turn off sleep mode on your PC. This will prevent the screen saver from appearing when the computer goes to sleep mode, which it no longer should.
Increase System Unattended Sleep Timeout
A hidden setting in Windows allows your computer to sleep when it has been left unattended. However, this hidden setting can be unhidden using a simple Windows Registry trick, after which you can increase your sleep timeout. Note: Misconfiguration of critical values in the system’s registry could be fatal for your operating system. Therefore, we insist that you create a system restore point before proceeding forward with the process. Perform the following steps to increase the sleep timeout in Windows:
Final Thoughts
We certainly hope that this detailed guide has solved your problem with the monitor falling asleep. If it has not, then it may be possible that one or more hardware is faulty and needs to be replaced. Since we have already tested the display device and the display cable, it may be possible that your motherboard or the GPU may be faulty and needs to be replaced. Let us know which solution worked for you in the comments section, as it may help our future audience solve their problem.
