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At work, I'm using a Fujitsu Lifebook E series laptop, along with a HP ZR22w secondary screen, connected on DisplayPort. My OS is Windows XP, fully updated, but without Admin privileges

As soon as the screens shut themselves down (power off, or automatic sleep mode after idling too long), the Windows configuration for my screens (extended desktop, and relative positions of the screens) disappear. But when I go to Windows display settings, they seem unchanged. I have to mess them up and redo them right to retrive my previous configuration. This also happens when I shut down manually the secondary screen (using power off button).

Given that I have no admin privileges, it is not possible to use a software like UltraMon. I used a similar configuration at home for several months, and I never had any problem like that.

Any idea how to fix that?

studiohack
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3rgo
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  • XP is lousy about this with certain video driver configurations, I'm afraid. If you can't use something like UltraMon there's probably no workaround. – Shinrai Oct 03 '11 at 14:17
  • No offense, but I sincerely hope you're wrong... It kills me to redo my graphic setup 4 times a day... – 3rgo Oct 03 '11 at 15:24
  • I wish I was wrong, but in my experience XP is lousy with this. Now that I reread this, though, I notice it happens when you power off the screens...I think I read this wrong on the first pass. Out of curiosity, is that just a DisplayPortM to DisplayPortM cable? (There's a reason I'm asking) – Shinrai Oct 03 '11 at 15:49
  • Yeah it is. And i forgot to add that the laptop end of the cable is not actually plugged directly on my laptop, but rather on its dock – 3rgo Oct 03 '11 at 16:01
  • Here's a test you should do - **find a DisplayPort to DVI adapter and try running the monitor off that**. I have seen certain DisplayPort cables and ports that don't properly manage the power on pin 20, and I've seen certain monitors that this can cause to behave strangely - if you do this to a Dell U2410 it refuses to power on whatsoever with the cable plugged in! The adapter would eliminate this, so it's a good test (and possibly a long term workaround). Alternatively, if that dock has DVI, just do DVI-DVI. – Shinrai Oct 03 '11 at 16:07
  • I'll do DVI-DVI then. It was the first time I used DisplayPort, and I didn't know about this issue. Add an answer so I can accept it =) – 3rgo Oct 03 '11 at 16:56
  • I didn't answer specifically because it's a rare enough issue that I'm not sure it's at fault here. I will if you tell me it works, though. :) – Shinrai Oct 03 '11 at 17:06
  • Actually, it does not works fully. If I shut down the screen myself, the settings remain, but if the computer goes into sleep, it goes away. I believe the reason is my laptop is sitting on a dock, and the sleep mode makes him lose the connections plugged in the dock. – 3rgo Oct 04 '11 at 07:16
  • I guess that's possible, but it's awfully poor design. (It does beg the question, though - why are you sleeping a docked laptop anyway? Just let it sleep the displays when it's on AC power.) – Shinrai Oct 04 '11 at 14:09
  • That's what I do, but I don't know what happens, it stills goes down or something, and mess everything up... – 3rgo Oct 05 '11 at 09:28
  • It almost makes me wonder if there's a problem with the dock, electrically speaking. Maybe worth trying to get it replaced under warranty...? – Shinrai Oct 05 '11 at 14:06
  • Almost all my colleagues have problems with their docks. It's either glitches with USB, or A/C Power, or a secondary screen, or the laptop's keyboard and touchpad... Nevermind. I'll let it that way and redo the settings until I can have access to admin rights to install UltraMon – 3rgo Oct 06 '11 at 15:51

1 Answers1

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Ask your IT department to install the latest video drivers, BIOS firmware, and chipset drivers (just ask them to update all of them, if they will). Power management issues are nearly always driver-related, and updating the drivers can fix many of these sorts of issues.

music2myear
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