Turn on button on tower
 

I have a new used Lenovo Windows 7 and it's great, but the turn on button is acting like it's overused. My friend had this computer at her work and when the company closed down, I was able to buy it....

So I'm wondering if I don't turn off the computer and use the Sleep mode when I go to sleep, how does one "wake up" the computer. I just went to the market and put it in Sleep mode and when I came back and tried to wake up the computer, it wouldn't and I had to use the turn on button on tower.

Any thoughts....thanks much.

Usually move /jiggle the mouse, or hit a key/space bar should wake it up.

If in hibernation or if those don't work to wake up from sleep mode- then sometimes there is a reset button near the power button ,or have to do a quick push on the power button to wake up.

If those don't work, then explore deeper in to the power settings on that computer - check screen saver time out, & power options.

These can explain better than I and may have videos or step by step how to do it-
https://www.google.com/search?q=Wind...6+wake+up+mode

If none of that works -
You might have to look up how to check settings in the bios , maybe in the power settings the mouse wake up/keyboard wake up is not set up...

One other thing worth checking is the inside of the tower itself - the button may be clogged with dust. We recently had a technician come along to our SeniorNet group and demonstrate how easily dust can build up inside the towers - he recommended cleaning yearly. If you can get the cover off and the inside is dusty then post a message and I can give you some tips to clean safely. Make sure the computer is off & unplugged before removing the cover.

Thanks I've been practicing the sleep function and think I'll let the computer sleep all night and see how the morning will be.....I've been doing all you said in the first sentence of your reply. I have a fear that the button is not where it needs to be. I don't know if it came to it, could the button be repaired....

Caroline, I agree with bluesfan's ideas.

It is amazing how much dust and general grot can accumulate inside a tower if it is not cleaned regularly.

While I agree with cleaning the inside of the tower, I am not sure that putting a "tower" to sleep is even needed.

Laptops, yes, if you are on battery, but a tower is plugged in and has no need to conserve power.

I would either leave it on 24\7 or just turn it off at night and power up in the morning....

We rarely turn off our tower. We have a Dell and it has an energy saving feature, and goes to sleep all by itself after a few minutes of screen saver. So does our monitor.

We just wiggle the mouse and it wakes up itself.

We have two surge protectors plugged in a line, so we leave it on all the time. If a huge storm comes thru, or we leave home for more than a day, we turn it off.

To reboot after a download, we do "restart" which does not need the button at all.

I use sleep/hibernate modes to save energy use in general-

[A typical desktop computer uses about 65 to 250 watts. ]

[Modern computers automatically go to "sleep" when you haven't used them for a while, drawing only 0-6 watts. (Putting the computer to sleep also sleeps the monitor, on most models.) In the past, turning on the sleep setting was the most important way to save on computer energy use, but now that the sleep option is turned on by default out of the box, that's pretty much done for you. Just make sure you don't override it by turning it off. Of course, you can go the other direction, tweaking your sleep and power usage settings, especially by having your computer sleep sooner after a period of non-use. Here's where to set your options:]

[A screensaver that shows any image on the screen doesn't save any energy at all]

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/computers.html

I put the computer in the sleep mode all night and notice the on button green light flashes while in that mode. I was able to log on by just working with mouse, it was pretty quick this morning.

I keep my computer on all day and have been turning off when I go to bed but as I've said the on button is a bit stressed from maybe being pressed too much and hard.

I don't know if the sleep mode flashing green light does any harm to power supply. Maybe I'll call Lenovo and see if they can talk to me.

I know I've heard some folks keep their desk tops on all the time. My old mind just tells me to turn it off when not in use. We are in a heat mess here and I'm forever hearing about power saving in our houses...unplug a lot and turn off as many lights as one can.

Thanks all, I'll have to figure it out.

If you are brave.. you can go into the BIOS settings and set it to turn on every day at a set time. then you don't need to press the power button..

But read up on it first , and don't make any changes if you are not 100% confidant of what you are doing..

I had mine set up for auto start up, but the motherboard has a problem now and doesn't keep the settings anymore. (I did try 3 new batteries on mobo , so that wasn't the problem)

Not ready to buy a new mobo yet, so i am manually starting mine for now, unless I hibernate it at night..

Jo, I'm not brave with settings. I just talked to Lenovo tech and they said staying in sleep mode can tax the computer. The computer is still on. So it may come to a repair job on the button. I can't take the computer apart, I can hardly bend over period.

Did they try to get you to send it to them for the fix??
I really don't think sleep mode taxes the system... sounds a bit unbelievable to me...
Maybe trying to scare you into some repair work for themselves???

My other post does state that if a screen saver is being used there is no energy saving by going into sleep mode.. I always set my screen saver to blank or none..

You don't need to actually open the case to acess the bios settings..

But the button itself is the problem - if dirty or a broken spring or bent contact... then opening the case would need to be done.. unless the front panel pops off.. there are many designs of cases so, hard to say for sure on yours..


[4. Can sleep features wear out hardware by forcing the computer to turn on and off several times a day?

“Modern computers are designed to handle 40,000 on-off cycles before failure, and you’re not likely to approach that number during the average computer’s five- to seven-year life span. In fact, IBM and Hewlett Packard encourage their own employees to turn off idle computers, and some studies indicate it would require on-off cycling every five minutes to harm a hard drive.”]
https://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm..._power_mgt_faq

Have any geeky friends?? They can take a look at it for you..

Well, when I got them the serial no. to look it up, it was not a correct enough no. they said. You know I bought this from a company that is defunct now so can't go back there for sure.

Since they had no record, I can't go to them anyway for a repair. If worst comes to worse, I have a guy that I've never used but I'll call him, don't know if he could fix the button. I haven't asked him yet. He's $70 for a 2 hr min...he was last time I checked. He knows computers, teaches computers to senior groups.

Think I'll work on changing screen saver to blank. Thanks again, you are so knowledgeable.

Here's what I've been doing, use the sleep function some nights and now know that a tap on the left side of mouse get me online pronto.

Some nights I turn off and the button works but I feel it's fragile...so use it with caution.

Thanks again for all the help.

An update, I use the sleep function MOST always. When the updates are needed then the computer turns off after updates and the turn on button is stronger as it's not used a lot. Everything seems good NOW.

When a pc is in sleep mode the pc is off but on at the same time. The data is store in the ram ready to be accessed the moment the true power is turned on without having to wait through the normal boot time. The pc uses the least amount of power this way. My gaming pc has a 650 watt power supply and uses barely 95 watts when its idle lol