Monitor/Windows 7 sleep issue

[aebome]

I recently (March?) built my father a new computer (Win 7 64-bit) as his ancient Dell was slow (P4 slow). He has had no other problems with it, but for some reason he has an issue with the monitor when he tries to wake the computer from sleep (not hibernate).

The monitor (his old 18" Dell monitor), will not come out of its low power/sleep mode when my father tries to bring the computer out its sleep state. Unfortunately I live in a different state than my father so I cannot get any hands on time and must work through him (he's no genius, but he does know his way around computers and Windows). Apparently, when he tries to wake the computer the monitor backlight comes on, then almost immediate turns off as the monitor reenters its low power state. If he presses his power button (set to enter hibernate) a cursor appears on the monitor, then the system hibernates. When he wakes it from hibernate the monitor comes on as its does normally.

Obviously, this is not a problem with hibernate, nor does it occur with a fresh boot.

The monitor does NOT have this issue when he hooks it up to the old Dell, which he still has (it runs XP Pro SP3). He uses a VGA cable to hook up to his old Dell and DVI to hook up to his new computer.

He has checked the Windows 7 power settings and everything there seems normal. He has updated his graphics drivers.

Does anyone have any ideas how to fix this or narrow the problem down so we know what the issue is?

the configuration for the built system:
Athlon II X3 435
Gigabyte 770T (non usb3)
HIS Radeon 4650
4GB Mem (Adata or Gskill)
Seagate 7200.12 500GB HDD
Corsair 400CX PSU

Hopefully I have included everything necessary to at least take a stab at what is going on.

Thanks forum readers!

 

[shovenose]

does he use a kvm switch? mine causes a similar problem where i just have to press the selector buttons a bunch of times then it comes on again.
try using vga instead of dvi and see if that solves the problem.

 

[aebome]

No, he doesn't use a switch, just manually plugs in the old computer when he needs to pull a file. I told him to try VGA, and HDMI to his TV tonight. I have read that this is not unknown with windows 7. Is there any basis to this?

 

[shovenose]

try turning off aero. shouldnt make a difference but what the hell, may as well try!

 

[aebome]

Best answer selected by aebome.