Plug the laptop into your charger, connect an external mouse or keyboard, close the laptop while its displaying on the laptop, then wake the computer up with the external mouse or keyboard. That should do the trick.
This should be done with the power saving settings off when the power chord is plugged in. What I mean by that is that you should make changes to only the power settings that apply to when your laptop is plugged into power, rather than on battery power. In the plugged-in context, deactivate all power saving settings. That way you'll still save power when on battery.