turn off display option missing in system power settings

ezduzzit · 16 Sep 2019

I just got my first laptop 2 days ago from HP. Already in hindsight, I kind of wish I hadn't because of the lame support options, but the laptop itself is just fine with excellent display & performance. The keyboard is nice but the backlighting at my preferred sitting angle makes it look like the lower part of each character is "worn off", by that I mean the actual light doesn't show on the keys at the bottom, which makes them hard to distinguish. The Fn function keys are tiny too.

Anyway, all I first wanted to do is turn off the display without closing the lid, as this system only has a 3-cell battery (wtf) & there's no way it's going to last "9hrs 45min" on a full charge as HP says. So, I go to the power & sleep options and select "additional power settings", then "choose what closing the lid does". The option to "Turn off display" is not listed. Oh boy. After several failed attempts at getting HP support to actually help, I ran into an article where many people wanted to also know why that option was missing. A poster there said he went into the registry at Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Power and modified the entry "CSEnabled" from 1 to 0, rebooted & viola! it was listed, although he did note that doing so worked when he pushes the power button once (and does so now on mine) BUT it also removed the "sleep" option. Ugh. I just checked and I too am now missing the sleep option. I mean it seems like such a simple thing like "turn off display" wouldn't involve all this research & registry modifying. Anyone know how I can get the "sleep" option back WHILE keeping the "turn off display" option? - Thanks

Brink · 16 Sep 2019

Hello ezduzzit, and welcome to Ten Forums.

You might see if the tutorial below may be able to restore the turn off display power option for you.

Add or Remove 'Turn off Display after' in Power Options in Windows

ezduzzit · 16 Sep 2019

Thanks for the quick reply Brink but as the image indicates I now have the "turn off display" option after changing that one value in the registry, but changing it REMOVED the option to "sleep" that was there before. I just wanted to have that option back, while keeping the option to "turn off display".

Bree · 16 Sep 2019

ezduzzit said:

.. all I first wanted to do is turn off the display without closing the lid ... So, I go to the power & sleep options and select "additional power settings", then "choose what closing the lid does". The option to "Turn off display" is not listed...

Is your HP Envy 17t-ce000 CTO a 'Modern Standby' machine? If so, then that may explain it. From a similar question about a Dell XPS...

... Modern Standby system where the desktop pauses whenever the display is off. ... you can check by looking down the Power Settings page and see if there is a Network Connection option. Or by entering in an administrative command window the command powercfg /a and see if Sleep is allowed.

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/9...6130902#M14642

Try3 · 16 Sep 2019

You were looking in the wrong place.

For the Turn off display option, look in Control Panel\Power Options then Change Plan Settings

not [as you are doing in your posted screenshot] Control Panel\Power Options then Choose what the power buttons do

Denis

ezduzzit · 16 Sep 2019

I did look there Denis and the sleep option is also missing there. "Do nothing, hibernate & shut down" are the only options there as well. If I change the registry entry BACK to "1", the sleep option does return BUT it then removes what I was after in the first place, "turn off the display". I do not know if my laptop is a "Modern Standby machine" but I suspect it is. I just don't understand why the option to turn off display isn't available by default. I just want to turn off my display with the lid up, which works now w/the registry change mentioned earlier, but it still goes to the lock screen. I mean it's easy enough to quickly log back on w/the fingerprint reader. I would rather have the laptop "sleep" when I close the lid, rather that the options that are left (do nothing, hibernate, shut down). This laptop appears it will only last on a full charge for maybe six hours. I know to cycle the battery every once in while but will leaving it plugged in most of the time harm the battery life etc. IF I drain it down a couple times a month? Thank you guys for helping. I can live w/no sleep option...I guess.

Try3 · 17 Sep 2019

1 modern standby

ezduzzit said:

I do not know if my laptop is a "Modern Standby machine" but I suspect it is.

It is easy to find out. In any Command prompt or PowerShell window, enter

Code:

powercfg -a

- Only a computer with 'modern standby' has this in its results
Standby (S0 Low Power Idle)
- Computers with traditional power management would include this
Standby (S3)
instead.

2 log-on screen

ezduzzit said:

I just want to turn off my display with the lid up, which works now w/the registry change mentioned earlier, but it still goes to the lock screen. I mean it's easy enough to quickly log back on w/the fingerprint reader.

Check Settings, Personalisation, Lock screen, Screen saver settings [in green, right at the bottom] to make sure you have not set the checkbox for On resume, display log-on screen.

3 Time on battery

ezduzzit said:

This laptop appears it will only last on a full charge for maybe six hours.

- That does not sound bad for a 17inch screen.
- You could check your manual, the HP support site & the HP user forums to find out if this is normal or not.
- Unless your battery is fitted internally, you can get a spare so you can swap them around if you expect to be on the move for longer.
- My main computer has an internal battery so swapping is not easy. I have bought 'powerbanks' [big external batteries] that deliver the 20V input that the computer needs. One is from Dell and the other is from PowerOak / MaxOak. These things are not as cheap as standard computer batteries and I only bothered because of the limitation of having an internal battery.

4 Battery care

ezduzzit said:

I know to cycle the battery every once in while but will leaving it plugged in most of the time harm the battery life etc. IF I drain it down a couple times a month?

- My computers are kept plugged in & fully charged all the time except when I have no choice [which happens rarely]. Their batteries have not suffered at all.
- I adopted this policy a few years ago and every computer battery has retained its then state of health [i.e. the amount of charge it can hold].
- Batteries have an expected life expressed as a number of full charge-discharge cycles. If HP have not clearly stated that in their manual, get on to HP support and ask them.
- 'Cycling the battery' & 'draining down' the battery just uses up part of its life. There is no evidence that 'cycling the battery' or 'draining down' achieve any benefit with modern batteries.
- For further info, check your manual, the HP support site & the HP user forums
- Many people still retain knowledge of battery technologies that became obsolete more than a decade ago. So if anybody gives you battery advice, ask them for evidence. That's the only way of avoiding the trap of acquiring obsolete knowledge yourself [such as the supposed merits of 'draining down'].

5 Misc

ezduzzit said:

I did look there Denis and the sleep option is also missing there. "Do nothing, hibernate & shut down" are the only options there as well. If I change the registry entry BACK to "1", the sleep option does return BUT it then removes what I was after in the first place, "turn off the display".

ezduzzit said:

I just don't understand why the option to turn off display isn't available by default.

ezduzzit said:

I would rather have the laptop "sleep" when I close the lid, rather that the options that are left (do nothing, hibernate, shut down).

- Check your manual.
- Search HP support. Ask HP support.
- Search the HP user forums. Ask in the HP user forums.

6 Jealousy
I have a Dell Inspiron 7779, a 17inch laptop with a touchscreen. Does your HP Envy 17t-ce000 also have a touchscreen?
- The details I found were for HP ENVY - 17-ce0015nr which might not be the same. It is very roughly an equivalent of mine.
- The HP ENVY - 17-ce0015nr is not on sale in the UK. I wanted an HP but was forced to buy a Dell because I was keen to try out a large touchscreen laptop.

Denis

ezduzzit · 17 Sep 2019

Thanks for that Denis, I really appreciate it. I remember you now from a couple-few years ago helping me w/Windows 7 problems

I think I'll mark this as solved since I did manage to get the power button to turn off the display. I didn't want the touch screen option (+50.00) because I'd rather use mouse/kb. It also dirties up the screen lol. Strange HP did not have the 4K display available through their website, but I found them in lots of other sites, but they came w/lesser CPU & downgraded GPU (a MX150). I took a screenshot of the powercfg -a results. I am avoiding contacting HP at all costs unless I have to. I would like to uninstall as much of the HP bloatware as possible at some point when I understand more about this laptop, as some/most seem useless.

Glad to hear I can safely leave it plugged-in all the time. One thing is bugging me, this has the GeForce MX250 (4Gb) but also has the onboard Intel UHD Graphics 620 and they both show up in device manager. My ? is how can I check to make sure the Intel graphics are disabled or whatever & that it is using the GeForce? Have a great day

Try3 · 17 Sep 2019

1 Your computer has 'modern standby'.
- The idea of 'modern standby' is that the computer uses up so little power when idle that it can be regarded in the same way as a mobile phone. You just leave it on so it is always ready for you when you want to use it.
- I have a tablet-with-keyboard that has 'modern standby'. It can also just sit there until I need it.
- I have assigned the power button to hibernate. Rather than waste its battery power, if I am not expecting to use it soon I hibernate it instead. It only takes a few seconds to come out of hibernation so it is quite convenient.

2 Your attempts to get it to sleep using the power button might be doomed to failure. Because it does not have the 'S3 sleep' facility, the power buttons do not know what to do with it. If you do manage to set a power button to pretend that it is set to sleep, check what is happening in
Event viewer,
System log,
Event sources - Kernel-Power, Power-Troubleshooter
Event IDs - 1,42
You will have to examine the Details tab of the events not the General tab and it all gets to be a pain in the rear. You might find that it is not sleeping at all despite what you have managed to get power options to display [which is what I discovered].
- In my case, I found that checking the computer across my network during so-called sleep demonstrated that it was actually merely idle despite the effort I had put onto getting it set up to sleep.

3 My 'modern standby' tablet does show Turn off the display in Power options so I can set up without any problems. Since you had that working at the expense of losing the sleep option, you might find that it is worth setting it back up [because,as explained above, I do not believe that it is ever sleeping]. And get into your Bios to see what power- / sleep-related options it provides for you there.

4 HP's 9 hrs 45 mins might refer to how long it can stay on if it is idle. In other words, it can last a long time if you do not do anything with it.

5 My Dell Inspiron 7779 has a 4 cell battery so I have bought 'powerbanks' [external batteries] which supply the 20V my computer needs - they power the computer and charge its battery at the same time.

6 My tablet does have other options missing in Power options, Advanced settings such as the ability to wake on timers. Given that it was designed to remain on in low power S0 state, this makes some sort of perverted sense. But not much.

7 There might well be useful info in the HP support site or its user forum without having to ask HP support for help. 'Modern standby' computers are still so unusual that I suspect we are all just feeling our way through and exchanging advice with each other.

8 I have seen other TenForums threads in which people have complained about HP's bloatware.
- If you are going to play around then make system images first. If you are not familiar with them I can explain.
- If you are ever going to consider a clean install of Windows 10 in order to get rid of every HP item then make sure you back up your drivers first [www.tenforums.com/tutorials/68426-drivers-backup-restore-windows-10-a.html] and download every driver's installation file from HP so you have an alternative avenue.

9 I also have one computer with both Intel & NVidia display cards. I always run using the Intel one but I could use the NVidia's control panel to choose it for particular tasks if I knew what I was doing. I believe that the NVidia is useful for high-end-graphics applications but it's all wasted on me. I have never tried learning about it all but I imagine you could ask how best to use them in a separate TenForums thread.

I think I've covered everything in your posts,
Denis

ezduzzit · 19 Sep 2019

Thank you Denis, you've been very helpful as usual. Now that I know I can just leave it plugged in all the time I'll just leave it as is, (w/o the sleep option) since I don't have to worry about the battery drain. I like to be able to turn off display while lid is open because it's a bright display and the TV is 5 feet in front of me and this is a large laptop w/the swivel-lid? hinge that raises up the front end when you lift the lid (about 1/4 in or so), so it can get better airflow and I use 2 hands to open and close it because I've read some problems have cropped up with hinge system.

I'm satisfied with this purchase from HP so far, other than the endless HP applications pre-installed. I hope I can say the same thing 6 months from now! Have a good one.