Dell Inspiron 1526 Shuts Down When Idle - DOS Mode

Hi Folks:

Maybe someone can help with this. I'm trying to perform a hard drive diagnostics/repair using HDD Regenerator software which needs to be performed in DOS mode. The process is quite a lengthy one. However, this Inspiron 1526 turns itself off automatically when left unattended; which of course terminates the process. (The system has a BIOS password and will do the same thing after about 20 minutes if no password has been entered). There are no such issues while in the OS itself. I've checked the BIOS for a 'timing' setting that will prevent this from occurring, but thus far, no dice. Any advice/solution regarding this issue would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

Not sure, but it might be that your CPU/other piece of hardware is getting overheated in the DOS mode, e.g. because your normal OS (likely Windows) either at least partially takes that into account or some software such as a driver does, but in the DOS mode, there clearly won't be anything. When some temperature sensors reach high enough temperature, the laptop shuts itself down to avoid the potential damage.

This is more of a guess, though. You can see if that's the case by:

1) seeing if occasional "attendance" (presumably pressing a key) over a relevant time (say 1.2 times the shutdown time) period avoids this

2) running a resource-intensive test for the relevant time under your normal OS.

 

Wizard-mag:

Thanks for your input on this. I doubt whether a heat issue is at the core of the 'idle' shutdown, because once in Windows (Vista Ultimate x64) the laptop stays on without interruption, until a manual shutdown.

As I mentioned in the first message, the computer has a BIOS password which has to be typed in before you can boot into Windows. If you do not type in a password at the first screen and do nothing for about 10 to 15 minutes, the computer simply turns off and has to be manually restarted.

When running the HDD Regenerator software (must be in DOS), I followed your suggestion and periodically tapped on keys for a couple of hours as the program underwent its process. This bit of 'intervention' appeared to prevent the computer from arbitrarily shutting down. Which reinforces my initial suspicion that there is some sort of 'timing' feature (most likely in the BIOS) that has an auto-shutdown property if there in no user-activity while the computer is in a DOS-mode environment. Of course this is a major problem when running programs like the above mentioned that can require as much as 24 hours to complete. (Imagine sitting there "tapping" away on the keyboard for an entire day -- not hardly). <lol>

Finally, as I've already alluded, the system will remain turned on indefinitely while in Windows, regardless of how many or how long any "resource-intensive" program is being run.

What I ultimately did was to take out the little SATA drive and put it into one of my desktops. Once there, I was finally able to complete the repair; which was successful by the way. However, I still would like to know how to suppress Dell's auto-shutdown in that laptop. Thanks once again for chiming in.

 

Glad you at least got the immediate job done.

With regards to the behaviour you describe: Really I would go through the whole BIOS setting by setting and look for anything near it. You wrote in the first post you had already done that, though, so I've got no idea. If you're the owner of the laptop, though, you might want to, as a last resort, contact Dell Support and ask them why the behaviour occurs, since it is rather reasonable requirement that the owner of the laptop is able to turn this off...

 

You've been excellent at suggesting various ideas, and your feedback has been most welcome. As a 25-year computer tech, I'm aware that, no matter how hard one tries, sometimes there just is no answer. My years of experience with Dell's so-called "tech support" has always left a bitter taste on my palate; and I'm loathe to waste my time dealing with those folks. But, as you mentioned, ultimately the task at hand reached a successful conclusion. So, at this point, I'll just move on until the next Dell dilemma comes along... <g> Enjoy your weekend.