Screen turns on Randomly while away

[reloader20]

Hello everyone,
I bought Dell XPS 13 9360 half a year ago and there is a problem started to happen last week.
It looks like, when i'm away from it and the screen turns off, after couple of minutes, the screen turns on randomly. and it prevents from it to turn into sleep mode, even after I close the laptop and put it in my bag.
It looks like something touch the touchpad, maybe too sensitive, but that problem wasn't appeared before. so maybe it isn't an hardware problem? maybe it's a process runs in the background and cause the screen turning on?


Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[webworkings]

Try starting up the laptop in "Safe Mode" and see if it occurs in there. You can't do a lot in that mode, but you can try closing it and see if it will stay off. If it stays off, then it is likely a program, virus, malware, etc. on the computer that is causing it to not shut down correctly. You would then have to find the problem item(s) and remove it/them.

If, however, it does this in "Safe Mode" then you are likely looking at hardware as the problem.

How to enter "Safe Mode" when booting the computer.

In Windows 8 and 10...

As your computer restarts, press F8 (possibly a few times) to enter "Safe Mode"

a. Press the "F4" key to Enable "Safe Mode".
(The computer will then start in "Safe Mode" with a minimal set of drivers and services.)

b. Press the "F5" key to Enable "Safe Mode" with Networking.
( Once "Safe Mode" with Networking starts, Windows is in Safe Mode, with additional network and services for accessing the Internet and other computers on your network.)

c. Press the "F6" key to Enable "Safe Mode" with Command Prompt.
(In "Safe Mode" with "Command Prompt" starts Windows in Safe Mode, with a Command Prompt window instead of the Windows interface. This option is mostly only used by IT professionals.)

Now sign in to the computer with your account name and password. (If you have one set.) When you are finished troubleshooting, you can exit "Safe Mode" restarting your computer.


In Windows 7/Vista/XP...

1. Immediately after turning on the computer, or restarting it (usually after you hear your computer beep), tap the F8 key, repeatedly, in 1 second intervals.

2. The computer will then display hardware information and run a memory test.

3. Next the "Advanced Boot Options" menu will appear.

4. In the "Advanced Boot Options" menu use the arrow keys to select "Safe Mode" or "Safe Mode with Networking" and press ENTER.

 

[reloader20]

Try starting up the laptop in "Safe Mode" and see if it occurs in there. You can't do a lot in that mode, but you can try closing it and see if it will stay off. If it stays off, then it is likely a program, virus, malware, etc. on the computer that is causing it to not shut down correctly. You would then have to find the problem item(s) and remove it/them.

If, however, it does this in "Safe Mode" then you are likely looking at hardware as the problem.

How to enter "Safe Mode" when booting the computer.

In Windows 8 and 10...

As your computer restarts, press F8 (possibly a few times) to enter "Safe Mode"

a. Press the "F4" key to Enable "Safe Mode".
(The computer will then start in "Safe Mode" with a minimal set of drivers and services.)

b. Press the "F5" key to Enable "Safe Mode" with Networking.
( Once "Safe Mode" with Networking starts, Windows is in Safe Mode, with additional network and services for accessing the Internet and other computers on your network.)

c. Press the "F6" key to Enable "Safe Mode" with Command Prompt.
(In "Safe Mode" with "Command Prompt" starts Windows in Safe Mode, with a Command Prompt window instead of the Windows interface. This option is mostly only used by IT professionals.)

Now sign in to the computer with your account name and password. (If you have one set.) When you are finished troubleshooting, you can exit "Safe Mode" restarting your computer.


In Windows 7/Vista/XP...

1. Immediately after turning on the computer, or restarting it (usually after you hear your computer beep), tap the F8 key, repeatedly, in 1 second intervals.

2. The computer will then display hardware information and run a memory test.

3. Next the "Advanced Boot Options" menu will appear.

4. In the "Advanced Boot Options" menu use the arrow keys to select "Safe Mode" or "Safe Mode with Networking" and press ENTER.

Thanks for the help,
I did not try that, tried another thing though.
I made a full restart, and than at the login screen (while still logged off) I waited until the screen turns off and than waited until screen will turn on randomly again and it didn't happen, the laptop turned after 20 mins to sleep mode normally.
This is most likely an software issue. A lot of services still not run at this point, while still logged off after a restart.
Do you have any idea how to find the App/Service that causes this issue?

 

[webworkings]

I would try running some good deep virus and malware scans for one. Then you may want to check in the Windows start programs to make sure nothing is running that is causing it to not work. This is done by going to "Start" and in the search box typing "msconfig" (without the quotes). Go to the "startup" tab in there and check if there is anything that is set to auto start when windows does that isn't something you want/need.

WARNING: Be ultra careful turning off or removing anything in 'msconfig' as you can do more harm that good. So don't change anything without making sure that it is something that is safe to be changed.

 

[reloader20]

Well, There aren't many things there, the laptop is use to be my computer for computer science degree, nothing on it but files, visual studio, etc.
In the startup list there are:
https/imgur.com/a/WJ6bS9e

Malwarebytes didn't detect anything.

I'll try to find the cause but I don't really know how. when the problem appears I'll try to look at the list of services.

Do you have any other idea?

 

[webworkings]

You can try checking the settings in "Control Panel" then "Power Options". Click on "Change plan settings" next to the plan you are using and on the following screen click "Change advanced power settings". In here check all the options for sleep, closing the lid, display, etc. Make sure all are set to where you want them. When you are done with the changes make sure you click "Apply" and then "OK". Should this not help either, then I would really try it in "Safe Mode" to see if it happens in there or not.

 

[reloader20]

After 3 days of use, I can say surely, I used the laptop normally and it didn't happen again.

Conclusion: (in my opinion)
A software issue- something (service/app) **very specific**, (if its running), cause the problem but I don't really know what is it and I can't find right now because the problem disappeared.

I don't know if I cant take a full list of all the services and apps that runs at a point and than wait until the problem will appear again and then compare the lists.


thanks again for the help