I was visiting my older brother and i wanted to use his computer,

a Dell Inspiron 24, or something liek that. It's an All-in-one.

I had a dickens of a time finding the on/off switch, which doesnt'
protrude at all so one has to keep pressing everywhere until he finds
something that moves.

Then the only thing that happened is that one of those fancy pictures
that MS provides, with islands and trees, but not a real place iiuc,
appeared and stayed for 10 seconds, and then the screen went blank
again.

How can that be?

I thought, let's check out the BIOS but how will I know if the wireless
kb is letting my press the right F-key. So I went to my suitcase and
got my own wired keyboard and mouse. "Have keyboard, Will Travel. Wire
Paladin. San Francisco."

And by golly it started right up.

Turns out the switches on the wireless keyboard and mouse were both off.
When I turned them on and unplugged my kb and mouse, the pc worked fine.
So why didn't the PC turn on and complain there was no kb or mouse? I
know mine has done that some time in the last 10 years.

On 3/26/2024 8:51 PM, micky wrote:
> I was visiting my older brother and i wanted to use his computer,
>
> a Dell Inspiron 24, or something liek that. It's an All-in-one.
>
> I had a dickens of a time finding the on/off switch, which doesnt'
> protrude at all so one has to keep pressing everywhere until he finds
> something that moves.
>
> Then the only thing that happened is that one of those fancy pictures
> that MS provides, with islands and trees, but not a real place iiuc,
> appeared and stayed for 10 seconds, and then the screen went blank
> again.
>
> How can that be?
>
> I thought, let's check out the BIOS but how will I know if the wireless
> kb is letting my press the right F-key. So I went to my suitcase and
> got my own wired keyboard and mouse. "Have keyboard, Will Travel. Wire
> Paladin. San Francisco."
>
> And by golly it started right up.
>
> Turns out the switches on the wireless keyboard and mouse were both off.
> When I turned them on and unplugged my kb and mouse, the pc worked fine.
> So why didn't the PC turn on and complain there was no kb or mouse? I
> know mine has done that some time in the last 10 years.
>

Perhaps whatever handles the wireless devices, reported to the BIOS
that they were HID devices, but without anything to generate an
actual event, there would be no way to do anything at BIOS level.

Whereas the OS asked a few more questions when loading a driver.

Paul

On 3/26/24 09:13 PM, Paul wrote:
> On 3/26/2024 8:51 PM, micky wrote:
>> I was visiting my older brother and i wanted to use his computer,
>>
>> a Dell Inspiron 24, or something liek that. It's an All-in-one.
>>
>> I had a dickens of a time finding the on/off switch, which doesnt'
>> protrude at all so one has to keep pressing everywhere until he finds
>> something that moves.
>>
>> Then the only thing that happened is that one of those fancy pictures
>> that MS provides, with islands and trees, but not a real place iiuc,
>> appeared and stayed for 10 seconds, and then the screen went blank
>> again.
>>
>> How can that be?
>>
>> I thought, let's check out the BIOS but how will I know if the wireless
>> kb is letting my press the right F-key. So I went to my suitcase and
>> got my own wired keyboard and mouse. "Have keyboard, Will Travel. Wire
>> Paladin. San Francisco."
>>
>> And by golly it started right up.
>>
>> Turns out the switches on the wireless keyboard and mouse were both off.
>> When I turned them on and unplugged my kb and mouse, the pc worked fine.
>> So why didn't the PC turn on and complain there was no kb or mouse? I
>> know mine has done that some time in the last 10 years.
>>
>
> Perhaps whatever handles the wireless devices, reported to the BIOS
> that they were HID devices, but without anything to generate an
> actual event, there would be no way to do anything at BIOS level.
>
> Whereas the OS asked a few more questions when loading a driver.
>
> Paul
If it's a 2-in-1, then it's probably touch and thus doesn't need a keyboard and mouse?
--
Linux Mint 21.3 Cinnamon 6.0.4 Kernel 6.5.0-26-generic
Al

micky wrote on 3/26/24 5:51 PM:
> I was visiting my older brother and i wanted to use his computer,
>
> a Dell Inspiron 24, or something liek that. It's an All-in-one.
>
> I had a dickens of a time finding the on/off switch, which doesnt'
> protrude at all so one has to keep pressing everywhere until he finds
> something that moves.
>
> Then the only thing that happened is that one of those fancy pictures
> that MS provides, with islands and trees, but not a real place iiuc,
> appeared and stayed for 10 seconds, and then the screen went blank
> again.
>
> How can that be?
>
> I thought, let's check out the BIOS but how will I know if the wireless
> kb is letting my press the right F-key. So I went to my suitcase and
> got my own wired keyboard and mouse. "Have keyboard, Will Travel. Wire
> Paladin. San Francisco."
>
> And by golly it started right up.
>
> Turns out the switches on the wireless keyboard and mouse were both off.
> When I turned them on and unplugged my kb and mouse, the pc worked fine.
> So why didn't the PC turn on and complain there was no kb or mouse? I
> know mine has done that some time in the last 10 years.
>
Did you attempt to reduplicate/validate the exact same problem?
- Shutdown device, disconnect your wired keyboard/mouse, turn off
owner's wireless keyboard/mouse...then power on.

If the device had Spotlight for the Lock Screen previously
configured(pics provided by Bing, changed periodically[every 1-2 days)
and deployed using code called the Content Delivery Manager(CDM)that
communicates with Windows use of Bing's online pictures.
- at power on, the configured Lock Screen pic source/location is on the
device's storage(SSD/HDD). When the CDM does not obtain a new pic from
Bing the display for the Lock Screen reverts to one of two sources - the
existing default or a blank screen.
=> The rendered pic or blank screen is rendered independently of the
keyboard/mouse status(wired/wireless type and on/off).

The timing/sequence for activation of the Lock Screen is also dependent
on other variables(hardware[graphics card/driver], Windows, internet,
SSD/HDD) not necessarily activated in the exact same order at power up

Until the same problem can be duplicated and more info presented, the
possible cause/reason is pretty much a wild a*$ guess.

--
....w¡ñ§±¤ñ

In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Wed, 27 Mar 2024 09:35:31 -0700,
....w¡ñ§±¤ñ <winstonmvp@gmail.com> wrote:

>micky wrote on 3/26/24 5:51 PM:
>> I was visiting my older brother and i wanted to use his computer,
>>
>> a Dell Inspiron 24, or something liek that. It's an All-in-one.
>>
>> I had a dickens of a time finding the on/off switch, which doesnt'
>> protrude at all so one has to keep pressing everywhere until he finds
>> something that moves.
>>
>> Then the only thing that happened is that one of those fancy pictures
>> that MS provides, with islands and trees, but not a real place iiuc,
>> appeared and stayed for 10 seconds, and then the screen went blank
>> again.
>>
>> How can that be?
>>
>> I thought, let's check out the BIOS but how will I know if the wireless
>> kb is letting my press the right F-key. So I went to my suitcase and
>> got my own wired keyboard and mouse. "Have keyboard, Will Travel. Wire
>> Paladin. San Francisco."
>>
>> And by golly it started right up.
>>
>> Turns out the switches on the wireless keyboard and mouse were both off.
>> When I turned them on and unplugged my kb and mouse, the pc worked fine.
>> So why didn't the PC turn on and complain there was no kb or mouse? I
>> know mine has done that some time in the last 10 years.
>>
>Did you attempt to reduplicate/validate the exact same problem?
> - Shutdown device, disconnect your wired keyboard/mouse, turn off
>owner's wireless keyboard/mouse...then power on.

Yes.

>If the device had Spotlight for the Lock Screen previously
>configured(pics provided by Bing, changed periodically[every 1-2 days)
>and deployed using code called the Content Delivery Manager(CDM)that
>communicates with Windows use of Bing's online pictures.
>- at power on, the configured Lock Screen pic source/location is on the
>device's storage(SSD/HDD). When the CDM does not obtain a new pic from
>Bing the display for the Lock Screen reverts to one of two sources - the
>existing default or a blank screen.
> => The rendered pic or blank screen is rendered independently of the
>keyboard/mouse status(wired/wireless type and on/off).

Good information. I should add that when it worked (when the wired
devices were plugged in or the wireless were turned on) it (probably did
display the pretty picture and then it) went to a logon screen. I
didn't know the password at that time, but I was satisfied that it
worked when the kb and mouse were plugged in and didn't need to actually
use it anymore. (It was 3 days earlier that I'd needed a computer
but I didn't anymore because I'd used my phone by then time.
>
>The timing/sequence for activation of the Lock Screen is also dependent
>on other variables(hardware[graphics card/driver], Windows, internet,
>SSD/HDD) not necessarily activated in the exact same order at power up
>
>Until the same problem can be duplicated and more info presented, the
>possible cause/reason is pretty much a wild a*$ guess.

I'd settle for a wild guess. I don't see how I can gather more
information than what I provided.

In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Wed, 27 Mar 2024 08:04:04 -0400, Big Al
<alan@invalid.com> wrote:

>On 3/26/24 09:13 PM, Paul wrote:
>> On 3/26/2024 8:51 PM, micky wrote:
>>> I was visiting my older brother and i wanted to use his computer,
>>>
>>> a Dell Inspiron 24, or something liek that. It's an All-in-one.
>>>
>>> I had a dickens of a time finding the on/off switch, which doesnt'
>>> protrude at all so one has to keep pressing everywhere until he finds
>>> something that moves.
>>>
>>> Then the only thing that happened is that one of those fancy pictures
>>> that MS provides, with islands and trees, but not a real place iiuc,
>>> appeared and stayed for 10 seconds, and then the screen went blank
>>> again.
>>>
>>> How can that be?
>>>
>>> I thought, let's check out the BIOS but how will I know if the wireless
>>> kb is letting my press the right F-key. So I went to my suitcase and
>>> got my own wired keyboard and mouse. "Have keyboard, Will Travel. Wire
>>> Paladin. San Francisco."
>>>
>>> And by golly it started right up.
>>>
>>> Turns out the switches on the wireless keyboard and mouse were both off.
>>> When I turned them on and unplugged my kb and mouse, the pc worked fine.
>>> So why didn't the PC turn on and complain there was no kb or mouse? I
>>> know mine has done that some time in the last 10 years.
>>>
>>
>> Perhaps whatever handles the wireless devices, reported to the BIOS
>> that they were HID devices, but without anything to generate an
>> actual event, there would be no way to do anything at BIOS level.

Reading the BIOS was just the only thing I thought to do before windows
started. I had no particular interest in the BIOS. I never actually
pressed any of the keys one uses to get to the BIOS because when the
wired keyboard was plugged in, the bad behaviour stopped.
>>
>> Whereas the OS asked a few more questions when loading a driver.

Why didn't it give an error message when there was no kb or mouse?
>>
>> Paul
>If it's a 2-in-1, then it's probably touch and thus doesn't need a keyboard and mouse?

It's an All-in-1, not a 2-in-1, but checking, I see that it can come two
ways, with or without a touch screen. I didn't try touching it because
my mother said not to get fingerprints everywhere.

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/cty/pdp/spd/inspiron-24-5420-aio/useiapbto5420fwhm?tfcid=91049735&dgc=opl&
But more to the point, if it were touch and it didn't need the kb or
mouse, then why did it turn off? When the kb and mouse were plugged
inm, or the wireless ones were turned on, it didn't turn off.

**As you can see from the webpage above, and as my SIL said, it's sold
with wireless KB and mouse. Why do they do that? Corded devices are
more reliable and very, very few users sit so far from the
monitor/computer that the cord does not reach.

Wired devices don't have batteries that go dead, don't have switches
that need to be turned off when not using them or turned back on when
you again want to use them. Are computer vendors pushing wireless just
so they can charge a small number of dollars more than wired cost?

micky wrote:

(snip)

> **As you can see from the webpage above, and as my SIL said, it's sold
> with wireless KB and mouse. Why do they do that? Corded devices are
> more reliable and very, very few users sit so far from the
> monitor/computer that the cord does not reach.
>
> Wired devices don't have batteries that go dead, don't have switches
> that need to be turned off when not using them or turned back on when
> you again want to use them. Are computer vendors pushing wireless just
> so they can charge a small number of dollars more than wired cost?

Everyone wants battery operated things nowadays. It's all the rage...
keyboards, mice, laptops, iphones, drills, leaf blowers, lawn mowers,
cars, drones, toys, pets... etc. Be the first on your block to have
one. Be there or be square, as the wise old saying goes.