I have never posted here before; if it's inappropriate to ask this question here, I apologize and I hope someone will direct me accordingly.
PROBLEMS SUMMARIZED:
1. Administrative Accounts cannot access power settings.
2. Screen goes dark after 1 minute, regardless of settings.
3. Computer goes into hibernation after a specific period of time (haven't timed it, but maybe 5-10 min) unless I leave NoteWorthy Composer open (I haven't experimented enough to see if any other programs will work, but I have tried several others with no success).
4. Yesterday became unable to print from Opera. I can still print from other programs, but it thinks for several seconds before popping up the print window.
DETAILS:
I have an Acer TravelMate 4230. I can no longer access the power settings. When I click the button, I get a brief hour glass and then nothing. This has been going on for awhile, but now things are getting worse, so I'm trying to fix it.
In the beginning I had one administrative account with no requirement to log in. Recently I added a second account for security. At first I made the second account a restricted user account, but then decided to make it the administrative account and change the original user account to limited. I did this because the original account is already set up the way I want to use it.
I have discovered that I can now ACCESS the power settings from my limited user account but, of course, can't do anything to them. And I am still unable to access the power settings at all in my administrative account.
In addition, the laptop is not observing the settings correctly. For instance, the computer goes into hibernation after a period of time (something like 5 or 10 minutes) of no keyboard or mouse use, regardless of settings. And yesterday, the screen saver went haywire. It still comes on, but always 60 seconds after no keyboard or mouse use, regardless of settings, and only as a black screen, no slide show or other screensaver works.
I'm not any kind of computer expert, but I can usually follow instructions, if anyone can give me ideas for anything to try.
Thanks!
Vicki