"Turn off the display" (Plugged in) timeout puts the computer to sleep? I can't ping the laptop, how do I prevent this?

I have a Lenovo YOGA 9i Pro running Windows 11 Pro.

It's connected to a CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt dock. Ethernet is connected to the TS4 dock. (DisplayPort cable from TS4 dock connected to Monitor)

If I let the "Turn off the display" (under Power Options Edit Plan Settings) trigger after a few minutes, the monitor turns off, but the computer goes to sleep. I can't ping the IP and the white LED is pulsing slowly on the side of the laptop. When I wake up the computer via keyboard and or mouse the network returns. I've noticed the backlight on the keyboard turns off turning the monitor off event as well.

The only way I can keep my computer on and active on the network is to set the Power Option to Never for everything.
Turn Off the display (Never, on battery) (Never, Plugged in)
Put the computer to sleep (Never, on battery) (Never, Plugged in)

What am I missing to change or set? I want the monitor to turn off, but this computer needs to remain online 24/7.

Hi, welcome to the forum

I have a YOGA but I’ve never looked into this. If it’s a power consumption issue for you, to compensate for the time being you could possibly set a blank/black screen screensaver.

Something else I haven’t had time to look into, does the YOGA bloatware have its own power plans unrelated to control panel power settings?

I did some testing and learned what’s up.

First, I plugged the laptop into the normal power supply Without any docking station or other accessories plugged in. I set the monitor off after one minute. I was able to ping the laptop and it stayed online

Second, I tested using my Apple studio display with the thunderbolt cable. After one minute, the monitor went off, and I was still able to ping the laptop on the network

Third, I went back to the TS four doc to test and repeated the same failure of not being able to ping the laptop when the monitor turned off after one minute. The mouse and keyboard LEDs also go dark at this time

Fourth, I realize there are two thunderbolt USB type C ports on the side of the laptop, laptop. I assume the one with the lightning bolt was the correct one to use, but when I move the plug to the non-lightning bolt one which is most likely the actual main thunderbolt port I have to look everything be behaves normal. When the monitor turns off the keyboard and mouse LEDs continue to glow and I can continue to ping

Here’s a photo pointing the plug at the correct port that made everything work the way I wanted

I have a follow-up to my update after looking up the ports. I wonder why the official thunderbolt 4 port doesn’t work the way I want (see #4) and the USB-C full function port (see #3) does work? (Stays online after monitor sleeps)

On my YOGA, the USB furthest toward the back is for fast charging and data if desired, the one second in is dedicated for data only (I believe), I don’t think you can get a charge into the YOGA with the second, if at all, it would be slow, min charge. The charge cable on my YOGA is USB-C, it has a lightning bolt (Fast Charge)

So it would stand to reason, to me, that the one closest toward the front (without the bolt symbol) would be the preferable DATA connection. However your C inputs are in different positions.

I’ve triple-checked Lenovo Vantage, and it shows no new driver or utility updates are available. I confirmed no new Windows updates are available. I was about to try this suggested test next but…..

Reddit - Dive into anything
I went to confirm the original reported problem still exists first. Today both ports (#3 & #4) are working as expected, and I can ping the IP address even after the monitor goes off. The only thing I changed was turning the Wi-Fi off before this re-confirmation test.

I’ll leave it plugged into the Thunderbolt port for now and see how it goes

Here’s what the TS4 Caldigit email support got back to me with as well. I haven’t looked at the bias settings they suggested yet. Won’t mess further unless needed.

“Hello again,

Thank you for following back up with us and sharing that information with us. As you can see in the screenshot of your ports that you provided, the working port is a standard USB-C 3.2 Gen 2x2 port compared to #4’s Thunderbolt port. It can be a little confusing considering that they both are using the same Type-C connector but they are vastly different protocols and reach entirely different speeds.

Since you are using a Windows PC, please try the following:

• update with System Updates, BIOS, and Thunderbolt drivers from the laptop manufacturer
• check within the computer’s System BIOS to and disable ‘Thunderbolt Security’

This should help prevent the computer from interfering with any of the dock’s interfaces and help prevent the dock or other devices from being disabled after system updates.

Please let me know the results of this.

Best Regards, Anthony”

JazJonFL said:

• check within the computer’s System BIOS to and disable ‘Thunderbolt Security’

This should help prevent the computer from interfering with any of the dock’s interfaces

Click to expand...

It may also prevent a fast charge? My warranty ran out 3 days ago. If I decide to renew it within the allowed 30 days, I’ll use their support and explain your problerm as mine. But I was thinking of a new Lenovo laptop.

I can’t find where to disable thunderbolt security in the BIOS.

I wanted to post the latest observations

I’ve been testing both CalDigit TS4 dock and the Lenovo Hybrid USB-C dock.

On the Lenovo dock’s Ethernet properties there is a Power Management tab. On this tab I was able to disable the computers ability to turn the Lenovo ethernet adapter off while in sleep
This actually fixed the problem. I was able to ping the laptop 24/7 when using the Lenovo Dock.

I switched back to the TS4 dock and went into its Ethernet properties. There is no power management tab though..


This might be due to what I googled up in the following link. I’m not sure what else I can do since there is no power management tab. The link says I could downgrade something via registry hack but it seems a bit extreme And I’m not sure how that would affect standard laptop non dock usage.