DES is Turned Off, Press Any Key to Continue

Many users try to power down their machines as responsibly as possible by using the Start menu, clicking the “Shut Down” button and choosing the “Shut down” option and, once all programs have been closed, turning off the machine if applicable. But unexpected power offs happen. Power outages, tripped power cords and depleted laptop batteries don’t always allow users to treat their machines the way they would like. When a power off does happen, all users can do is hope they’ve saved their work and expect no complications once a new power source is found.

If your machine has a Gigabyte motherboard, you may encounter the error “DES is turned off, press any key.” DES stands for “Dynamic Energy Saver,” which is a background firmware program meant to optimize the use of your motherboard’s energy efficiency. However, if the machine is not shut down properly, the Energy Saver is not able to guide the energy efficiency necessary to safely power down. Simply put, during an unexpected shut off, the DES will automatically revert into off mode.

Unlike the dialog promises, the command of pressing any key will not work. At this point your only option will be to shut off the machine and try again. However, this error message and the corresponding unresponsive command will persist until some hardware modifications are complete.

Once the machine is off, remove the battery, which will disconnect any residual power source to the motherboard and reset the basic input/output system (BIOS) back to its default settings. This is necessary as a default setting for the DES system is to be on. The battery should be the only thing you remove. Once you start removing other cards and hardware components, a variety of errors can occur.

Replace the battery and turn the machine back on. It may need to restart in safety mode to ensure that Windows 7 starts properly. This should allow all of the default settings in both the operating system and the BIOS to repair itself.

After the machine has started normally and you have not gotten the DES error message, select the Start menu with the Windows 7 logo and find the Gigabyte program. Disable the Dynamic Energy Saver program to ensure that you do not get the same error message again.