Sleep mode messes up computer

Hyperion

Active member
Hoping you guys may help. This is a re-post of a question I submitted at another forum:

In a recent development, if the computer goes into sleep most, it almost always will not "start" again (this problem never occurs if the computer is shut down instead). What I mean by the computer not starting is that when taken out of sleep mode it gives every indication that it is on again (noise and lights)... except for activity from the hard drive (indicated by red light flashing in front of the tower). Also, the monitor tells me that no signal is detected.

The only option seems to be a restart, but whether I hold down the power button until restart is triggered, or turn it off any other way, the result is the same: The computer seems to be restarting normally until it gets to the "Starting Windows" screen, which instead will say "Resuming Windows." Whatever programs were open will still be open, but the computer will run abysmally slow and be nearly unresponsive. It will take a while but I will be able to shut down the computer normally, then upon reboot wait for error checking to finish. After that, the computer works fine again.

Is this a hard drive problem? Any idea what newbish thing I must have done to cause the sleep mode problem, or in any case what the cause may be?
 
This sounds vaguely familiar...

It sounds like your PC is going into Hibernate mode. This is where it shuts everything down but stores the contents of RAM on the hard disk so its full state can be resumed.

It could be the hard drive... then it could also be the RAM. That could also tie in with the no display thing.

Do you know if your computer has a dedicated graphics card or whether it's on board? If it's an on-board or shared memory graphics card then if there was a problem with the RAM then that could explain why there isn't a display. It could also explain why the system doesn't do anything as the RAM at that point should be having its previous session restored to it.

If you know the answer about whether it's a shared or dedicated graphics card then that'd be really helpful.

If not, then there's a couple of diagnostic checks we can do.

To check the hard drive:

1) Click Start > Run > type CMD and hit enter
2) In the command prompt window type: chkdsk c: /r
3) It should offer to do this after next reboot. Say yes. And reboot.
4) The hard drive will now run a diagnostic check. It might take an hour or so.


If you have Windows 7 to check the RAM:

1) Go to Control Panel
2) Find Administrative Tools
3) Run Windows Memory Diagnositc
4) Reboot and let the tests complete.


After the tests are complete unless there's some obvious problems we can check the log files for anything suspicious.

My other thought would be a faulty motherboard with it not behaving properly with sleeping and hibernating... But these things are easier to check first.
 
Your BIOS power state settings are incorrect. Most computers have two options; S1 and S3, select the other and test it out. This issue became apparent with Windows 7.
 
Yorick: Definitely a dedicated graphics card: EVGA GTX 260. Windows 7.

OSS and Yorick: Have to run for now, but when I get back I'll run the RAM test and try changing the BIOS power state setting. Thanks for the help and suggestions, guys.
 
Have to run, but managed to finish the RAM test. No problems were found. Did notice another problem, though: When I told the Memory Diagnostic Test to restart the computer so it can start the test, the same problem occurred where the screen no longer detects a signal, and no activity is coming from the hard drive. It seems the only way to reboot the computer without issue is to shut it down, then start it up again by pressing the power button.
 
You can also try to update your graphic card driver, it might actually cause some interference, but if it worked before, it would be strange it don't now (unless you did update it).
....

1) Click Start > Run > type CMD and hit enter
2) In the command prompt window type: chkdsk c: /r
I would like to add that this will only check your filesystem, and if it fails, it doesn't necessarily mean your HDD is failing, especially given the problems you have with sleep / hibernation, which easily can cause faulty segments on your filesystem. If you want to run a check on your physical hard disk, you need something like smartmontools, I would suggest getting GSmartControl in Windows.
 
Darkimmortal: Good news and bad news. Bad news first: Unfortunately, updating would be tricky; i.e., the update is hard to find because the manufacturer is long gone, along with its website and traces of its downloads. I have version F1 (17 April, 2008) of a BIOS by Award Software International, Inc.

Good news:

OSS: You came across the answer without breaking a sweat; wish I could double-like your post. In celebration, mandatory Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged series reference:

"Looks like the rules problem just got screwed."

kaiba.webp


Simply switched S3 to S1 for the first setting under power management, ACPI Assist to RAM. For any other beginners here, here is a helpful article: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bios-beginners,1126-8.html

Again, thanks for the help, everyone.
 
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