Standby shuts computer down

[Bald Eagle]

I have read about this problem in one of your earlier threads. It was quite a detailed thread and very instructive, but never gave me sufficient clues to solve my own problem. Some of the suggestions were extremely complex, involving reinstalling Windows etc. - I am not prepared to go that far.

My Standby stopped working recently for no reason that I can understand. When engaging Standby, which I do all the time, it shuts down my computer. This is a big pain, as it means I have to reinvent the wheel and start up all over again and it is disruptive and takes too long.

However, Hibernate still works perfectly, so I am using that at present. The only problem with Hibernate is that it takes 448 MB of hard disk space and hogs my VM to the bone.

As the problem was sudden, I can only assume that it was a function of some other sudden event like updates or new programs etc. causing a conflict. In other words it looks a simple but as yet unknown matter which caused the trouble, therefore it must be equally simple to restore it.

Question :-
I suspect a good start is to establish the technical reason why Hibernate still works and Standby does not. Can anybody explain this ?

I do not wish to repeat all the complexities of the previous thread, since my entire system works perfectly and I have no wish to upset it - "If it works OK, don`t fix it".

Your comments will be very much appreciated.
Many thanks

PC data :-
OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Service Pack 3, 32 bit
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) Dual Core Processor 5200B, x86 Family 15 Model 107 Stepping 2
Processor Count: 2
RAM: 447 Mb
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430, 256 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 78528 MB, Free - 52986 MB;
Motherboard: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd., M61PME-S2P
Antivirus: AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 2012, Updated: Yes, On-Demand Scanner: Enabled

 

[Norton]

There should be a setting in control panel> power options> advanced that says "what to do when I press the power button"- you should be able to change that setting to "standby" it's probably set to "turn computer off" atm.

I don't have my XP rig running right now but maybe another member running XP will be willing to take a screenshot of the page with that setting and post it for you

 

[eidairaman1]

There should be a setting in control panel> power options> advanced that says "what to do when I press the power button"- you should be able to change that setting to "standby" it's probably set to "turn computer off" atm.

I don't have my XP rig running right now but maybe another member running XP will be willing to take a screenshot of the page with that setting and post it for you

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907477

that should help a lil bit. But Really- SP3 caused more headaches for many users.

 

[Bald Eagle]

There should be a setting in control panel> power options> advanced that says "what to do when I press the power button"- you should be able to change that setting to "standby" it's probably set to "turn computer off" atm.

Hello Norton,

It is set at Standby, always has been and I do not have a Standby switch back time limit, it is set to "Never"

That earlier thread (around 2007) was a long one involving so many complex suggestions I thought that the entire computer had been regenerated from new. You know how the OP solved it after turning it inside out ? He fiddled about with Ad-Aware. Don`t know exactly what he did, but Standby worked OK after this surgery. I do not have Ad-Aware.

 

[Norton]

Hello Norton,

It is set at Standby.

I would check the settings in the BIOS- there may be a similar setting there.

How are you/did you get into standby before? Windows start> shutdown menu or just press the power button?

FYI- eidairaman1's link has some useful places to look into as well.

 

[Bald Eagle]

I would check the settings in the BIOS- there may be a similar setting there.

How are you/did you get into standby before? Windows start> shutdown menu or just press the power button?

FYI- eidairaman1's link has some useful places to look into as well.

I either used the START>WINDOWS PANEL>STANDBY or more frequently clicking my desktop icon for Standby which is a function of using :-

%windir%\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState

With the desktop icon, if Hibernate is enabled, it Hibernates. If Hibernate is not enabled, it goes to Standby. This still works OK with Hibernate enabled, but with Hibernate not enabled instead of going to Standby, it shuts down the computer.

Start>Windows Panel>Standby also shuts down the computer.

 

[OneMoar]

whats the bios suspend state set to ? should Be S3
sounds like its not reporting the correct ACPI capabilities

 

[Bald Eagle]

whats the bios suspend state set to ? should Be S3
sounds like its not reporting the correct ACPI capabilities

I have not touched BIOS ever since I first had my computer in 2004. I do not know how to access it, what to look for or make changes. Could you please tell me the steps to check it ?

S3 and ACPI have been mentioned in other posts on the web to do with loss of Standby where they also say that S3 is the setting needed, presumable S1 and S2 are disabled, so you may have something here. I would like to do it.

As I have never accessed BIOS, are there Windows updates that could screw it up or other systems interplay ?

Thanks

My computer details are included in my OP.

 

[OneMoar]

reboot the computer and it should tell you what key to hit when it posts its usually F1/F2/ or delete
TBH that system is getting on in years .... might be time to consider a upgrade

 

[Bald Eagle]

reboot the computer and it should tell you what key to hit when it posts its usually F1/F2/ or delete
TBH that system is getting on in years .... might be time to consider a upgrade

Problem. I have rebooted many times trying to see the key which allows me to enter BIOS. The screen comes up dull and before it has time to brighten up so I can read the keys, it is gone. I simply am not given sufficient time to see the data.

Standby suddenly started working perfectly , but after a while it stopped again and resumed a shut down action. This alone can only mean that the problem is a "funny" and not something serious. A serious problem would not do this. What it is though, I have no clue as yet.

 

[Bald Eagle]

Latest :-

No solution yet , but I did get into Bios by using DEL.

S3 is selected and says "Suspend State is saved to RAM". Is it possible that Windows has increased my RAM on something e.g Pagefile, so that Standby now has not enough RAM to function and by default it shuts down ?

As I have had perfect service for years now and suddenly Standby goes AWOL, I am highly suspicious that it is a simple "funny" and not a serious conflict issue.

 

[OneMoar]

Latest :-

No solution yet , but I did get into Bios by using DEL.

S3 is selected and says "Suspend State is saved to RAM". Is it possible that Windows has increased my RAM on something e.g Pagefile, so that Standby now has not enough RAM to function and by default it shuts down ?

As I have had perfect service for years now and suddenly Standby goes AWOL, I am highly suspicious that it is a simple "funny" and not a serious conflict issue.

nope does not work like that page file has no relation to ram or suspend could be a usb-device keeping the machine from going into S3 do you have a usb printer or some other usb device active ?
go though the device manger and make sure any network cards/usb devices have "allow the computer to turn off this device ticd"

standby saves all active processes and then shuts the graphics/screen/harddisk OFF then it slows processor to a near hault and supply's just enough power to the ram to keep data active what I think is happening is that the memory for one reason or another isn't getting enough power to maintain the data-patterns so when you try and wake it can't resume and defaults to a cold boot when you put the machine to sleep do you get the
"preparing to standy by" and then > powers down ?

 

[Bald Eagle]

nope does not work like that page file has no relation to ram or suspend could be a usb-device keeping the machine from going into S3 do you have a usb printer or some other usb device active ?
go though the device manger and make sure any network cards/usb devices have "allow the computer to turn off this device ticd"

standby saves all active processes and then shuts the graphics/screen/harddisk OFF then it slows processor to a near hault and supply's just enough power to the ram to keep data active what I think is happening is that the memory for one reason or another isn't getting enough power to maintain the data-patterns so when you try and wake it can't resume and defaults to a cold boot when you put the machine to sleep do you get the
"preparing to standy by" and then > powers down ?

Thanks 1M, very interesting, I will explore your comments.

Note :-
If I do find the solution to this problem from any source whatsoever, then in appreciation for your help, I promise to post you all the details

 

[eidairaman1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Configuration_and_Power_Interface#Power_states

 

[Bald Eagle]

SOLVED

To all the kind members who have responded to my post.

Silly really, but here it is. As explained in my OP, the Standby suddenly stopped working whilst Hibernate still functioned OK.

I have only just received my computer back from repair, having had a new power unit fitted and a clean out. BUT, at the same time asked for the memory to be increased. I had been getting lots of "Not Responding" and memory low alerts, plus the computer was slow - taking minutes to respond and awful from Hibernate or Start, I grew older waiting.

I previously only had 447 MB of RAM, I now have 960 MB of RAM and 2.71 GHz - approx. double the memory capacity.

This memory increase solved my Standby problem immediately, it now works perfectly. What happened, was that my memory usage had crept up to a level exceeding my RAM capacity and Standby could not function. When selecting Standby, the computer could not comply through lack of memory and simply shut down.

Very briefly, Standby stores all the data in RAM whilst Hibernate saves the data in a specially created file - hiberfil.sys and is stored on the hard disk. Hence my stored data was > RAM and Standby failed, the computer shut down. Hibernate still worked as all the data was stored on the hard disk and not in RAM.

It is worth other users noting this when their Standby is giving trouble. "Check that your RAM is sufficient to deal with your memory usage". If not, increase your memory.

This simple and rather silly solution avoids unnecessary trouble and expense in dissecting your computer into a mass of parts and reinventing the wheel. The web is full of users with Standby problems, especially with Windows XP, but not exclusively and many of these problems could well be a simple matter of needing more memory.

All is now working superb and the Start-up, Standby and Hibernate times are now very rapid.

Much faster on web selections also. So far no "Not Responding" signs. Delighted.

Thank you all again.