Hibernation not working

  • Thread starter Thread starter Herbert Eppel
  • Start date Start date
I set my wife's PC (XP SP3) to hibernate after 1 hour, but it doesn't do it.

Any suggestions?

Thank you.

Herbert Eppelwww.HETranslation.co.uk
Click to expand...

Test the mechanism by hibernating manually.

Click Start, Turn Off Computer and you can see the various options -
one of which is Stand By.

When you press the Shift key, the Stand By button should turn into a
Hibernate button Hibernate is clicked, the system should hibernate.

What are your results?
 
hibernation requires that
the computer be idle for
a period of time.

it could be that your pc
is actually busy and not
idling.

what you might try is to
see if forcing hibernation
will do the trick.

try making a shortcut on
the desktop with the following
line in the file name:

%windir%\system32\rundll32.exe PowrProf.dll, SetSuspendState s3

then click on that shortcut
and see if it will send your
pc into hibernation.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- Microsoft Partner
- @hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen
 
db said:
hibernation requires that
the computer be idle for
a period of time.

it could be that your pc
is actually busy and not
idling.
Click to expand...

Hello:

I have a similar case where the Win XP PC usually does not go hibernation
(or stand-by when I have tried that), even though I have set it in Power
Option section of the Control Panel that hibernation is enabled. The PC will
go into hibernation (or stand-by) if I manually select that. Does that imply
that there is a background process going on that prevents the hibernation
feature to recognize that the PC is idle?

Thanks,
Jerry
 
Hello:

I have a similar case where the Win XP PC usually does not go hibernation
(or stand-by when I have tried that), even though I have set it in Power
Option section of the Control Panel that hibernation is enabled. The PC will
go into hibernation (or stand-by) if I manually select that. Does that imply
that there is a background process going on that prevents the hibernation
feature to recognize that the PC is idle?

Thanks,
Jerry
Click to expand...

I don't know of any issue with hibernate or Stand By SP3.

What folks don't know about (sometimes) is If any process uses more
than 10% of the CPU at any time the idle timer gets reset to zero and
starts over.

I usually just 'splain that the system must be idle for the specified
amount of time and idle means no keyboard, mouse, surfing, disk
scanning, virus scanning, etc, defragging, etc. sometimes no
streaming music, video, games, etc.

Idle means idle and it is easy to reset the idle timer accidentally or
without you knowing it got reset.

Things could reset the timer at T-minus one minute to hibernate even
if you think you are not doing anything. That could be a scheduled
task, System Restore decides it is time to create a checkpoint,
Outlook sending/receiving email, somebody IMs you, an RSS feed,
background applications checking for automatic updates (Skype is one I
see a lot). You need to set your hibernate to work outside those
influences you set up yourself or change things. It just takes one
thing to reset that idle timer!

If you think you should be hibernating and are not, set your time to 1
minute for easy testing, close all applications and make sure the
hibernation and Stand By mechanism itself is sound by shutting down
anything that might even MAYBE reset the timer. Bring up the XP
system time clock so you can watch the seconds tick by and keep your
hands off for one minute. Make sure it works under the best
conditions, fix it if it is broken, then troubleshoot your other issue
that is probably the timer being reset.

I like to set my timer to 30 minutes, then I can run a malware scan
for an hour or so and when I come back later, I expect my computer to
be off and see the scan results screen when I power up. Usually it
is. Sometimes it is not - even though my scan is complete. My screen
saver engages, but she ain't hibernating.

It is always my fault when it doesn't hibernate like I want. Always,
always, always!
 
Hello:

I have a similar case where the Win XP PC usually does not go hibernation
(or stand-by when I have tried that), even though I have set it in Power
Option section of the Control Panel that hibernation is enabled. The PC will
go into hibernation (or stand-by) if I manually select that. Does that imply
that there is a background process going on that prevents the hibernation
feature to recognize that the PC is idle?

Thanks,
Jerry
Click to expand...

Here is an article that helps understand what idle means and the many
XP things that might be happening behind the scenes that can reset the
idle timer and prevent hibernation or Stand By from engaging:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/899975

This doesn't include things that you may have added to the system
yourself.

I have all this junk turned off - most of the time.
 
Test the mechanism by hibernating manually.

Click Start, Turn Off Computer and you can see the various options -
one of which is Stand By.

When you press the Shift key, the Stand By button should turn into a
Hibernate button Hibernate is clicked, the system should hibernate.

What are your results?
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply.

Manual hibernation works.

What next?

I better try and understand the tips you mentioned in your other replies :-)

Herbert Eppel
www.HETranslation.co.uk
 
Thanks for your reply.

Manual hibernation works.

What next?

I better try and understand the tips you mentioned in your other replies
:-)
Click to expand...

Having done it manually once seems to have encouraged the PC to do it
automatically thereafter! :-)

Herbert Eppel
www.HETranslation.co.uk
 
it is sometimes difficult to
pinpoint what has the cpu
busy..

sometimes it can be as
easy as a screensaver
counting down the time
for activation.

other times it could be
complex because of
indexing, spyware and
antivirus scan frequencies.

either one of the above
or a combination of all
of them.

----------------

in addition to the short
cut method I provided in
the previous post,

a user can also try to
analyze the issue by
executing a clean boot.

the clean boot will start
windows without loading
third party programs, like
antivirus programs.

then see if auto hibernation
can occur afterwards.

---------------

also, there may be some
help by running powercfg
from the command window.

click on start>run>cmd

then at the prompt >:

powercfg /help
--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- Microsoft Partner
- @hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen
 
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