Standby Problems | Registry

[Pammyam]

I have had problems off and on where my system would freeze up after several
hours of inactivity. Previously, I did not have hibernate or standby
settings in effect. I only had the setting to turn off the monitor after a
period of time. When the system froze, I would have a black screen and a
cursor that was responsive to the mouse. Pressing the power button did
nothing. The only thing I could do was disconnect the power.
Recently, I decided to try using Standby and thought it was working okay. I
am having the same problems intermittently. I thought that I'd try the fix
that I found in the MS article referenced below, but I don't understand this
fully, so thought I'd run it by the pros first.

Assuming that this applies to me, my main question is this: when I go to
the Registry key and click on Edit/New with "Parameters" highlighted, I have
the options: String Value, Binary Value, Multi-String Value, Expandable
String Value. The article says to create a new Key, but clicking on Key
creates another folder withing Parameters. The other values under
Parameters appear to be Multi-String, so is that what I want?

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;317272&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19

" Microsoft provides an Atapi.sys driver that waits for the drives to finish
negotiation before the reset command is sent. This wait is controlled by the
following DWORD registry key entry:
HKey_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Atapi\Parameters\WaitOnBusyOnPowerUp
The default behavior of this fix is for Atapi.sys not to wait before the
reset command is issued. This behavior occurs because the hotfix is in place
but the registry key does not exist or the value of the registry key is set
to 0.
If you experience the symptoms that are described in this article, you must
create the registry key and set the value to 1. When you do so, Atapi.sys
waits before sending the reset commands to the drive and prevents the
computer from becoming unresponsive."


Other information:
XP SP2
Dell DImension XPS

IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers - I have two listed in Device Manager. The second
one is Secondary IDE Channel

atapi.sys in C:\I386 and in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS
mine is 5.1.2600.1211 (xpsp2.030422-1633)
the article says it should be 5.1.2600.55
mine is 5.1.2600.1211 (xpsp2.030422-1633)

But in C;|WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS it is
5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158

 

[Malke]

I have had problems off and on where my system would freeze up after
several
hours of inactivity. Previously, I did not have hibernate or standby
settings in effect. I only had the setting to turn off the monitor
after a
period of time. When the system froze, I would have a black screen
and a
cursor that was responsive to the mouse. Pressing the power button
did
nothing. The only thing I could do was disconnect the power.
Recently, I decided to try using Standby and thought it was working
okay. I
am having the same problems intermittently. I thought that I'd try
the fix that I found in the MS article referenced below, but I don't
understand this fully, so thought I'd run it by the pros first.

Assuming that this applies to me, my main question is this: when I go
to the Registry key and click on Edit/New with "Parameters"
highlighted, I have the options: String Value, Binary Value,
Multi-String Value, Expandable
String Value. The article says to create a new Key, but clicking on
Key
creates another folder withing Parameters. The other values under
Parameters appear to be Multi-String, so is that what I want?

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;317272&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19

" Microsoft provides an Atapi.sys driver that waits for the drives to
finish negotiation before the reset command is sent. This wait is
controlled by the following DWORD registry key entry:
HKey_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Atapi\Parameters\WaitOnBusyOnPowerUp
The default behavior of this fix is for Atapi.sys not to wait before
the reset command is issued. This behavior occurs because the hotfix
is in place but the registry key does not exist or the value of the
registry key is set to 0.
If you experience the symptoms that are described in this article, you
must create the registry key and set the value to 1. When you do so,
Atapi.sys waits before sending the reset commands to the drive and
prevents the computer from becoming unresponsive."


Other information:
XP SP2
Dell DImension XPS

IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers - I have two listed in Device Manager. The
second one is Secondary IDE Channel

atapi.sys in C:\I386 and in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS
mine is 5.1.2600.1211 (xpsp2.030422-1633)
the article says it should be 5.1.2600.55
mine is 5.1.2600.1211 (xpsp2.030422-1633)

But in C;|WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS it is
5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158

Before you go messing around in the Registry, you should do some
hardware troubleshooting. The symptoms you are describing can be caused
by failing hardware or overheating. I'd particularly check the fan on
your video card. Here are general hardware troubleshooting steps:

1) Open the computer and run it open, cleaning out all dust bunnies and
observing all fans (overheating will cause system freezing). Obviously
you can't do this with a laptop, but you can hear if the fan is running
and feel if the laptop is getting too hot.

2) Test the RAM - I like Memtest86+ from www.memtest.org. Obviously, you
have to get the program from a working machine. You will either
download the precompiled Windows binary to make a bootable floppy or
the .iso to make a bootable cd. If you want to use the latter, you'll
need to have third-party burning software on the machine where you
download the file - XP's built-in burning capability won't do the job.
In either case, boot with the media you made. The test will run
immediately. Let the test run for an extended period of time - unless
errors are seen immediately. If you get any errors, replace the RAM.

3) Test the hard drive with a diagnostic utility from the mftr. Usually
you will download the file and make a bootable floppy with it. Boot
with the media and do a thorough test. If the drive has physical
errors, replace it.

4) The power supply may be going bad or be inadequate for the devices
you have in the system. The adequacy issue doesn't really apply to a
laptop, although of course the power
supply can be faulty.

5) Test the motherboard with something like TuffTest from
www.tufftest.com. Sometimes this is useful, and sometimes it isn't.

Testing hardware failures often involves swapping out suspected parts
with known-good parts. If you can't do the testing yourself and/or are
uncomfortable opening your computer, take the machine to a good local
computer repair shop (not a CompUSA or Best Buy type of store).

Malke