Standby & Hibernate are gone

[Pensionada]

System is XP Pro-SP3
The standby and hibernate functions are gone on this system; the precise
moment is not clear but quite some time ago (it is not my own system) but
somewhere between SP2 and SP3 installation.

Symptoms:
- when switching off, the leftmost button (standby) is grey
- in energycontrol, neither option is available
- I checked with powercfg but all energy schemes are normally available

Please advise

 

[Bob I]

perhaps you've replaced you're video drivers with the generic version?
Check the manufacturers web site for the current updated version and
install them.

 

[Ed Wood]

while this post is not directly related to the subject, it is along similar
lines.

Is there a setting or program that will shut down Windows XP Pro when you
close the laptop or after it sits idle for a couple of hours? My wife is
notorious about either leaving the laptop open, or just closing the lid with
XP still running.

I have a laptop that lost the hard drive because it was left constantly
running. The above mentioned laptop has company (AFLAC) software installed on
it. If I were to lose the hard drive on this machine it would cost me $150 to
have the computer reimaged by AFLAC. Therefore is the need to shut down the
computer after so much idle time or closing the top.

Thanks for any help.
Regards,

 

[Pensionada]

I just checked but it is the latest driver. It is not a separte video card
but a video chip on the mptherboard by VIA.
And, also, it was not changed since installation according to the user (not
me).

 

[Bob I]

Then the possibility exists that a "driver update" was installed from
Microsoft Updates and that would fit the criteria, of it being done, but
the "user didn't know they did it".

 

[Bob I]

Review your settings/option in Control Panel, Power Options.

 

[Pensionada]

OK, I will update all the drivers with Driveragent and see if that helps ....

 

[Bob I]

Also check the Device manager has ACPI PC as the computer.

 

[Bob I]

Is everything on the motherboard? I would check their site first.

 

[Pensionada]

I used driverMax to update as many of the drivers as I could. I also checked
the device manger and it says ACPI-multiprocessor-PC.
And standby and hibernate are still out.
My gut-feeling is that something is wrong in the registry-settings, but ....

My own system is fairly similar so that I can easily compare differences.
There is simply a whole tab missing in energy control, the one that allows
you to set hibernation.

Any more ideas?

 

[Pensionada]

I just noticed another anomaly: when switching the system off, it will always
restart...
The system is dual-boot and when switching off from the other partition
(vista) it will stop normally, so it's not hardware.

 

[Bob I]

Your additional information is interesting. Did this happen about the
time Vista was installed? Is the hiberfil.sys file still in the root?
Where did Vista get installed to, same drive on a partition carved out
from the original?

 

[Pensionada]

Hi Bob,
The installation sequence was:
- (we started with a new, presumably blank system, with one hard disc)
- installation of XP SP2
- partition magic was used to create a 2nd partition for Vista and a 3rd
partition for data
- installation of Vista
- installation of all programs in both system partitions (XP and Vista)
At that moment (February 2008), the system behaved normally.
The two, related problems, no standby/hibernate and the restart at shutdown
appeared soon thereafter. the owner cannot tell exactly when.

Hiberfil.sys could not be found (on my own similar system it sits in the
root of my Vista-partition).
Please advise how to proceed. It feels like we are getting somewhere.

 

[Bob I]

Is there enough freespace on the boot partitition for the file, it will
take a little bit more than the amount of memory, so 1 gb or whatever
memory is installed plus a little.

 

[Pensionada]

Should be, it is a 250GB hard disc and I guess I reserved 50GB for XP, 50GB
for Vista and left the remaining 150GB for data.

 

[Bob I]

Found the article that provides a lot of direction.

How to troubleshoot hibernation and standby issues in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907477/en-us

 

[Pensionada]

thanks, Bob, will pick it up tomorrow morning (it is almost 10pm here)

 

[Pensionada]

Hi Bob,
there are a few issues there that I have asked the owner to verify as I have
given the system back to him.
This has cost us (you and me, I mean) already a lot of time for something
that is almost trivial, so if this does not work, too bad.
Thank you very much for your support.

 

[Bob I]

Hey, you're welcome. It's all volunteers here so, we help if we can.