Standby vs Active

  • Thread starter Thread starter George
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George

When the computer goes into Standby mode does it use as much electricity as
when it is in the Active mode?

Am I just wasting my efforts letting my computer go into Standby during the
day when the computer is on and I am not using it?

Thanks
 
When the computer goes into Standby mode does it use as much electricity
as when it is in the Active mode?
Click to expand...
Am I just wasting my efforts letting my computer go into Standby during
the day when the computer is on and I am not using it?
Click to expand...

While there's no way to answer your questions without a LOT of additional
information, as a general rule Standby will reduce your power requirements
to about a 60 watt light bulb, a significant savings.
 
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE
Click to expand...


That is a Microsoft answer so would you mind translating it for me.

Are you saying NO it will not save electricity or are you saying NO I am not
wasting my efforts?
 
While there's no way to answer your questions without a LOT of additional
information, as a general rule Standby will reduce your power requirements
to about a 60 watt light bulb, a significant savings.
Click to expand...


Thanks Steve. I would be willing to bet you do not work for Microsoft.
Your answers are to clear and concise.
 
It depends upon which standby/sleep state you are referring to. S3 sleep
state uses a whole heck of a lot less that 60 watts. There is only a trickle
current to keep the RAM active and the power led blinking. Everything else
is off.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
It depends upon which standby/sleep state you are referring to. S3 sleep
state uses a whole heck of a lot less that 60 watts. There is only a
trickle current to keep the RAM active and the power led blinking.
Everything else is off.
Click to expand...
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
Click to expand...


Thank you Richard. I was not aware there were different sleep states. My
Windows XP Pro only lets me set two options.
The first is to set the number of minutes before my computer goes into
standby (or never) and the second is to set the number of minutes before it
goes into hibernation (or never). How would I find these other sleep states
and which one is the best to use?

I seem to recall using the hibernation setting once but when I tried to wake
my computer up it would not wake up. I had to call the manufacturer and the
told me I needed to unplug the computer and the monitor for five minutes
then plug them back in. That did the trick. It booted up nicely. Needless
to say I never used hibernate again!

Thanks
 
S3 sleep state = computer off, fans off, all hardware off, power indicator
blinks to indicate such

S3 sleep state is chosen from within the computer bios and may not be
available on all M/B's.

My experience is that the operating system must be initially installed while
the S3 sleep state is enabled in the bios. You can not seem to enable it
"after the fact". If S3 is enabled, and you turn it off in the bios, I have
seen it occur that turning it back on (in the bios) has no effect when
booting back into Windows. It is gone for good.

This is because the operating system loads a certain hardware abstraction
layer if S3 is enabled when the operating system is installed. If you
disable S3 in the bios, and subsequently boot up into Windows, the hardware
abstraction layer is changed (or so it seems), and does not change back when
S3 has been re-enabled in the bios. This necessitates a reinstall if you
want to regain S3 sleep capabilities. I found this out the hard way about 3
1/2 years ago. (-:

BTW, I use S3 sleep mostly all the time.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
George said:
Thank you Richard. I was not aware there were different sleep states. My
Windows XP Pro only lets me set two options.
The first is to set the number of minutes before my computer goes into
standby (or never) and the second is to set the number of minutes before it
goes into hibernation (or never). How would I find these other sleep states
and which one is the best to use?

I seem to recall using the hibernation setting once but when I tried to wake
my computer up it would not wake up. I had to call the manufacturer and the
told me I needed to unplug the computer and the monitor for five minutes
then plug them back in. That did the trick. It booted up nicely. Needless
to say I never used hibernate again!

Thanks
Click to expand...
The standby mode is normally set in the BIOS.
 
George said:
That is a Microsoft answer so would you mind translating it for me.

Are you saying NO it will not save electricity or are you saying NO I
am not wasting my efforts?
Click to expand...

No, it does not use as much electricity.
No, you are not wasting your time.
Besides the monitor obviously using less electricity, the processor and hard
drives use less electricity.

And it's not a Microsoft answer, it's mine. I am not and do not work for
Microsoft.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE
Please respond in Newsgroup. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/
 
See where this is going. Deja vu. Turn the thing off if done with it. If
you have an UPS and/or under monitor power sentry, turn those off too. If
your external peripherals are connected directly to an outlet (shame), turn
them off. End of story.
Standby and hibernate were invented for an MS guilty consciense of energy
use by 100 million PCs. More political than a viable solution.
 
Richard Urban said:
S3 sleep state = computer off, fans off, all hardware off, power indicator
blinks to indicate such

S3 sleep state is chosen from within the computer bios and may not be
available on all M/B's.

My experience is that the operating system must be initially installed while
the S3 sleep state is enabled in the bios. You can not seem to enable it
"after the fact". If S3 is enabled, and you turn it off in the bios, I have
seen it occur that turning it back on (in the bios) has no effect when
booting back into Windows. It is gone for good.

This is because the operating system loads a certain hardware abstraction
layer if S3 is enabled when the operating system is installed. If you
disable S3 in the bios, and subsequently boot up into Windows, the hardware
abstraction layer is changed (or so it seems), and does not change back when
S3 has been re-enabled in the bios. This necessitates a reinstall if you
want to regain S3 sleep capabilities. I found this out the hard way about 3
1/2 years ago. (-:

BTW, I use S3 sleep mostly all the time.
Click to expand...

It must depend on the mother board then. Mine was originally set to
S1, I think, and I changed it in BIOS to S3 and it worked fine.
 
George said:
When the computer goes into Standby mode does it use as much electricity as
when it is in the Active mode?
Click to expand...

Probably not.
Am I just wasting my efforts letting my computer go into Standby during the
day when the computer is on and I am not using it?
Click to expand...

Yes. Just shut it off when not in use.
 
No, it does not use as much electricity.
No, you are not wasting your time.
Besides the monitor obviously using less electricity, the processor and
hard drives use less electricity.
Click to expand...
And it's not a Microsoft answer, it's mine. I am not and do not work for
Microsoft.
Click to expand...


Thank you for the reply. It is appreciated. You do not have to work for
Microsoft to give a Microsoft answer.
 
WOW! What a great answer. Thank you for taking the time to explain all
that.

When my computer goes into standby mode no fans are running, disk drive is
not running, and the power indicator light is flashing. Do not know if the
computer is off as it does not make any noise; although if it were running I
would thing the heatsink fan would be running.

Sounds like my computer goes into the S3 sleep state.

Thank you again.



S3 sleep state = computer off, fans off, all hardware off, power indicator
blinks to indicate such
Click to expand...
S3 sleep state is chosen from within the computer bios and may not be
available on all M/B's.
Click to expand...
My experience is that the operating system must be initially installed
while the S3 sleep state is enabled in the bios. You can not seem to
enable it "after the fact". If S3 is enabled, and you turn it off in the
bios, I have seen it occur that turning it back on (in the bios) has no
effect when booting back into Windows. It is gone for good.
Click to expand...
 
The standby mode is normally set in the BIOS.
Click to expand...
Jim Rusling
Click to expand...

In Windows XP Pro I can go to START, CONTROL PANEL, PERFORMANCE and
MAINTENANCE, POWER OPTIONS to tell it if I want to go into standby and/or
hibernation and how long the computer has to be idle before it does
either/or.

I have never even been in the BIOS. I am afraid to go in there. I might do
some thing disasterous knowing me.
 
See where this is going. Deja vu. Turn the thing off if done with it.
If
you have an UPS and/or under monitor power sentry, turn those off too. If
your external peripherals are connected directly to an outlet (shame),
turn
them off. End of story.
Standby and hibernate were invented for an MS guilty consciense of energy
use by 100 million PCs. More political than a viable solution.
Click to expand...


Thank you for replying Jonny.
 
Probably not.


Yes. Just shut it off when not in use.
Click to expand...


Plato, turning my computer off and on 10 to 15 times a day can not be good
for the computer not to mention the monitor.


Thank you for replying.
 
George said:
Plato, turning my computer off and on 10 to 15 times a day can not be good
for the computer not to mention the monitor.
Click to expand...

Turning off your computer and monitor 10 or 15 times/day is silly.
 
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