System Freezes Upon Return From Sleep

[(PeteCresswell)]

Consistent scenario:

- User having no problems

- User puts system to sleep (not hibernation, just sleep)

- Sometime later, user wakes system up

- System starts to wake up, but then seems to freeze: no mouse,
Ctl/Alt/Del does not do anything; and user has to re-boot.

There's nothing in the application or security logs that looks
relevant.

The only thing I find in the system log - that seems to correlate
rather well - is a message: "The attempt to power off [computer
name] failed". This message seems tb thrown about the time the
user put the PC to sleep.

Not much to go on, I know.... but does this look familiar to
anybody?

 

[Rob]

Consistent scenario:

- User having no problems

- User puts system to sleep (not hibernation, just sleep)

- Sometime later, user wakes system up

- System starts to wake up, but then seems to freeze: no mouse,
Ctl/Alt/Del does not do anything; and user has to re-boot.

There's nothing in the application or security logs that looks
relevant.

The only thing I find in the system log - that seems to correlate
rather well - is a message: "The attempt to power off [computer
name] failed". This message seems tb thrown about the time the
user put the PC to sleep.

Not much to go on, I know.... but does this look familiar to
anybody?

Yes, very common and often a nightmare to fix. In some cases,
sleep simply won't work. Depends on BIOS APM settings (if changed
after XP is installed, the system will be using the wrong HAL - a
re-install will fix that.) Other things to look for are devices
which don't support power management properly - check their
properties in Device Manager.
Good luck: fixing this may not be easy - if hibernation works
ok, suggest to them that they use that instead.
HTH

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Rob:

Yes, very common and often a nightmare to fix.

Well, at least I'm in good company.....

Thanks - both for the clues and the validation.

First thing, I'm going to have them disconnect the DVD drive for
a few days and see if the problem goes away.

If that doesn't work out, I'll Google the BIOS APM/HAL aspect and
drive to the site once I get it figured out.

 

[Paul]

Consistent scenario:

- User having no problems

- User puts system to sleep (not hibernation, just sleep)

- Sometime later, user wakes system up

- System starts to wake up, but then seems to freeze: no mouse,
Ctl/Alt/Del does not do anything; and user has to re-boot.

There's nothing in the application or security logs that looks
relevant.

The only thing I find in the system log - that seems to correlate
rather well - is a message: "The attempt to power off [computer
name] failed". This message seems tb thrown about the time the
user put the PC to sleep.

Not much to go on, I know.... but does this look familiar to
anybody?

Yes, very common and often a nightmare to fix. In some cases,
sleep simply won't work. Depends on BIOS APM settings (if changed
after XP is installed, the system will be using the wrong HAL - a
re-install will fix that.) Other things to look for are devices
which don't support power management properly - check their
properties in Device Manager.
Good luck: fixing this may not be easy - if hibernation works
ok, suggest to them that they use that instead.
HTH

There is an example here of a fix. It was caused by some part
of an ATI driver.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=484962

I tried "The attempt to power off failed" to find it.

Paul

..