windows xp fails to resume from suspend mode

[Guest]

I've had a Thinkpad T43 with XP SP2 since February. For several months it
has frequently failed to resume from suspend mode, and it almost never
resumes after being in suspend mode overnight.

Initially I received a BSD, and if someone can tell me where this
information is stored that would be great. I thought it would be in the
error log, but I don't see it there. When the machine rebooted, XP would
tell me it was a driver incompatibility problem (the main reason I've come to
loathe XP, but that's another story).

For the last month or so, instead of getting a BSD the machine sits for a
minute with the hard drive light on solid (not blinking like you'd expect
with actual activity), and then it reboots.

I used SysTweak's Advanced System Optimizer to clean the registry, and I've
removed the few drivers that I thought were the problem, but I still get the
reboot. Other than spending countless hours identifying and removing one
driver at at time, is there a method or utility that can help with this?

Thank you very much.
Jeff

 

[Thorsten Matzner]

I've had a Thinkpad T43 with XP SP2 since February. For several months it
has frequently failed to resume from suspend mode, and it almost never
resumes after being in suspend mode overnight.

See "Unable to Use Power Management Features"
(http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302414).

 

[Guest]

Hi Jeff & Thorsten, I sympathise as I think I have the same problem on a
Dell Inspiron 8200. Mine's a bit better than 'almost never' but I can't see
a pattern for when it will resume and when it won't (

Jeff: have you made any progress with this ?

Thorsten: I looked at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302414 but that
talks about not being able to *enter* the suspend/hibernate state. For mine,
at least, the problem is not in entering, it's getting it back to life again
afterwards. Sometimes it comes back easily and sometimes it just sits there
(often with the fans running) and won't budge - all i can do is reboot (

Any ideas anybody ? Thanks, Gerry )

 

[Guest]

Gerry and Thorsten,

I had seen that bulletin and, as Gerry says, it isn't relevant to the
problem. I haven't spent anymore time on this because I doubt Microsoft will
help and I'm too busy to spend time on the phone troubleshooting with IBM. I
suspect it would take hours of uninstalling drivers and such, registry edits,
and more before resolving this... who has time for all that? So, I just
leave the T43 on all night with the display off.

One thing I don't understand is why resume almost always works when the T43
has been in suspend for just a few hours, but never works after being in
suspend overnight.

 

[Guest]

Hi Jeff, thanks for your quick update.

Yeah, I think I've noticed that too. That if you resume quite soon, it's
mostly ok. My current theory is : after a certain time (depending on Power
Options), the system goes from "suspend" or "standby" state into "hibernate"
and it is this state that it can't recover from.
I'm going to try setting my Hibernate to never and try suspending it
overnight a few times to see if that changes anything. If it loses the
problem, then it's probably the hibernate part that is faulty. If it has the
same problem, then, um, I'm not sure what to try next. Thanks, Gerry

 

[Guest]

Gerry, my hibernate setting when plugged-in is "never," so that isn't the
problem here. Please let me know what you discover.

Jeff

 

[Guest]

Sorry for the gap, been trying out a few things and needed some time to check
if they work or not. In Control Panel, Power Options, I have set System
Hibernates to Never for Plugged In power and 45mins for Running on Batteries.
Now it seems cured i.e. I can do a Fn Suspend (while plugged in to mains) and
it works fine and comes back fine.
Note: the other day I disconnected the mains and left it after a Fn
Suspend and I got the same old trouble - couldn't get it back, had to power
off and reboot - grrr!
Unfortunately, that seems to be different from your situation - though I
don't know how. I thought I had found a cure - which seems to work for me,
at least while I keep in on mains! Have you found out anything new ?

________________________________________
:
Gerry, my hibernate setting when plugged-in is "never," so that isn't the
problem here. Please let me know what you discover.
Jeff

 

[Guest]

Hoy Windows droppings, Batman, I think you've got something here. I changed
the setting you mentioned to 45 mins and it's worked fine for the last few
days. Previously, it was set to the default of 25 minutes, and I can't
imagine how this change solves the problem.

Thank you so much.

Jeff