XP hibernate - restoration image is corrupt

[Guest]

About a month ago I had my PC cleaned/stripped and XPpro + SP2 installed. As
I don't like my PC to be powered on while I'm not working (and I often go
away meaning to come back and don't), I have set the power options as
follows: Monitor - 15 minutes; Hard disc - 1 hour; Standby - never; Hibernate
- 1 hour. It hibernates OK but when I switch the power on, I get the
following message on the black screen "The system could not be restarted from
its previous location because the restoration image is corrupt. Delete
restoration data and proceed to system boot menu". In the absence of any
instructions I have been pressing enter which gives me the Windows XP screen
followed by the welcome/log in screen as normal. So far I haven't lost
anything as I've saved before wandering off but isn't hibernate supposed to
protect unsaved data? Can anyone tell me what my problem and how I can solve
it? Thank you

 

[Galen]

In Sandy Anne <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

About a month ago I had my PC cleaned/stripped and XPpro + SP2
installed. As I don't like my PC to be powered on while I'm not
working (and I often go away meaning to come back and don't), I have
set the power options as follows: Monitor - 15 minutes; Hard disc - 1
hour; Standby - never; Hibernate - 1 hour. It hibernates OK but when
I switch the power on, I get the following message on the black
screen "The system could not be restarted from its previous location
because the restoration image is corrupt. Delete restoration data
and proceed to system boot menu". In the absence of any instructions
I have been pressing enter which gives me the Windows XP screen
followed by the welcome/log in screen as normal. So far I haven't
lost anything as I've saved before wandering off but isn't hibernate
supposed to protect unsaved data? Can anyone tell me what my problem
and how I can solve it? Thank you

First, hibernation isn't really a reliable method for saving important data.
It just writes everything to RAM and shuts the power down and then on
restoration of power it resumes the last system state. Instead of thinking
of it as a saving grace it might help to think of it more as a tool to help
you boot faster. That's my take on it.

As for your hibernation problem...

Give this a shot... Start > Run > Type "cmd" without the quotes and press
enter > in the command prompt window type "del C:\hiberfil.sys" without the
quotes and press enter.

Next press Start > Click Shutdown > Press the SHIFT key and the hibernation
mode should appear > hibernate and then turn the power back on to see if
that works.

Galen
--

"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby."

Sherlock Holmes

 

[Guest]

First, hibernation isn't really a reliable method for saving important data.
It just writes everything to RAM and shuts the power down and then on
restoration of power it resumes the last system state. Instead of thinking
of it as a saving grace it might help to think of it more as a tool to help
you boot faster. That's my take on it.

As for your hibernation problem...

Give this a shot... Start > Run > Type "cmd" without the quotes and press
enter > in the command prompt window type "del C:\hiberfil.sys" without the
quotes and press enter.

Next press Start > Click Shutdown > Press the SHIFT key and the hibernation
mode should appear > hibernate and then turn the power back on to see if
that works.

Galen

Thank you for your advice. The data-saving was a fail-safe bonus - my main
concerns are to save energy and time rebooting but with this problem,
although I get to save the planet, I have to go through the whole rigmarole.

I tried what you said but couldn't delete hiberfil.sys that way or from
Explorer. I remembered other threads which mention this file and from them
deleted it OK by unchecking hibernation in Power Options. I reset
hibernation (which worked fine) but unfortunately when I switched the power
on again, I got the same error message as before.

The new hiberfil.sys has the create date/time when the PC would have
hibernated and I can see that it was modified when I rebooted. I guess
from that that it
IS a new file and it IS being opened and used in some way when I power up.

I'd be grateful for any other suggestions about what could be corrupting
this file.

 

[Galen]

In Sandy Anne <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Thank you for your advice. The data-saving was a fail-safe bonus -
my main concerns are to save energy and time rebooting but with this
problem, although I get to save the planet, I have to go through the
whole rigmarole.

I tried what you said but couldn't delete hiberfil.sys that way or
from Explorer. I remembered other threads which mention this file
and from them deleted it OK by unchecking hibernation in Power
Options. I reset hibernation (which worked fine) but unfortunately
when I switched the power on again, I got the same error message as
before.

The new hiberfil.sys has the create date/time when the PC would have
hibernated and I can see that it was modified when I rebooted. I
guess from that that it
IS a new file and it IS being opened and used in some way when I
power up.

I'd be grateful for any other suggestions about what could be
corrupting this file.

Curiouser and curiouser... I've been reading through Google and read a bunch
of the information. This isn't entirely uncommon. When was the last time you
checked the disk for errors and defragged? And are you getting any errors as
it goes into hibernation? They might pop up only for a quick second as it's
on it's way out.

One more odd guess. Do you have a lot of USB devices or dongles attached?
What happens if you disconnect them and give it a whirl?

Galen
--

"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby."

Sherlock Holmes

 

[Guest]

(1) When was the last time you checked the disk for errors and defragged?

(2) And are you getting any errors as it goes into hibernation?

(3) One more odd guess. Do you have a lot of USB devices or dongles attached? What happens if you disconnect them and give it a whirl?

Thank you for your continuing interest.

(1) I had run chkdsk and defragged only about a week before I started to use
hibernate. I have just done both again but still same problem.

(2) I've only once seen it go into hibernation and it looked OK - just the
going into hibernation screen

(3) I have only the basic USB stuff - mouse, keyboard, printer, scanner,
speakers, modem, ethernet (maybe other things I don't realise are USB things)
- no game consoles, joysticks, external drives or anything. I don't have any
dongles I'm aware of. I haven't got the confidence to disconnect things
(although the scanner is disconnected anyway). I suppose I could disconnect
the printer and speakers without worry, couldn't I?

I'd be grateful for any more thoughts ...

 

[Galen]

In Sandy Anne <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Thank you for your continuing interest.

(1) I had run chkdsk and defragged only about a week before I started
to use hibernate. I have just done both again but still same problem.

(2) I've only once seen it go into hibernation and it looked OK -
just the going into hibernation screen

(3) I have only the basic USB stuff - mouse, keyboard, printer,
scanner, speakers, modem, ethernet (maybe other things I don't
realise are USB things) - no game consoles, joysticks, external
drives or anything. I don't have any dongles I'm aware of. I
haven't got the confidence to disconnect things (although the scanner
is disconnected anyway). I suppose I could disconnect the printer
and speakers without worry, couldn't I?

I'd be grateful for any more thoughts ...

I took a couple of days of some "me time" to enjoy the finally almost good
weather. I'd check to see if the USB devices have suddenly started causing
issues with hibernation. If they have then you may want to look on their
manufacturer's web site for new drivers.

Galen
--

"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby."

Sherlock Holmes

 

[Guest]

I'd check to see if the USB devices have suddenly started causing

issues with hibernation. If they have then you may want to look on their
manufacturer's web site for new drivers.

Thank you and I hope you enjoyed your break.

I had a service engineer here today for my partner's PC. I asked him if he
could throw any light on the problem. No. For your information, though, it
appears I have a terminology problem - he says that I don't have ANY USB
devices - my mouse, keybord, etc use PS2 connectors. He confirms I don't
have any dongles.

I've decided to give up and just set the hard drive to turn off after an
hour instead of trying to hibernate the PC. If I'm so worried about saving
energy, I'll just have to be more organised!!

 

[Galen]

In Sandy Anne <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Thank you and I hope you enjoyed your break.

I had a service engineer here today for my partner's PC. I asked him
if he could throw any light on the problem. No. For your
information, though, it appears I have a terminology problem - he
says that I don't have ANY USB devices - my mouse, keybord, etc use
PS2 connectors. He confirms I don't have any dongles.

I've decided to give up and just set the hard drive to turn off after
an hour instead of trying to hibernate the PC. If I'm so worried
about saving energy, I'll just have to be more organised!!

Standby is also a good low-energy option for you to explore. That's
generally what I use on a number of the systems here and opt, instead, to
use hibernation manually when I have to turn them off for a while or know I
won't be using them for a couple of days.

Galen
--

"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby."

Sherlock Holmes