Hibernate Won't Work Reliably

[Tom9489]

I am building a new computer using Windows XP Pro SP3. I have a Biostar G31-M7 TE motherboard with a BIOS dated 4/10/09. I'm using a new Acer X203W monitor. I've loaded all of the drivers supplied by the component manufacturers.

My problem is getting the system to go into hibernate reliably. Sometimes it will and sometimes it won't. When it won't go into hibernate, it goes through all of the motions of going into hibernate, including the last "progress chart" screen. After that last screen, the monitor goes blank, but remains powered on as does the computer. There are no error messages. The only way to recover is to hit the Reset button. The next time hibernate might work correctly (or might not). I've also tried using another monitor from a system that always hibernates correctly with the same results.

Any ideas?

[caperjack]

only thing i can say is it never was reliable and in my opinion never will be !your just lucky with the other computer

[reganstar]

Putting Your Computer on Standby or Hibernate

There are two basic options for putting your laptop to sleep when you're not actively using it, but don't want to completely shut it down—Standby or Hibernate. Standby is energy conserving, because your entire computer switches to a low-power state. Devices, such as the monitor and hard disks, turn off and your computer uses less power. It's easy to return to work, because Standby leaves applications and files open on your desktop. Standby is perfect when you're going to be taking a break because the cabin attendant just came by with what passes for lunch on airplanes these days, and you want to quickly pick up exactly where you left off. (Note that airlines often request that you completely turn off your computer during take off and landing. In Standby mode, your computer might appear to be turned off but it could automatically restart. So shut down your computer completely when it's not in use on an airplane.) Standby is not appropriate for long term use—on many laptops, overnight is probably pushing it on standby. And it has one important limitation—everything is in memory, not yet saved to the hard drive.

Hibernate mode writes an image of what you're currently working on to a special file on your hard drive, and then shuts your computer almost completely off. It takes a bit longer than Standby, since it needs to write to your hard drive. Hibernate also takes a bit longer to resume, since you must go through essentially the normal boot process, although in Windows XP your computer wakes faster from Hibernate than in previous versions of Windows. The advantage is that you can leave your laptop in Hibernate mode for days without any ill effect. When you start it back up, you'll see everything exactly as you left it. Hibernate is the perfect mode for shutting down for the night or even the weekend.
So conclusion is that it take time some time and space to create hiberfil.sys so that is why I prefer turn off.

[Tom9489]

Reganstar, your description of Hibernate is exactly how my wife uses it. The only difference is that we are talking about a desktop and not a laptop.

What is frustrating is that Hibernate is intermittent. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Whe is doesn't, it goes into some undefined state and hangs up. We've had five computers with Windows XP and all of them except this last one Hibernate without fail.

This computer is a bearbones computer on which I loaded all of the software. I took it back to the dealer and he substituted a test HD with Windows XP Pro on it. He got it to Hibernate a couple of times and said that the hardware was OK and it was my software (which is what I expected him to say). Otherwise, this new computer is great!

We may just have to shut it down at the end of each session.

Any more ideas?

[caperjack]

i don't use hibernate ,never did ,just googled and found this ,have no idea if it actually works
http://www.helpwithwindows.com/windowsMe/tip-0002.html