WOW I thought Vista was OK but it goes to sleep? 1

[DarkConsultant]

Hi all,

I use a vista machine for final checks on my software and hate it. I thought it was just me but it seems you all hate it.

My problem is I cannot stop it going to sleep, i.e. I have to press the power button to wake it up. I have checked my power policies and even created a new one but it still goes to sleep. It seems to be random and can go for several days before zzzzzzz and once it even went to sleep while I was typing!! I know coding is boring but ....

Past problems include 'elevation', boy that was a nightmare where no VB apps would run on this PC. A driver used by Vista was deleted by Vista and a replacement was not available yet 'under development'. The first installation of VS2005 took 3 hours and then went splat!. Re-install worked after one hour uninstalling and 2 hours re-installing (didnt go for full install second time).

Waffle over, does anyone know how to stop Vista sleeping.

DarkConsultant

http://www.contactconsultants.co.uk

Live long and prosper \\//

 

[PRPhx]

Sounds like you might just want to reformat your HD and re-install Vista. Might fix several of your issues. I also have Vista (Home Premium) on a Gateway. I LOVE V ista. And I also have VS 2005 and SQL 2005 Express. Didn't take any where near that long to install Visual Studio. Vista is stable, and fast, at least for me.

 

[linney]

Any Bios Update available for this machine? Is the Bios set to use Safe Defaults?

Have you tried using the Powercfg command from an elevated prompt to (again) disable hibernation? Powercfg /? will give you the syntax or you can see it in this article.

How to use Powercfg.exe in Windows Server 2003

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=324347

Do you have a hidden and system file called hiberfil.sys on your machine? Get rid of that to prevent hibernation, see link.

http://www.vistax64.com/vista-general/23741-can-i-delete-hiberfil-sys.html

 

[N0ktar]

Click start, type Power Options and hit enter, on the left click Change when the computer sleeps. Use drop down next to sleep option and select Never for battery and plugged in profiles. Click save changes below.

 

[DarkConsultant]

PRPhx: I am too scared to re-format but problem solved now thanx
N0ktar: Tried that already no good.
linney: Bingo, deleting the hiberfil.sys did it.

Many thanks to all contributers.

DarkConsultant

http://www.contactconsultants.co.uk

Live long and prosper \\//

 

[626F62]

i have the same issue but the Laptop is on a Domain and it is a domain setting that all the Machines need to go to sleep after 15mins of inactivaty (new policies within our company)

dont want to disrupt this but whilst typing and it goes to sleep and the power button needs to be pressed to get it back on and then user and password need to be put in...

this is very inconveniant... any ideas or should i remove the hiberfiil.sys file??

 

[DarkConsultant]

626F62,

Deleting the hiberfil.sys is a temporary fix (trust me) and the problem will come back.

I now have a power policy that is 'Always On', disabled hibernation and no screen saver.

About once a day it goes to sleep and one in three times I am actually pressing keys when it does so.

I have removed my anti-virus and killed Defender it makes no difference, in fact nothing makes any difference.

Sorry ...

DarkConsultant

http://www.contactconsultants.co.uk

Live long and prosper \\//

 

[626F62]

thanks Dark for the heads up...

from the symptoms of the problem im thinking its deffinatly not a hardware problem and deffinatly OS...
can i ask if you have tried a format/reinstall? i dont want to do this as its not my machine but one of the directors!!! but if it hasnt been tried then i will give it a go...

626F62

 

[linney]

How to disable and re-enable hibernation on a computer that is running Windows Vista

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920730/en-us

 

[DarkConsultant]

626F62,

I am a consultant and build PC's all day and could not face doing my own. It has vb 2005 on it which takes around an hour to install and so I live with the problem.

Linney,

Tried this ages ago .. nada. NOTHING can stop my Vista PC from going to sleep. I have spent time with an MS support guy who said "there aint nothing I cant fix" (double negative?) well my PC must be nothing cos he couldn't fix it and went away mumbling "cant be ...." and sent me an email explaining how to re-install Vista without removing it first. Did this and guess what ... it got worse. I tried to contact the MS guy but he had left and no-one was handling his work.

STUFF VISTA.

I have now bought my first Linux PC (Ubuntu) and will learn that instead.

Laters.

DarkConsultant

http://www.contactconsultants.co.uk

Live long and prosper \\//

 

[linney]

Are you saying that after you deleted the Hiberfil.sys, Vista recreated it, or are you saying despite the deletion, Vista hibernated (without the presence of any Hiberfil.sys?

Have you got SP1 installed, if not it is imminent for release?

Anyway good luck with Linux.

 

[DarkConsultant]

Hi Linney,

No sorry it recreated it so I wrote an app to keep destroying it and it kept recreating it and ... wait for it ... going to sleep.

No I do not have sp1 installed I am praying that is the golden fix that I am waiting for

Cheers

DarkConsultant

http://www.contactconsultants.co.uk

Live long and prosper \\//

 

[626F62]

ok will wait until the SP1 release and see if that fixes it..

DARK

i used to use Ubuntu, its good but getting things to work on it was a pain i gave up after a few weeks and went back to XP, i have sinse been told that Red Hat is better (but i have never used it) good luck with Ubuntu

 

[DarkConsultant]

Mate,

If you didn't like Ubuntu then you wont like Red Hat.

All Linux is OK if you can run a search engine cos EVERY solution is out there its just finding it.

There is one Linux distro that is free and offers two years tech support but I cannot for the life of me remember what it is.

Chaps we are talking about Linux in a non-Linux forum, the thought Police will be on our case soon (very Wellesian).

Do you find the folk on this forum very friendly? I had a very bad experience last night.

 

[linney]

Do you find the folk on this forum very friendly?"

Definitely a "Yes" to that, but people are people and sometimes they just have bad days. Management set a high standard for politeness and ethics and anybody consistently failing there would probable not be a member very long.

You also have the "Inappropriate post? If so, Red Flag it!" link (under your post) as a direct contact to Forum Management, or the "Contact Us" link at the top of the page.

 

[DarkConsultant]

Thanks man ....

 

[626F62]

yeah the problem was i couldnt get drivers for my network card, couldnt get to net to get the rest of the things i needed.. i tried about 3 different cards i had to see if it would find any but no joy..

back to the original post of hibernation... i called dell (i know im a coward!) ...and they suggested to me that i reinstall the graphics drivers... didnt think it would work. im not sure if its that that fixed it but it hasnt done it since and its been a week...

 

[DarkConsultant]

Hi,

Just got all excited as I uninstalled SQLExpress from my Vista machine and it stays awake ....

.... however it has now just nodded off so panic over.

I had a client come to my office a few days ago and my Vista PC went to sleep while I was demonstrating her new databse I had just written. Its almost like it knows ....

Interestingly (yes I have been saving these up) it now ALSO switches off, losing any unsaved work etc.

Think I am gonna install Ubuntu again.

See yer.

 

[linney]

Is this machine actually hibernating, or displaying another fault altogether? If it was hibernating correctly, then it should make a "saved state" of the machine. It sounds like it is just powering itself down, but whatever the problem is, are there any clues in your Event Viewer?

 

[DarkConsultant]

Hi linney,

Sorry mate no clues to be found. When it goes to sleep (hibernates) it wakes up fine but now it has started shutting down (no log entries except one of my apps reported that a system-wide shutdown had been issued by the OS) I am losing any unsaved data. When it shuts down it is odd in that you cannot stop it or affect it in any way. It is like a normal shutdown with the PC steadfastly ignoring everything except shutting down. I always save my work and have not lost anything important (a high score at mahjong the only casualty).

I have just noticed (after reading the posts here) that SP1 is awaiting so here goes ... wish me luck.

Sorry post a bit rambling as I need bed so I am leaving Vista to it (brave or what) nighty night