Sleep, hibernation, and not so much
So recently I put that new hard drive in my laptop, right? I had a problem with my drivers, my CD was unable to find the zip files to extract for some reason but Vista seemed to find them all except the one that controlled the front buttons like volume, etc., and I found that program and driver and installed it. Everything was good except, we seem to have a very big issue with the computer hibernating.
I have always clicked the power button then shut the lid, and the computer goes into hibernation. If you just shut the lid, it’s supposed to sleep and then revive when you open the lid again. With hibernation, I would press the power button to bring it back. I never had a problem on the old hard drive.
Well, Saturday morning, I put it in the case and headed north. It’s a 30 mile drive plus the time it took me to get into the building and all that jazz. Taking the laptop out of the case I discovered that the hard drive and fan were running and the dang thing was hot. Not a bit warm over the hard drive but hot. And it wouldn’t wake up, either, the screen stayed black even though I’d opened the lid, pressed the power button, and the lights for wi-fi and bluetooth and the number lock were on. I had to hold the power button and shut it down then start it back up. Battery power was at 89% even though it should have been at 100% when I put it into the case.
It seemed fine after that but this wasn’t the last time this happened. I used the laptop Sunday morning to check the weather then pushed the power button, closed the lid, and we were gone for about eight hours. When we got home, Steve opened the laptop and it was again with the lights on but nobody home. We waited a while more this time, but nothing. I had to shut it down and restart it again. It wasn’t hot this time, but warm (as it hadn’t been in the case but sitting out).
This has happened other times, too, before the Saturday example, but I have no specific examples or different stories.
My power plan is on the default one, balanced. It says that on battery, after 5 minutes inactive, turn off the display and sleep the computer after 15 minutes. When plugged in, shut off the display after 20 minutes and sleep after 1 hour. I think the advanced settings are default too. Shut off the hard disk on battery after 10 minutes and when plugged in after 20 minutes.
I was wondering if maybe I was shutting the lid too early after pressing the button, before it had fully hibernated, and if that made a difference. However, twice today, I’ve told it to hibernate, both by the power button and then later by the Start menu and both times it went to a black screen right away and the wi-fi light would go off, but the bluetooth light would remain on as well as the number lock and it never would fully hibernate.
Addendum: so this last time I tried going to the start button then telling it to sleep and not hibernate. It went down all the way, quickly, turning off the wi-fi light, then the bluetooth, then the number lock and the whole thing went off. Two hours later I come back and open the lid, I can already hear the hard drive and fan running. Open the lid and it’s back at that black screen with the lights on. Sigh.
More addendum: I checked devices to make sure they weren’t allowed to wake the computer up. The NIC never said it was, the modem did - turned that off, and bluetooth doesn’t have that option except for bluetooth speakers (?) which is turned off. The computer is allowed to turn off my SSD to “save power.” Grrr.
Anyone have any idea what the deal could be? I think I’m now out of ideas. Either that or I’m just tired.
