Hibernation question

[Scarey]

Folks,

I've had computers for about 15 years now and never had something odd like this happen.I recently bought a MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64- bit SP1 AMD A6-3670 APU with Radeon HD Graphics,8.0 GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6530D Desktop.

In the past day or two it has started going into hibernation after it's left unattended for a few hours.With my past systems you move the mouse, tap your space key and your good to go.Not so with this one.Nothing seems to bring it back to workmode.

After a few minutes of trying to get to come to life, I think one of my few options left is a hard boot.Bad for the computer i know, but I can't think of anything else.Press my start up button on the drive and...nothing.I hold it there for a minute and it does not shut down.I've never seen a system that will not shut down manually like that.

I finally went around back and literally pulled the plug.Plug it back in, turn it on and it boots up normally.Now usually with every system I've had when you shut it down cold anything you are viewing closes.It brought everything back to exactly where it was....webpages,files etc.

Is this a Windows 7 thing?.If so how can i stop it from what I assume is automatic hibernation?I've done some research and can't find anything to explain it.Any information would be appreciated..thanks.

 

[WoodPeckr]

If you just bought it give M$ a call and ask them.

 

[hexter]

Look up help and spend more time on google looking for an answer.. common issue I have had several times with machines at work.

Control-Panel - power settings-- start there....

 

[danmand]

Why do you think a boot is bad for the computer?

 

[djk]

Gee, when I close the lid on my Apple MacBook Pro and then later open it back up, it lights up instantly.

Ready to work!

I don't think I've EVER had to google anything on how to keep my Mac running normally. However, when I did have DOS, then Windows machines it seemed that half of my time on the computer was fucking tinkering with it!

Fine, if you like playing with computers.

But I have since just appreciated them as a tool to do what I want to do.

Yeah, that's why I'm glad to have switched.

That being said, are you low on hard drive space? Hibernation is when the OS writes the contents of all memory to the hard drive then powers down the machine. It could also indicate there's something wrong with the hard drive. I'd recommend running a disk utility to see if there's any errors with the drive.

I have no idea what's the best utility for Windows these days, good luck.

 

[WoodPeckr]

Why do you think a boot is bad for the computer?

Many consider a 'hard boot' bad because you are forcing it to shutdown by killing the power while all is running but frozen up on you.
Always is best to do a normal restart when things get buggy.
That said I've done many hard hard boots with Windoz in the past....with Linux this is not a problem anymore....

 

[The Options Menu]

Yeah, that's why I'm glad to have switched.

That being said, are you low on hard drive space? Hibernation is when the OS writes the contents of all memory to the hard drive then powers down the machine. It could also indicate there's something wrong with the hard drive. I'd recommend running a disk utility to see if there's any errors with the drive.

I have no idea what's the best utility for Windows these days, good luck.

The likely candidate is a driver or firmware bug, IMHO. More than a disk bug. A disk bug would be endemic, and have signs with more than suspend.

The cheap advice would be to go to the vendor's website, or support site, and make sure:
-That you have the newest BIOS.
-That you have the newest hardware drivers for the hardware you actually have.

After that, check component vendors' websites, particularly for video card drivers.

Suspend is a hard problem. You have to stop all IO, including disk and network, suspend any intermittent processes, then usually flush all of the buffers and caches you can. Then you have to preserve the system state at that point in RAM (suspend) or on disk (hibernate). Windows bugs in this area are usually down to BIOSes, firmware, and drivers. Hence my advice.

Off-topic, but mentioned: Hard off, and hibernate are generally considered 'bad' because spinning up optical or magnetic media is among the most damaging activities you can do to them. That's followed by initial application of electrical current to any electronic device. The rule of the road should always be, "'objects in motion', keep them in fucking motion!" unless power consumption is a serious consideration. Mind you, if your idea of 'Computers' is something you spend $500-$1000 on every 3 years to replace, don't worry about it (and instead worry about doing proper local backups of your personal data).

 

[larry]

Gee, when I close the lid on my Apple MacBook Pro and then later open it back up, it lights up instantly.

Ready to work!

i have to think you're jokin'. that's how notebooks work. i showed that to a friend of mine at a store. just close it. wait a bit. it'll shut down. open it up. hey! it's on. not really a surprise. if macs had something i needed that i couldn't get in a windows machine, and i could afford the surcharge, i'd get one. but they don't. i sometimes set up a linux system for that reason. seriously, and i am, i recommend apple to anybody who doesn't know much about computers and can use the apple store support. as apple has shown, there are TONS of people in that situation.

 

[danmand]

Many consider a 'hard boot' bad because you are forcing it to shutdown by killing the power while all is running but frozen up on you.
Always is best to do a normal restart when things get buggy.
That said I've done many hard hard boots with Windoz in the past....with Linux this is not a problem anymore....

I agree it can not be good for a PC to kill power when it is running.

The boot itself, though, should not harm the equi[ment. That is normal operation.

 

[The Options Menu]

I agree it can not be good for a PC to kill power when it is running.

That's mostly just from the debris many modern OSes (OK, mostly Windows) are inclined to leave behind when they suddenly lose power. Otherwise, it's identical to a 'hard off', or 'shutdown' without giving software the signal to quit and clean up. If you have some shoddy hardware with iffy drivers and you suddenly power off when it's in use, there is some chance you may leave it in a bad state, but that's highly unlikely (and usually recoverable).

In the DOS and Windows 3.1 era, the power button was how you shutdown 'period' for most people.

The boot itself, though, should not harm the equi[ment. That is normal operation.

As a general rule it's the normal operation that harms / wears out most things. Like I said, in the case of optical (CD\DVD\Blue-ray) or magnetic (ye olde hard disk) media it's the initial spinning up that tends to do the most damage. (Other than sending irregular power to a hard disk.) In the case of a modern hard drive, it's not a huge consideration over a few years time period, but there are good why most hard disk SMART tools count the estimated number of reaming running hours, and the number of times the drive has been spun up... For a CD\DVD\Blue-ray it's less of an issue as they're all pretty much shit, and you can't really control when you have to spin them up other than not using them. But for a disk, the general advice is if you have an option to keep it spun up vs spinning it up a lot, keep it spun up. (Err, it's relative though.)

SMART (this software exists on most modern drives as part of their firmware):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.

If your under Linux and actually want to see how much life your drive has left, consult:
http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki
(most distros package these tools)

 

[Anynym]

The latest Mac OS version will hibernate after a few minutes of idle activity, and requires a tap on the power button to come back to life.

It's a much-hated "feature", but one that Apple won't let you configure to be have properly.