Sadly, it's all too common to experience Windows 7 sleep problems. By
knowing where to find the numerous sleep and hibernation settings, you can determine how to troubleshoot the commonest problems.
Topics for
Windows 7 Sleep Problems
Why should Windows 7 sleep or hibernate? Good reasons are, to save electricity,
peace and quiet, or in my case, to keep the room cool in summer.
What is the difference between Windows 7's sleep and hibernate? A
'Sleeping' computer awakens quicker than one which is hibernating. The
downside of Sleep is that you lose unsaved data in the case of a complete
power loss, this is because the information is stored in RAM. Hibernate on the other hand, saves the contents of memory
into a physical file called hiberfil.sys, thus you would not lose unsaved data.
One more point, Windows 7 has a setting called 'Hybrid sleep', which combines sleep and hibernate as described above.
Two initial questions:
'What do you want to achieve with power management?' Possible answers
include: Security and conserve the battery.
'Where can I configure the
Windows 7 hibernate or sleep settings?' Four possible
answers:
Plan A Start Orb
Control Panel
Hardware and Sound --> Power Options
Plan
B Start Orb
Click: Search programs and files Type powercfg.cpl
Plan C Launch cmd, seek 'Run as Administrator' At the command prompt try these switches powercfg -q (Query settings) powercfg
-h on
Plan D (Only if you have battery!) Right-click the battery in the Navigation Area,
Select 'Power Options' See screenshot opposite
Alternatively, Left-click the battery and Select 'More Power Options'
Windows 7 desktops and laptops computers have significantly different power
management needs, options and configurations. Just remember that the
keyword is battery. By configuring power management, you can have
different settings depending on whether the laptop is plugged
into the mains, or running on its battery. Thanks to sensors, Windows 7
can detect a mains supply and also a battery. If the notebook computer
has no mains electricity then Windows 7 connects instantly to the battery, and
then applies your battery power
management settings.
As you examine the Power Options, decide what Windows
7 should do when you press the power button. I also like to control
what happens when I close the laptop lid. Investigate
each link on the task list show by the screenshot
on the right.
If I work with the Aero graphics at maximum brightness, my Sony Vaio's battery will not last much more than
90 minutes. Therefore, anything that I can do to conserve battery
power, will increase the time I can use my laptop away from the mains
electricity. As with all task's, micro-management is
counter-productive, in the case of the laptop you have to balance the
hesitations from coming out of 'Sleep', with the battery wastage when you
get up from the laptop in order to perform some other task in the room.
Windows 7 Sleep
Windows 7's Sleep saves data to memory (RAM) and then switches to minimal power mode. The disadvantage is a 5 second delay while
Windows 7 manages the switch back to
normal power mode. In the event of a power failure you would lose any unsaved data which is stored in RAM. You may also have to re-enter your password to resume after sleep, however that is another
configurable setting. See 'Require a password on wakeup' from the task list menu.
Encouraging computers to sleep when not in use is a great idea -
until you are away from your desk and need a file on that remote sleeping machine!
Wake-On-LAN really will save you that long walk to awaken a hibernating
machine; however my reason for encouraging you to download this utility is
just because it's so much fun sending those 'Magic Packets'. As Wake-On-LAN (WOL) is free, see
if I am right, and you get a kick from arousing those sleeping machines.
WOL also has business uses for example, wakening machines so that they can have
their patches applied.
Windows 7's Hibernation stores unsaved data, including information about open
programs, to a special file
called hiberfil.sys. This means that your data is safe even if you switch off the mains and take out the battery. When the machine restarts, it loads the data stored in hiberfil.sys and thus returns the
machine to the precise state when you set it to hibernate. Incidentally, hiberfil.sys is a hidden file, which is always found in the root of the c: drive. To see the file, you may need to adjust
your Explorer's settings. Press the Alt key, then click on the View tab and now scroll down to Hidden files and folders. Select the radio button next to Show hidden files and folders.
If you figure
out the role of
Microsoft's hiberfil.sys, then you understand why Hibernation sometimes is not an option. For example, there may be insufficient disk space on
the C: drive to create this huge file, or some older Bios software cannot manage suspend to disk or suspend to RAM. You if you wish to use the Hibernate option, be careful that a Disk Cleanup operation does not delete hiberfil.sys, and
thus at least temporarily, remove the
option to hibernate. (Solution issue the command line instruction: powercfg -h on.)
Hybrid Sleep
Hybrids are always more vigorous than their parents. In the case of
Window 7's Hybrid Sleep, it gives you the speed of Sleep, combined with the resilience of Hibernation. If all goes
well then your machine comes out of Hybrid Sleep in less than 5 seconds, if all goes badly, then it takes relatively ages for the desktop to return, but at least you can recover your unsaved data from hiberfil.sys.
If you were of a mind, you could choose a different combination of Power
Settings everyday of the year, and never repeat the same setting twice.
For this reason, Windows 7 groups settings into Plans for example, Power Saver, High Performance,
or Balanced. The advantaged of these pre-configured Plans is that you get consistent and compatible settings for: 'Turn off the Display', 'Put the Computer to Sleep' and 'Adjust Display Brightness'.
Sleep AND Hibernate
It is possible to set most Windows 7 laptops to sleep for a certain time,
and then hibernate after that time has elapsed. If this is your
situation, then a) It may explain unexpected wakening, e.g when hibernate
finishes before sleep starts. Check your settings, and consider
changing your power settings so that sleep lasts longer.
Let us face facts, Sleep and Hibernate will never be 100% reliable. For any given machine, either
they work 99.9% of the time, or else their failure rate is so high you have to abandon power management. In my experience, Sleep works much better on laptops than desktops.
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All troubleshooting should start by inspecting Microsoft's Event Logs. In the case of
Windows 7, begin by clicking Start, then type event. Once you launch
'View Event Logs, review the Critical Errors in the last 24 hours. Follow-up by
looking in the Windows Logs and filtering the System Log for 'Kernel-Power'
entries. Interesting items would include 'The last sleep transition was unsuccessful', or 'The system is entering sleep'.
Power Options
I am willing to bet
that 60% of all Sleep and Hibernate problems are due to inappropriate settings in the Power Options (Control Panel,
Hardware and Sound). For example,
if you see no Hibernate option on the
Shutdown menu, then check whether 'Allow hybrid sleep' is set to 'on'. You could start this line of troubleshooting by pressing the Windows key
+x on a laptop, or Start Search, powercfg.cpl on a desktop. See screen shot of Allow hybrid sleep
Provided the computer has the 'Certified for Windows
7' all the power management features
are guaranteed to work. It's just up to
you to configure Sleep or Hybrid Sleep, or else complain to the supplier / manufacturer.
To check your computer's Bios you need to interrupt the initial boot phase. For this inspection, seek a special key, it maybe
F2, or maybe spacebar, it could even be the delete key. If all else fails read the boot screen! Once you have intercepted the bios boot, just carefully examine any options which could enable / disable Sleep. What you are looking for is settings
such as, S3 - Suspend to RAM (Sleep) or S4 Suspend to Disk (Hibernate)
Idea: See if there any updates for your BIOS. If so a
later version may cure your sleep problems.
1) Navigate to the 'Power Options' (Start Search
powercfg.cpl) or see above. 2) Select your power plan. 3) Click: Change plan settings. 4) Crucial Links:
a) Change advanced powers settings. b) Change settings that are currently unavailable. 5) Research the
myriad of settings, in particular: 'Sleep' 6) Expand: 'Sleep after'. If it's a laptop check both the 'Plugged in' and the 'On Battery' settings. 7) Choose: 'Never' to prevent your computer going
into sleep mode. 8) Remember to click 'OK'. (Or apply if you want to configure more options.)
There are at least two different types of hibernation problems. One problem
is that your computer is not waking up properly. Alternatively your
problem is there is no Hibernate option on the Windows 7 Shut Down menu.
In both cases check the 'Allow hybrid sleep' setting.
1)
For any hibernation problems the easiest solution is to set 'Allow hybrid sleep'
to: 'Off'. (See screenshot).
By design, hybrid incorporates both Sleep and Hibernate, thus you only see Sleep on the
Shutdown menu. Also, by default, desktops are set to 'Allow hybrid
sleep :On'.
Trap: Before you can change any of the Balanced
settings, first you must
click on Change settings that are currently unavailable.
(See screenshot)
2)
Another problem with hibernation is caused because Windows 7 does not have enough free disk space for hiberfil.sys. My machine needed
4 GB, the size of my RAM.
3) An over-active Disk Cleanup program may cause the Hibernate option to
disappear. If Hibernate does not appear on the Shutdown menu, then open a command prompt and check with: Powercfg -q
If this was your problem, for future reference you could remove the tick next to 'Hibernation File Cleaner' in the Disk Cleanup settings.
Next turn on Hibernate with: Powercfg -h on
3a) Check for errors with: Powercfg -energy
Incidentally, Powercfg -energy gave me errors and warnings - even when the
computer awoke from sleep gracefully. However, the point is that the
information in the html report may point you to which devices need further
investigation and driver updates.
The problem occurs whenever the computer awakes from a sleep, the taskbar
disappears leaving only the the orb. This seems more common on laptops
and computers with Nvidia drivers.
One workaround for the disappearing Taskbar is to restart Explorer.
Ctr +Shift +Esc Hold the three keys down at the same time and Task
Manager should appear, from there it's New Process, (Type) Explorer.
This technique is no substitute for a proper fix, but it's quicker than a
reboot. And I have a slightly better idea for those willing to create
a .bat file and assign it to a keyboard shortcut.
Best Workaround for a Disappearing Taskbar
New Text File - Call it say tb
Open tb.txt Type one command - Explorer.exe
Save the file to the desktop, call it say "ExpRestart.bat"
Make sure it has a .bat file extension.
Right-click select create shortcut
Crucial step From the Properties sheet seek out the
'Shortcut key' dialog box. Type a combo such as Ctrl Shift Q N.B you are working with the shortcut, because I have
not found away of assigning a batch file to key strokes.
The point. When your taskbar disappears type: Ctrl Shift Q.
Encouraging computers to sleep when not in use is a great idea -
until you are away from your desk and need a file on that remote sleeping machine!
Wake-On-LAN really will save you that long walk to awaken a hibernating
machine; however my reason for encouraging you to download this utility is
just because it's so much fun sending those 'Magic Packets'. As Wake-On-LAN (WOL) is free, see
if I am right, and you get a kick from arousing those sleeping machines.
WOL also has business uses for example, wakening machines so that they can have
their patches applied.
Forget Standby. Vista and Windows 7 replace Standby with Sleep.
Do remember that you can 'Switch User' this will save the other person's
open files. Not really a sleep or hibernate setting, just an idea for
specific circumstances.
All manner of software and hardware can trigger Windows 7 to wakeup from Sleep or Hibernate. Thus the first question is the old chestnut: 'Is this
insomniac behaviour due to Hardware or Software?'
Hardware
USB memory sticks, and also USB mice are common culprits for prematurely waking up the computer. In the case of accidental mouse activation, consider laying the mouse on its back.
See how to use Group
Policy to Disable Windows 8 USB drives.
To troubleshoot the problem visit the Device Manager 1) Control Panel --> System and
Security --> System --> Device Manager. 2) Right click the suspect device 3) Properties 4) See if it
has a Power Management Tab. 5) If so, then remove the tick next to: 'Allow this device to wake up the computer'.
Hardware Example: The Network adapter --> Advanced menu Select: 'Wake up capability'. Choose 'None'.
Software
Plan A) Blame the Task Scheduler! Start Search, Task Scheduler. (Else look in Administrative Tools) i) You are bound to find suspects. ii) 95% of them will be innocent programs that need to be
scheduled. iii) Good luck weeding out the true culprit(s).
Plan B) Blame a virus checker. Plan C) Blame a virus!
Try a completely different strategy, investigate recording what is happening with Performance, however, this is a black art.
Microsoft is continually releasing hotfixes to solve problems caused when
Windows 7 resumes from sleep or hibernate. Symptoms include devices hanging, also a USB port maybe involved, worse still, you could also see one of these
STOP messages:
STOP 0x1000007E STOP 0x0000009F STOP 0x00000044 Or Stop 127.
Solution, research your specific symptoms and then download the appropriate hotfix from Microsoft's site.
Run the Windows Upgrade Advisor
I realize that your Windows 7 is already installed, however,
the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor may give you fresh clues as to the underlying
cause of the sleep or hibernation problem.
It's an act of faith that Windows 7 Hibernate or
Windows 7 Sleep
will work. I can vouch for numerous false starts caused by incompatible Bios, flaky procedures,
or
deleting hiberfil.sys. This is the cycle that I have been though: Hibernate is great. Hibernate causes my machine to hang
Switch from Hibernate to Sleep. Give Hibernate another chance.
Yet, despite these tribulations, I am convinced
that one day it we use all computers in Sleep mode.
It is self evident that power management is more important on a laptop than a desktop,
what is less obvious is that laptops have
different setting an options, for example, desktops don't have a lid!
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