I am having a problem going in to standby mode on my computer. I have
a 384 MB dell dimension 4300 with 1.6 ghz P4. I am running win XP
home. I have downloaded all the windows updates, including service
pack 1. I have even reloaded service pack 1. I called dell, and they
had me "repair" windows xp with the original windows cd. I went
through a long process of repairing windows which included booting
from the windows xp cd, and repairing the system. Then I tried to
pout the system in standby, and it "hangs" just like it did before.
Now, dell wants me to format my hard drive and reinstall windows.
I am not willing to do that because it is a pain, and I don't see how
that will help if repairing windows did not work.
The problem is that when I click on the start menu - turn off - then
click on standby mode, I get a blue screen with the windows XP logo
that says "windows is preparing to standby". It just hangs there. It
does not respond. There is no hard drive movement, or response. The
cursor is locked. To get the computer to restart I have to hold the
power button down for 5 seconds to do a "hard reset". Then the
computer restarts.
Can you help me with any possible solutions? My power settings are
hard drives off never, monior off never, and standby never. When I
reset the power options to have the system automatically standby after
XX minutes, the same thing happens. Hibernate is totally off, that
box is not checked on the power options menu. |
Request for Question Clarification by
snapanswer-ga
on
13 Oct 2002 09:52 PDT
Did WindowsXP come on the computer pre-installed?
Have you always had this problem with the computer?
Have you added any hardware or cards (particularly a Creative
SoundBlaster card) to your computer since you bought it?
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Clarification of Question by
slamminsam-ga
on
13 Oct 2002 09:55 PDT
It came with WIn xp home preinstalled
I have never used standby mode before, so I don't know if it has
always had this problem
I have not added any haredware except a zip drive - plug and play
Thanks
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Request for Question Clarification by
snapanswer-ga
on
13 Oct 2002 13:10 PDT
Have you tried upgrading your Zip software to IomegaWare 3.1.1?
Have you tried "uninstalling" your Zip drive from Windows XP (both
detaching it physically, and uninstalling the software and drivers)?
I'm afraid this is the type of question that is difficult to answer
without troubleshooting, which is an iterative process. I suspect,
however, that your computer was tested to work with Windows XP without
difficulty, and therefore it is probably software or hardware that you
added later that is causing trouble.
What the Dell technician is counting on (and is probably correct) is
that if you format your drive and re-install Windows XP, he can have
you test standby mode before you begin reinstalling other software and
hardware and see that it works.
So, I ask about the Zip drive because it stands out as something added
and I see reference that updates to the Iomega software fixes some XP
problems, including blue screens and instability. However, it could
be any number of things if you have installed software, even seemingly
harmless, on your computer.
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Clarification of Question by
slamminsam-ga
on
13 Oct 2002 13:21 PDT
I never needed to install the iomegaware software. I just put the
drive in, and WIn XP recognized it. I have not used the iomega
software at all. I don't even think I have it.
As far as programs, the only program I have loaded is office XP.
Thanks
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Request for Question Clarification by
snapanswer-ga
on
13 Oct 2002 17:05 PDT
As an experiment, then, you may consider temporarily removing the Zip
drive that is connected to your computer. Then temporarily remove it
as a listed device on your computer (to make sure the driver doesn't
load).
Then restart and make sure that your changes have taken hold.
Then try standby again.
While it is possible that it is the computer itself, it is somewhat
unlikely. Given the number of computers Dell ships, it is likely that
the problem would be known to them and that they would have solutions
available if it is effecting a large number of people.
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Clarification of Question by
slamminsam-ga
on
13 Oct 2002 18:20 PDT
Disconneted Zip drive - still same problem.
ANy other ideas?
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Request for Question Clarification by
snapanswer-ga
on
13 Oct 2002 19:40 PDT
Unfortunately, I don't use Windows XP, so I wouldn't be able to walk
you through other troubleshooting steps with the degree of specificity
that I would want to claim the question fee. Perhaps another
researcher can walk you through booting in safe mode, and other
general troubleshooting for Windows XP.
I hope you are able to resolve this problem. Good luck.
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Clarification of Question by
slamminsam-ga
on
14 Oct 2002 02:19 PDT
Thanks, still waiting for an answer!
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Request for Question Clarification by
rico-ga
on
14 Oct 2002 05:22 PDT
Okay slamminsam,
I'm running XP with the latest service packs, so let's see if I can
help. A couple of initial thoughts/questions...
As my colleague, the good inspector, alludes to; does the problem
still occur in safe mode?
Your steps note that the problem occurs when you're trying to activate
standby. Does it also occur when the machine automatically puts
itself into standby mode?
rico
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Clarification of Question by
slamminsam-ga
on
14 Oct 2002 17:44 PDT
Yes, the problem occurs when I set the computer to automatically go
into standby mode after a few minutes. It hangs at the same spot.
I just tried the safe mode. I rebooted with the f8 key to enter the
safe mode, and I chose safe mode as the mode to boot up with. The
four corners of the screen had "safe mode" on it.
When I went to "turn off" computer at the start menu, it did not offer
me "standby" as an option! Only log off and turn off were available.
Standby was a "grayed out" and couldn't be elicited.
Thanks
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Request for Question Clarification by
rico-ga
on
15 Oct 2002 06:25 PDT
Hmmm, okay, I spent some time doing various Google searches, and
didn't find anything indicative past what's already been discussed in
clarifications (that is, you've updated to the latest SP, you've
updated the BIOS, etc.). You might want to take a look at this page...
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_standby.htm
...which lists various Standby issues. Part of the problem doing
long-range diagnostics is that it's often hard to ask *exactly* the
right question. You may see something there that is similar to your
configuration and be able to track the problem. Other ideas off the
top of my head...
- Go to an earlier system restore point. You can either use the "Dell
Solution Center" utility (if it came with your system), or use the
Start menu, select "Run", type "msconfig", click on "Launch System
Restore" and walk through the wizard. I'd select the earliest system
restore point available.
- If you're using the "Dell-installed Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound
card", you may want to install this patch.
http://support.dell.com/us/en/filelib/download/index.asp?fileid=r44731
- Ditto on video drivers if you're using a"ATI RAGE 128 ULTRA graphics
adapter".
http://support.dell.com/us/en/filelib/download/index.asp?fileid=r36936
Best of luck, and let us know if any of these work. If I come across
anything else likely, I'll let you know.
regards,
rico
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Clarification of Question by
slamminsam-ga
on
15 Oct 2002 07:48 PDT
I am not using the video card or sound card you mentioned.
None of the standby solutions work or are applicable on that kelly's
corner website.
As far as going back to a restore point, this sounds great. BUT, when
dell had windows XP do the auto-repair, it deleted all previous
restore points. So I am screwed there.
Obviously reloading all of windows, with all my drivers and hardware
could solve the problem, but I am not willing to do that, as my
computer works perfectly except for standby, and I don't want to mess
with windows.
Thanks for your help. I hope someone has some more good ideas.
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Request for Question Clarification by
pwizard-ga
on
15 Oct 2002 18:28 PDT
Microsoft's Technet archive on XP Pro/Home has a couple of good points
regarding Power Management and Standby/Hibernate Mode:
1. You are using outdated driver files that do not support power
management. Using out-of-date drivers might cause incompatibility
problems, preventing the system from entering or resuming from standby
and hibernation. Be sure to check for the latest Windows XP
Professional updates to all your devices (especially audio and video).
If you find updates for several devices, observe the rule of
simplicity and install them one at a time to better observe the effect
of each update.
2. You are using incompatible software that installs components that
either interfere with or do not support power management. Are
incompatible versions of software present on your system? For example,
CD-ROM mastering software meant for other versions of Windows might
appear to function properly in Windows XP Professional.
Although this article references XP Pro, it also applies to XP Home. I
would probably do as the above states - go to windowsupdate.com and
just see if there are any "official whql" driver updates for any of
your hardware components that might work better - if they don't you
can always use the driver rollback feature. Also, have you installed
any third-party software such as cdrw (roxio ezcd creator 4 comes to
mind as a big XP killer) or others that may have installed some
third-party drivers or TSRs to your system? I would probably go to
Task Manager (CTRL+ALT+DEL) and kill every process and application
except for the bare necessities and then try hibernation - just to see
if anything in memory is causing the hang. If it's not a process, it's
almost definitely some sort of device driver or problem with the OS.
Another thing you can try since safe mode doesn't work with
hibernation is to disable some of your devices in device manager and
see if that clears the problem up. You can safely disable the sound,
zip drive, and other things which should at least eliminate some
possibilities if it doesn't give you the solution.
Hope that helps. Good luck.
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