Vista SP1 Sleep Mode Problem
February 22, 2008 by Milo Riano
Filed under Computers
More information on Windows Vista SP1.
A number of my friends had wake up problems after installing Windows Vista Service Pack. They experienced their PCs crashing when attempting to wake their computer from sleep mode.
This should not be a problem if you have not been using this feature; however for me, this is a big issue as I have been putting my laptop to sleep mode for the past 10 months or so.
This may be something you ought to consider when installing SP1.
More information on Windows Vista SP1.
For me is not a news. I already have this issue with the normal Vista: crashes almost everytime.
In fact I gave up using this feature, though I would like to use it, especially to schedule TV recording when I’m not at home.
But in my previous experience, I always found my PC in a nice frozen state.
I use sleep all the time. I have Vista SP1, and now I cannot wake up from sleep. At first I thought it was a USB mouse, but then I saw this post. I looked at the workaround and couldn’t see one. Any workarounds yet?
He may be the first, but I too have a problem – when my pc comes out of sleep my usb modem fails to work. It worked fine prior to SP1
Same here on 1 computer. Using hibernate instead for now.
Sleep used to work well but now my system will not awaken. I have to power off, go through a very slow boot, and then go through a second boot via restart.
Sleep problem before and after SP1. Have consulted several Vista guides. Vista Pocket Administrators Companion says turning off computer puts computer into ‘low power state’. But, this does not allow the ability to quickly resume use without full boot. When putting computer into sleep mode, sometimes it wakes properly but mostly have to use reset button.
According to MOBO maker, S3 must be configured in BIOS prior to OS installation. I did full reinstall of OS, made required settings in BIOS and still have same problems. Have seen related reports on MS Technet
Ever since installing SP1 on Vista Ultimate on my Dell Inspiron, waking up from either SLEEP or HIBERNATE causes a system crash. This happens about 1 out of every 4 times.
The crash is indeterminate – sometimes I actually get a BSOD but usually it just re-boots and I get the dumb message asking whether I want to start normally or in safe mode.
Any clues on this one
use command prompt in administrator mode to run ‘powerconfig /a’, first. this will display all power, sleep, hibernate configurations that your system will support. You may have to enter ‘powerconfig -h on’ to turn on hibernate mode.
Then do a disk cleanup to clear any hibernate files, clear all TEMP folders you can find, including Windows System files and any others in you can find.
This may help, but do not expect too much. I have one Vista Business machine stuck in hibernate mode that I have to repair today somehow.
Check Microsoft TechNet Vist SP1 Forums for sleep/hibernate mode problems and solutions.
Most of what I have posted has come from those threads.
Personally, until the problem will be not solve by Microsoft I refuse to use sleep or hybernate mode, even if there are workarounds that just work until the next crash.
I’m just wondering what Microsoft is waiting to solve this issue.
Verrrrrrry good question. I can’t believe there is a problem with the most basic and necessary operation-Turning on and off! Ughh
Prior to Vista SP1, I was able to wake my system from sleep with keyboard, mouse, or remote control. About 20% of the time, the system would crash immediately after waking. After SP1, my system now crashes 100% of the time on waking. After I updated my BIOS (and all other current main board drivers), my system would no longer wake at all using the keyboard, mouse, or remote control. Now, must use the power switch to turn the system back on. This does not do a cold boot, but after waking, the system again crashes. In my opinion, this issue is important enough to be addressed immediately and fixed via a HotFix patch.
I feel your pain. I cannot believe all of the problems I have found on the Web regarding Vista’s ‘Sleep Disorder’. Wow. I was all excited about Vista when it came out. It looked cool on my laptop, but so many things seemed to have been rearranged just for the hell of it.??? I understand the benefits of UAC privalege levels and Parental control. But as I said in a previous posting, that Vista has a problem with such a basic task as turning on and off is truly unbelievable.
I have a laptop with Vista, a PC I built to install Vista Business, and a Digital Audio Workstation w dual monitors with XP Pro SP2. I strictly use the XP machine which I had hoped to use less frequently and extend its life. But since I have had so many problems with Vista I feel like I should be in one of those goofy MAC commercials, which I despise. And, I am Microsoft Certified MCTS for Vista.
This can only be considered a disaster and major embarrassment to Microsoft which it will take a long time to recover from.
Maybe this does prove that mediocrity can make you extremely successful and one of the richest men in the world. Ughh.
Just took delivery of a new desktop (builder: CyberpowerPC) with Vista SP1. Fired it up for the first time April 23rd. I have a variation on the problems you all have discussed: I don’t have Hibernate mode at all, and when I try to put the unit into Sleep mode, it starts to go into it, then “bounces” back out and an alarm starts sounding on the CPU (monitor is already gone to Sleep mode).
Anybody else seen this? Contact me at warhrs@earthlink.net if you have and if you’ve got an idea for a solution. Thanks!
I received my Thinkpad T61 last week. Pre-loaded with Vista Business. I installed SP1 3 days later when it became available. Here are the issues I have found with SLEEP MODE. When on my docking station, and I put it into sleep mode there is now way I can resume activity on the screem They (2) remain blank even thought there is a lot of HD activity. I have to power down completely and reboot.
When I have the pc off the docking station, and switch to sleep mode and resume the screen comes up every time BUT the icons are all misaligned and I have to reduce the sizes so that I can see them (some are hidden partially) and there is nothing other than a full restart to get things back to normal. I am very seriously contemplating calling Lenovo and requesting restore discs with XP as this is very frustrating.
Same here, most of the time i found my computer in a frozen mode
Before installing SP1 I can wake my HP Pavilion laptop from sleep mode. When I used system restore to roll back my system prior to the SP1 installation, the problem disappeared. So this leads me to conclude that SP1 is indeed the culprit. Thing is, I heard that SP1 allows greater program compatibility. So if I uninstall SP1, the “sleep disorder” disappears but so might greater program compatibility.
I have hp core 2 duo with vista and I have the same problem. I checked my BIOS version and I have the latest one. I sincerely hope this problem is fixed soon.
Dont worry too much about losing compatibility ksar, I have only seen a DECREASE in compat. since I updated.
Hey! I actually found a workaround for the post-SP1 sleep disorder. Not sure it’ll work for everyone though…
Turns out mine is BIOS related. I went to HP’s website (my laptop’s manufacturer) and found out that my BIOS driver is about two versions outdated. I downloaded the driver to flash my BIOS and voila, sleep disorder vanquished!
So far that’s the only thing I can recommend.
On a final note:
Vista has some serious kinks to work out if their service packs screw up systems instead of making them more stable…
my PC with vista x64 is STILL crashing every single time I put it to sleep. It all seems to go well, but then immediately powers back up and then just sits there with a blank screen and the fans roaring. I have to reset the PC to get it to start up again. Weirdly, the PC then starts up but then all my windows are there as they would be had sleep mode worked correctly… I have no USB devices plugged in, just a PS2 kb and mouse. I’m using an ASUS P5W-DH, and this has happened ever since I upgraded to Vista, pre and post SP1. It was fine under XP.
am now on 4th HP Desktop….. all of them have crashed on me….. same problem with all….. first one I had was the ELITE series HD DVD…
totally froze…. never came out of sleep mode…
BLUE SCREEN every time I rebooted!!!… Not good
Took back……. Waited 3 months… got a nother ELITE…….. 64 bit proc. & 64 bit op. syst…. none of the programs that came on the CPU were compatable.. everytime I started a program…. it was corrupt and then came the BLUE SCREEN…. I could not open any programs. took it back….. got a 3rd comp. and this one has service pack one along with a 32 bit op.syst. w/64 bit proc./ is a quad-core AMD…. had 5 days and it crashed on me…… BLUE SCREEN….. says that video hardware is corrupt and is fatal and blah-blah-
took it back and EXCHANGED it for this one…..
Have had this one for 10 days and it is just now starting to have sleep issues!!!! waking up whenever on it’s own……………..WOW!!!!!!!!
I am ready to give up……… I really wish HP would get on the ball. If nothing is going to be compatiable with VISTA…then for GODSAKE… why sell them? Anyway…. whenever anyone has an answer, please let me know, Thanks!!
I did some more research… and I seemed to have fixed the problem with the cpu staying asleep. The issue was my comp. would not go to sleep and stay asleep…it kept waking up anywhere from 10 seconds to five minutes and it was driving me nuts. The Solution: My CABLE MODEM is on all the time….So in order to correct it, I had to go to Start, right click computer, select properties, select device manager, network adapters, double click on Nvidia enforce
networking controller and open properties. Click the power management tab and remove the selection from “Allow this device to wake the computer”. Hope this helps someone else!!!!
As it sure has helped me.
I just built my new computer and decided on Vista as my old P4 already has XP. Suffering from
the same sleep disorder as everybody else. At first my WIFI would not work and now Vista crashes after waking up from Sleep Mode. I guess I would not use sleep mode until Microsoft fixes this issue.
I am so sick of this sleep mode problem. My computer was working fine the other day and when I woke up the next morning I had run live update, since I did that my sleep mode doesn’t work, so I don’t know what was updated, but I have tried everytihing, even system restore which now that doesn’t work now either. I can’t get back to a week or so later; it wont work. Also I had a problem with sleep mode a month or so after i had the computer and the only way I could get rid of the problem was to go back and do a factory recovery which is a pain; then I had to reinstall all my things I had before including games downloaded, music etc and I really don’t want to do this again, but I am tired of having to shut the computer totally down or having to let it run. I can’t believe they would release a product when a problem like this exits. Who wants to have to keep going back to factory recovery all the time. Supposedly they are supposed to be coming out with a fix for this, but how will we know what its called. I’m getting afraid to install updates lately because of the problem
I have a similar problem as that described above by W. Quinby (Apr 25, 2008). At first, my new desktop (HP with Vista SP1 – Intel Core 2 Quad) would go in to and out of sleep mode just fine. Now, when I try to put the unit into Sleep mode, it goes into it then very quickly “bounces” back out. Since the computer seems to be accessing the hard drive on a fairly steady basis for no apparent reason, I generally close out of everything and power off between sessions. This is inconvenient – any ideas?
25 days and now my 4th comp. BLUESCREENED
when I woke it from sleep mode. took it to store
and had it diagnosed for 48 hours and nothing is wrong. brought it home and when I woke it up by moving the mouse…. the BLACK screen came up about safe mode normal mode…. Checked in system maintenance and it is HARDWARE issue!!!!
Graphics card…..NVIDIA…. GREAT!!!! it is all HPs!!! and not just laptops….mine is a Desktop!!
So……………… I am very disatisfied. I do not know about HP any longer. It seems quantity takes over quality. Next time., I am ordering one from DELL!!
I think sometime the wake-up problem not because of Vista. The main reason some time(with my T60 thinkpad laptop) is the POWER MANAGAMENT SOFTWARE that come from the laptop manufactory( HP, IBM, ..). My laptop also have this problem. I update many patch from Microsoft. IBM but nothing happen. My laptop can not wake-up after it sleep ( like a death Bear – can sleep, not wake -up). I remove the Lenovo POwer software, …. luckily the computer is wake -up well after sleep. So something less software make your laptop work-well.
P.S: i alsO downloaded vista SP1, but the problem now is laptop can not sleep automatically. tired with vista, but it is beatiful and more funtional.
Dear Marcia, I feel your pain. Vista’s chronic Sleep Disorder. Ughh… If you have not already done so, try this: Go to ontrol Panel, open Power options, then select the current power mode you are using. Now, open the Advanced Power options and you will see the item Sleep on the list of Advanced Options. Expand Sleep and look at the settings. Set them to your desired times for the computer to go to Sleep and Hiberbate( if Hibernate option is displayed). You may want to set Hibernate to ‘Never’. Morer later today. I have to leave for work. Good luck.
In my case, I believe it is a driver issue. After installing SP1, my system would crash upon waking from sleep nearly 100% of the time. However, after installing current BIOS, all current drivers, and all software updates, my system hasn’t crashed even a single time in over four months. Unfortunately, one problem that remains is that USB devices won’t wake the system, while all other devices do. Still, it was a driver update that took away that feature, so I believe a future Intel driver update will restore it. For older hardware, I also believe it is drivers incompatible with sleep mode that are the probable cause. It is possible they will simply not be fixed.
My Vista system is terrible . It crashes every time I try to put it in sleep mode. Unbelievable to have this problem with the technological advances made today. Thinking of going back to XP as well. Glad when they fix this terrible problem.
Very same problem. spent hours. have p5q deluxe asus motherboard, quad intel, nvidia 8500, usb keyboard and mouse. sleep just wont work and crashes system.
I totally hate my laptop. My wifi goes off every now and then. Sleep mode? More like Death mode. Whoever thought of improving Windows with Vista yet it sucks!
Same here Garry, I cannot understand why lately, my wi-fi goes on and off.
Fixed the sleep mode on my laptoy hp dv 2715nr
i updated the bios drivers downloaded from hp website now working fine it wake up as soon touch the mouse or keyboard
hope this help
The BIOS update from the HP website fixed my problems with an improper shut down occurring in sleep when and needing to totally reboot. I have Pavilion Laptop dv2736us.
found this on microsoft’s forum. apparently it works for some, not all.
Open the Control Panel and select Power Options.
Select Change Plan Settings for your chosen plan.
Select Change Advanced Power Settings.
Select the Sleep top-level folder, and Allow Hybrid Sleep under it.
Select the Off setting for Hybrid Sleep.
I had a system that worked well before SP1. Upgrading itself was a major problem. It turned out I had to disable the McAfee virus scanner to get the upgrade to succeed though the failing upgrade didn’t mention that this was the problem. And why do I need a virusscanner in the first place ? Because I use MS Windows, stupid me. Anyway, after “upgrading” the problems began. Errors about kerberos that I should ignore according to Microsoft, endless updates for no apparent reason etc. Fair enough, one gets used to this crap from Microsoft after all these years. However, one error I refused to ignore, the system crashing everytime it woke from sleep. I never had any problems with that before SP1. Of course, no help about *this* problem on the Microsoft technet website. The only way to get the system working normally again when awakening from sleep was to rollback SP1, it awakens beautifully now and all the other errors that I should ignore according to Microsoft also disappeared. No more SP’s from microsoft for me thank you ! One question though, why should I update my BIOS to get sleep work well with SP1 (if it does, didn’t try that) if sleep worked perfectly well with the current BIOS _before_ I installed SP1 and works perfectly well with this BIOS _after_ I removed SP1 ? Nothing wrong with the BIOS in my opinion.
I have a HP Pavilion GC523AA-ABH a6040.nl with a Phoenix Technologies, LTD 5.07, 4-4-2007 SMBIOS Version 2.4
It turns out that SP1 wasn’t the cause of the BSOD’s on wake up but one of the the other updates after installing SP1 on the same day. The problem reappeared when I reinstalled that driver (NVIDIA Corporation – Storage – NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller) after the rollback of SP1 and dissapeared after rolling back that update again. I hid the NVIDIA update, reinstalled SP1 without any sleep related problems occurring after that. I shall now repeat the sacred mantra a thousand times “Never install more than one update at a time, not more than one a day and never do the next one without thoroughly testing everything first”. That means I’ll be updating until the end of the month now, maybe forever at rate microsoft releases updates. But at least I can sleep again :)
My Acer 3690 laptop had some problems for a few days after installation of SP1 but is now working better than ever. I bought a 4GB USB Jump Drive to use as ReadyBoost and that helped even more. If you aren’t using a ReasyBoost device you might try it. But, that’s a topic for another thread.
The machine that I installed Vista Business onto still has a slight ‘Sleep Disorder’. I am wondering about the other device driver updates (NVIDIA GFORCE video card) after reading the revious post. I agree it is best to use ‘Best Practices’ such as one would with a server system and do one update at a time and test each of them, but on a home machine, Robert is right, it would consume a good deal of time.
I have the same problem:( I think because of the Asus motherboard :O
I called MOBO maker, MSI, and they told Vista Business would not run on MSI K9MM-V Socket AM2. When I purchased the board TigerDirect advertised it was ‘Ideal for MS Widows Vista’ and I believe them. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?Sku=M452-2848
Since the shell of Vista is the same for all versions I wonder if MSI tech support was right.
I have the max (2GB) Ram installed; DDR2 667MHz, and 512MB XFX GForce AGP 6200 video card.
I may try using a ReadyBoost drive to increase the Suspend to RAM cache size available for sleep and hibernate mode.
Also may update BIOS now that SP1 has been released when I have time.
Why you guys do not give up?
Why you keep relying the fault to some hardware manufacturer, drivers or anything but the OS?
Is Vista that won’t hibernate properly until someone in MS will think to solve this problem. But currently they are too much focused on Windows 7.
I still have Vista, and I’m still using hibernate feature, that works often, but not always. But I’ve just gave up trying to find a solution, since there is not. It’s simple.
Heyy guyz gotta say this is one of the 1st time im postin for a fourm but i had the same problem as the rest of u with resumeing from sleep but i have found what the problem is…well at least for me….n im sure for alot more out there….its really simple…try uninstalling the shockwave player from control panel and restart the computer and then try putting it to sleep….worked perfect for me…GOOD LUCK PEOPLE!! let me know if it works n spread the word!!!
I fixed my rig. i have a gateway gt 5628 just went to gateway.com and i downloaded my outdated bios version…after a installing it i run a few test then my windows vista sp1 sleeping disorder is gone! thnks a lot to this thread….
I’ve had the same exact Sleep Mode Boot Problem since I installed the SP 1 on my 1 yr old new Desktop PC! I’m furious!!!! Now my computer crashes and has not been right since! I spent 4hrs on the phone w/ Microsoft tech support who didn’t even know about this problem. I kept telling him all of my problems started after the SP1 download. I’m just finding out about it through this blog. Now after all of the changes during the 4hr tech session, my computer won’t boot up at all. Not even in Safe Mode. I’m furious!!! How can I get Microsoft to accept some responsibility here?
I have the same problem with the sleep mode on my XPS M1530. When I put it on sleep mode or close my lid, it restarts itself and forced me to lose my data that I was working on. There are no problem with software that I was running. It just the sleep mode thing. So mad right now. I need something to work right
Vu, if a computer awakenings from sleep “spontaniously” for no apparent reason it’s usually caused by a device awakening it. Go into device manager and check out the power savings settings of such devices, notably your network interface(s). There is a feature called “wake on LAN” (a usefull one actually, but not in a home situation) that you definitely want to switch off. Type compmgmt.msc at the search/run prompt to find device manager if you can’t find the thing in those horrible menu’s.
Well people. After two long months of struggling to get SP1 on this machine working without problems a actually finally have got it running. The only way out of the trouble this SP1 thing got me in was to completely reinstall Windows and do SP1 straight over it. The only thing I got out of it is that the machine can now sleep AND it can hibernate, that’s all. So we got a SP1 from Microsoft to make Windows actually be able to hibernate !!!!! Wow, it can now do something XP could do years ago. Really people, SP1 isn’t worth the trouble believe me. If you don’t have a specific urgent reason to (try to) install it, then don’t. Probably it will turn off features you liked before instead of giving you new feateares. It simply isn’t worth the trouble. Antbody interested in getting the remote desktop server working on Vista home premium ?
Sleep mode cannot be waked up on my Vista Ultimate after updating with sp1. I make two minor changes in power option according to suggestions previously posted. Go to “Control Panel” -> switch to classic view -> “Power Options”-> Balanced plan -> Change plan settings -> Change advanced power settings.
1. Go to Sleep -> Allow hybrid sleep -> Setting change on to Off
2. Go to Multimedia settings -> When sharing media -> Setting. change “Prevent idling to sleep” to “Allow the computer to sleep”
Now the sleep mode works perfectly on my Vista.
What you really need is a VM. Install any OS on it you happen to like at that moment, make a copy, use the copy and when it gets buggered up just delete it and make a new copy. Instead reinstalling your Windows PC every two weeks you simply throw it away the very moment it misbehaves, boot a fresh copy of the VM and your back in business within a minute and few mouseclicks. I’ve got three VM’s running on my laptop simultaniously with the laptop itself doing nothing else then hosting the VM’s, making backups of them, scanning the one running Windows for viruses and monitoring network traffic.