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[SOLVED] machine will not emerge from sleep.

NoelDP

NoelDP

Windows Update Analyst, Contributor
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machine will not ENTER sleep.

eMachines e4525 - clean installed some time ago with Windows 7 Pro.

machine appears to bhave perfectly, except when emerging from sleep or hibernation (hibernation currently disabled until I can get sleep working).

Had AVG and MSE installed prior to installing Norton 360 a couple of months ago. AVG was properly removed before MSE was installed, but Norton was overlaid on top of MSE, and some time later (when I was called in) MSE was removed at the owner's request (they'd paid for Norton, they were going to use it...).
Recently the machine exhibited the following behaviour....

All is well until it goes to sleep.
at some point in the sleep process, somthing appears to happen - if the machine is woken up fairly quickly, it's OK, but if it is allowed to sit for more than a minute or two in sleep, when awoken, it simply switches off.
A normal reboot fails just after the Win7 flag comes together and the machine switches off - Startup repair exhibits the same behaviour.
Safe Mode boot is OK (usually) - and fixes the boot problem even if the machine is restarted from the login screen.

The only significant error messages in Event Viewer appear to be referencing NTFS problems in a VolumeShadowCopy??

When I first got the machine, there was a fair amount of corruption in a CHKDSK /R - that was fixed, and there were no bad sectors.
SFC was clear.

There are a couple of HAL eventID 12 errors in the log.
Just ran CHKDSK /F (again) and there's only a couple of bad Index entries found, after around 10 failed wake-ups.
No other clues in Event Viewer.


I've also tried changing the Sleep option in BIOS from S1/S3 to S3 with no effect.

Next step is to uninstall (ane remove) Norton, I suspect - unless someone can come up with a better idea??
 
Last edited:
OK - let's redfine the problem!!

Just realised that I'd been looking at the wrong end of the process!

The problem is that the system is not actually sleeping at all most of the time.
Instead of sleeping, it's just plain dying - no event in the log, no nothing.

I played with the power/sleep settings....
set Screensaver (Mystify) to 1 min
Turn off Display to 3 min
Sleep to 3 min
Disable Hibernate
Disable Allow Hybrid Sleep

The machine appears to enter sleep - the light on the front starts flashing.

It so far has actually come back every time (but I haven't rebooted)......

If I (only) change the Sleep time to 5 minutes, then there is NO sleep!

W?T?F?
 
Not so far as I am aware - it was never mentioned to me, anyhow, when I removed MSE.
Getting rid of all things Norton first became a habit with me in Win ME :) - so that's the next thing on the ToDo list

(After I work out the sympomology of the thing, anyhow)
 
Yes do the uninstall of the norton360 and if the problem still persists i would suggest you look at hardware as you have done a clean install of Windows 7 which should eliminate a software problem and leave the hardware as possible culprit.

When AVG was uninstalled was the removal tool used as some bits can linger like norton so using the removal tool for norton is advisable as well.

Somee links beow to the removal tools for norton and AVG below if they have not been used already.

https://www-secure.symantec.com/nor...t=home&pvid=f-home&version=1&lg=english&ct=us

AVG | Download tools and utilities
 
It's beginning to look as if the following is the situation.

When the system is first booted after a normal shutdown, the Sleep will not function the first time it's attempted - the front light doesn't go into 'flash mode' - if you then 'wake' it (no login requested, nothing in eventvwr), and let it settle again, it still fails.

Now go into power settings, set Sleep time to 1 hour and apply. Then set it back to 5 mins and apply.
Sleep works! light flashes, and login is requested.

Reboot and log in.....
And the machine goes to sleep and wakes properly ....

Now shut down fully and cold boot.
... and it goes to sleep and wakes properly??

What the heck is going on here????


Anyone know where in the registry is likely to be corrupted, that might be causing this? (or is it Norton?)
 
I lost track many years ago of the number of times I've posted the advice to run the removal tools for AV's, even if only upgrading the thing! :thumbsup2:

Yes, I ran the AVG Remover.
No, I didn't uninstall/reinstall Norton when I removed MSE (it was the end of a long session - second computer in the same house, and the first had some fairly nasty problems) perhaps I should have done.

Since Sleep seems to be working now, I'm going to have a go at hibernation :)
 
well - b&gg&r me! - hibernation worked.

Norton is still installed (unfortunately - I hate supporting machines with it installed, as PEBCAK tends to get in the way).
 
Now the question is how long the current status will remain.
(answers in a sealed envelope, please - with accompanying folding cash - 50% to the closest guess, and 50% for my beer fund<eg>)
 
Hmm strange sleep and hibernation now working is the machine still dying?

Have you checked the temps at all might be worth looking at that see if there are unusually high temperatures? or maybe power issue?
 
While things are working:
- remove all traces of Norton (using Norton Removal Tool). Then reinstall a fresh copy of latest version
- update all drivers (particularly chipset, storage and video) from the device manufacturer's website (such as Intel for storage controllers, nVidia for video, chipset from the manufacturer (such as Intel)
 
The story continues.... (in a land far, far, away... - well, ok, Wales, anyhow :grin1: )

It went happily into hibernation and out two or three times yesterday, so I left it in hibernation overnight.
When I turned it on this morning, it started to come out of hibernation, and switched itself off - no BSOD, no nothing. CPU temps normal according to BIOS.

Attempts to start in Normal and Safe Mode both failed.

Startup repair ran a (rather quick?) chkdsk after which the system booted happily.

Sleep at that point worked fine - I didn't allow it to go back into hibernation.

I've now uninstalled Norton, and run the removal tool, and I'm currently testing hibernation again.

Question:
Is there a log retained of the Repair activity somehwere? - I can't see anything in Event Viewer, or in C:\ root?
 
Hi Noel,

eMachines is one of the companies I link to using weak PSU's, I don't know this model and my search engines are having similar problems so I haven't been able to check what's supplied in it. It's something which could be a contributory factor, if you have a known good PSU, it would be worth trying to check.
 
It's something I've thought about too - I'll have to open it up sometime and see whether I have a spare that'd fit (it's a midi tower)
I see my dyslexia kicked in again... it's an E4252 !! - I'll amend the instial post to reflect it.
 
Current situation:-
Still failing return from hibernation most times, despite uninstalling Norton, and replacing PSU (twice).
Currrently testing with S1/S3 standby switched on in BIOS, and 'new' PSU.
 
NoelDP said:
Current situation:-
Still failing return from hibernation most times, despite uninstalling Norton, and replacing PSU (twice).
Currrently testing with S1/S3 standby switched on in BIOS, and 'new' PSU.
Click to expand...

That does seem to have done something - although the return from hibernation still fails, it does so a little more gracefully.
This time, it got as far as beginning to load the login screen before switching off, and when restarted, was able to properly load in Normal Mode without a problem.

I have a distinct feeling that this may be a BIOS problem.
I just hate updating BIOS's for systems with so little real identification on them - and eMachine's 'support' site doesn't respond to data input.

http://support.emachines.com/em/driver/prevmodsupp.html

The original page loads, but any selection that I've tried fails with a 'no DNS' response. I suppose that Acer has chopped off support for legacy emachines at the knees without bothering to tell anyone. :(
 
I think I've spent enough time on this - unless anyone has any better ideas, I'll just switch off hibernation (it's a desktop, after all), and reconfigure sleep for reasonable numbers after testing extended sleep times in S3 and S1/3 configurations.

Thanks for the input!
 

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