Windows Server - Two lingering problems with my Win2K.

Asked By Robbie Hatley

22-Jan-10 11:28 PM

My Win2k installation (with all the latest SPs and updates)
mostly works fine, but there is two nagging problems that have
been lingering for years now, so I figure what the heck, I will
toss these in the forum and see if anyone has any ideas on these:

1. System often fails to correctly resume from "Standby".
Conceptually, I like the "Standby" feature, because it
allows me to turn off disks, CPU, etc, but keep RAM alive,
so that system can be brought back to "fully awake" in
just a few seconds, with the work-in-progress from night
before still on screen.  Saves lots of time.  BUT......
About every third time I use it, it fails to wake up from
standby.  Everything just freezes.  Black screen, no
video, no sound, does not respond to keyboard or mouse,
forcing me to push the "reset" button.  I have not been
using Standby much lately, because of this problem.

2. About once every other day, my USB mouse pointer suddenly
freezes.  I got tired of that and installed a secondary
serial mouse in case the USB mouse fails.  When the USB
mouse freezes, the serial mouse generally works for a while,
then eventually that goes offline, along with sound and
internet.  Not just a matter of a bad mouse, because it
has happened with 2 different models of USB optical mouse.
Driver conflict?  IRQ conflict?  Hardware problem?
Southbridge going south?

Any ideas of what is happening with those?  Win2K issue, or
is my motherboard dying?

--
Curious,
Robbie Hatley
lonewolf at well dot com
www dot well dot com slant tilde lonewolf slant

27-Jan-10 08:47 AM

I think the 'sleep' issue you brought up is an age long one and I have never
seen 'one specific' cause! For both issues the typical, 'do you have a
driver conflict', comes to mind! Could try uninstalling the mouse software,
reinstalling. If still no joy uninstall mouse software and install a
different version, or, use a generic driver. Considering what you have said
it is a good possibility the mouse conflict is causing the sleep conflict
too.

Two other things I would consider:
1. view the event logs  (control panel, admin., event viewer)
any errors? what do they say is causing it?

2. certainly what I am about to say is not a fix for sleep not working but it
may work for you none the less; try hibernating instead. I use that feature
and it is great, Doesn't start from hibernation as fast as sleep but it is
sure quicker than a new boot!

Let us know how you make out

29-Jan-10 08:21 PM

Look in Device Manager to see if you have any yellow exclamation marks or
other problems.
Uninstall you sound card drivers and install the latest drivers for it.
Audio drivers can cause many strange problems.
Buffalo
PS: May not work but it is quick and easy to try.

06-Feb-10 01:18 AM

I just stumbled across something that gave me an idea,
though:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Configuration_and_Power_Interface

S1: All processor caches are flushed, and the CPU(s) stop
executing instructions.  Power to the CPU(s) and RAM
is maintained; devices that do not indicate they must
remain on may be powered down.
S2: CPU powered off
S3: Commonly referred to as Standby, Sleep, or Suspend to RAM.
RAM remains powered
S4: Hibernation or Suspend to disk. All content of main memory
is saved to non-volatile memory such as a hard drive, and
is powered down.

My BIOS has two options for "Suspend To": "S1" and "S3".
Up until now, I had it set to "S3", because I had no idea
what either option really meant.  But now that I see that
S3 powers down the CPU, while S1 does not, I will set it to
S1.  That should make "waking up" easier, since the
computer will be less deeply asleep.


Maybe.  But I have installed / uninstalled / changed various
peripherals a lot over the years, and yet these two nagging
problems have remained about the same.


The last recorded events are immediately prior to shut-down,
and if "wake" fails, no events at all are recorded at the
time of the failed "wake" attempt.  Video remains black,
system does not respond to keyboard or mouse, and Num-Lock and
Cap-Lock LEDs do not react to Num-Lock and Cap-Lock keys.


I have never been able to get that to work.  Possibly whatever
is screwing up "Standby" is also screwing up "hibernate".

But I will see what happens with "suspend to" set to S1.
Hopefully that will make Standby more reliable.

--
Cheers,
Robbie Hatley
lonewolf at well dot com
www dot well dot com slant tilde lonewolf slant