Why Cannot Recover from Standby?

[RhoXS]

I just replaced an Abit AW9D-Max with a Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P. Although I have no other problems, the machine will not recover from standby.

It appears to properly shutdown into standby. However, when restarting, the power supply powers up but the screen remains blank and nothing appears to happen.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

For whatever its worth, I am running a 3.0 GHz at E8400 at 3.8 Ghz.

[Nickel020]

Re: Why Cannot Recover from Standby?

Try updating the BIOS, resume from S3 (i.e. standby) bugs are very common in early BIOS revisions.

[RhoXS]

Re: Why Cannot Recover from Standby?

Thanks for the advice but I already have the bios set to resume from S3 and I downloaded and installed the latest bios (01/13/09 F7) immediately after installing the new mobo it last night.

[Nickel020]

Re: Why Cannot Recover from Standby?

Are you using Vista? If yes make sure to fully update the OS as some problems with S3 have been fixed by MS patches.

[RhoXS]

Re: Why Cannot Recover from Standby?

Using XP Pro SP3 with all latest updates. Problem also still occurs at default CPU speed (E8400 at 3.0 GHz).

I had exactly this same problem about two years ago with another motherboard but also XP. I am very frustrated because I cannot remember what I did to resolve the problem.

[svcglobal]

Re: Why Cannot Recover from Standby?

That is a signal of non 100% stable system. Something with memory timings.
Use all optimized defaults in BIOS.
Did you already tested your computer with MemTest86+? Try to get no errors for a 1/2 hour or so and post here the results.

[NimrodAUS]

Re: Why Cannot Recover from Standby?

You need to run memtest for way longer than 1/2 an hour. I had one totally dead stick of ram wouldnt boot any computer without BSOD and it tool 3.5 hours before memtest would find a problem. I would put it down to Video card maybe, NVIDIA by any chance? Try Latest drivers for video card? but usually you will have to roll back to older drivers maybe. If you have an old crappy PCIE car to try give it a go. did you do a fresh install of bindows after you put your new MB in?

[RhoXS]

Re: Why Cannot Recover from Standby?

Thanks for all the advice.

I have run Memtest for about 90 minutes. It made it through almost five passes without any issue. Based on the advice above, I will let it run through the night tonight but I am really not expecting to see any problems. Also, it will not recover from standby even when it is not overclocked and running at default speeds.

I did not do a clean install. I did a clean install about eight months ago and with work commitments etc. now I really want to avoid this lengthy process.

Except for the motherboard and CPU all hardware is exactly what I was using previously with the AW9D-Max. My video card is a EVGA GeForce 7900GS and I did load and install the latest NVidia drivers.

My instincts tell me the problem is something very simple. I do not know if this is related but, with this new motherboard, the machine will no longer boot from a USB memory stick. Maybe solving this problem will solve the S3 standby issue but nothing I have tried has resolved this problem also.

Thank you again for all the efforts to help.


I do not use my computer continuously. It is shut down for most of the day while at work and during the night so I usually put it in S3 Standby as this saves a lot of time when restarting it. Simple or not, this really has become a nuisance having to completely reboot each time I need to use my computer.

[NimrodAUS]

Re: Why Cannot Recover from Standby?

I dont believe its got anything to do with your ram. I would do a fresh install of bindows before you can really know anymore. Im supprised your system even boots at all after a MB and CPU Change.

[RhoXS]

Re: Why Cannot Recover from Standby?

NimrodAUS, I upgrade motherboards/CPUs about every two years and never have done a clean install coincident with the motherboard change. Although I certainly agree a clean install is ideal, it is not always practical. Last May, the last time I did a clean install, it took over two weeks, taking advantage of almost all my spare time, to completely restore all software etc. Between work commitments, a wife, other interests, and a desire not to spend all my free time playing with a computer, it is something that is just not going to happen until it becomes really necessary as evidenced by degraded performance, stability issues, etc. Right now, the only problem I am having is the recover from stand-by issue (I fixed the USB boot problem - operator error).

As far as even booting after a mobo/CPU change, this has never been a problem. If the new mobo has a different chip set it is necessary to revert to generic hard drive drivers just before shutting the old board down for the last time but that is the only thing I found to be necessary.

With regard to the specific problem this thread is about, I just cloned my hard drive and then installed the clone so I had something to experiment with. I started deleting applications (Adobe products, etc.) but nothing seemed to help. Also ran Windofix, cleaned up a lot of errors, but still no luck. I guess a clean install will be necessary but it is just going to have to wait a while.

[NimrodAUS]

Re: Why Cannot Recover from Standby?

Ah well it seems that you know a bit about updating hardware and keeping the same os installation. However I still feel that it has got something to do with it. I totally understand about the time factor and how much of a pain and time consuming it is to reinstall fresh, and the wife thing to. If she had her way i wouldnt even have a computer, let along a room full of them lol. Can I suggest then, to just for the fun of it get a spare drive SATA or IDE and install a fresh copy of bindows on it weather vista or XP and see if it goes to sleep then. It wont take you much longer than an hour. So also have you just for fun put your sleep settings in the BIOS to S1 and seen what happens?

[RhoXS]

Re: Why Cannot Recover from Standby?

I have tried S1 and it seems to work perfectly. The monitor goes off and I assume the machine powers down to some extent but the fans remain on and the power light blinks continuously. It wakes up from what appears to be a very light sleep without any issue. For someone that understands the inner working of XP this is probably a very good clue to help focus on exactly what is causing the S3 wake up issue.

I think you have a good idea. It is very easy to just plug in a spare SATA drive in place of my C: drive. It will be interesting to see what the Microsoft activation police think about having two separate drives activated with the same serial number and same hardware profile. Too late tonight to try it as I have to get up about 0500 for work.

[NimrodAUS]

Re: Why Cannot Recover from Standby?

Yeah Well atleast if you do it then you will know if it is or isnt something to do with bindows. I wouldnt even bother activating it dude, if you only going to be running it to test this one off thing. its up to you. Let us know how you go.