xp pro sp2 won't go into standby mode

[graysky]

When I attempt to enter standby mode (start menu>turn off computer>stand by) my machine simply hangs on the "going to stand by" screen. Nothing can restore it except a reset. I have APCI mode enabled in my BIOS and I have tried all 3 modes for suspend in the BIOS (auto, S1 (POS) and S3).

When this screen is displayed, the mouse can be freely moved around. I have left it on this screen for over 10 minutes and nothing else seems to happen until I force a reset. I should also mention that there aren't any entries in the event log that help out regarding errors to the power management system, etc.

I will say that power management is functional in the O/S. I have the monitor set to shut off after 15 min which is does.

I followed about 20 minutes worth of google links that were all deadends on this issue.

Here are some hardware details if it helps anyone. Thanks in advance.

Intel Q6600

Asus P5B-Del board with BIOS version 1215

X1950 Pro video card with latest Catalyst driver (v7.8)

Edited August 19, 2007 by graysky

[gosh]

post your event logs, and in device manager disable devices and see if that fixes it. If it does, some devices has a setting such as "enable device to use power management features" or something under the tab for power management.

-gosh

[graysky]

post your event logs, and in device manager disable devices and see if that fixes it. If it does, some devices has a setting such as "enable device to use power management features" or something under the tab for power management.

-gosh

Well, the event logs are literally empty when either I or the O/S tries to go to stand by mode. After I reboot the machine there are no entries around the time I tried to enter stand by mode.

I also went through my device manger and literally right-clicked all the devices looking for that power management tab. I think it's a Windows problem only because it locks up. I have read tons of posts stating that USB keyboards/mouse can cause the PC to wake up, but in those cases, the O/S isn't frozen.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks!

[gosh]

Did you right click on each device in device manager and disable them? One easy way to do this is with a new power profile. In the hardware tab you can make a new profile, then log into that and disable your hardware. When you're done you simply delete the power profile.

-gosh

[graysky]

Did you right click on each device in device manager and disable them? One easy way to do this is with a new power profile. In the hardware tab you can make a new profile, then log into that and disable your hardware. When you're done you simply delete the power profile.

-gosh

Thanks for the suggestion. I made a copy of my current profile and literally disabled everything but the HDs, mouse, and keyboard... still no luck

...are there any log files I can view to see what is causing the hangup?

Edited August 20, 2007 by graysky

[graysky]

I pulled my X1950 Pro and put in a 10-year-old PCI board just to rule out the X1950 as the cause of these problems. Indeed, the old board that obviously doesn't support APM cause an error (below) that was also logged. The odd thing, as I mentioned, is that I get NO log entries when my machine just stays on that "Preparing to stand by..." screen.

Is there some sort of logging I can enable that might help track down the cause of my problem?

Thanks all!

[graysky]

...does anyone have any ideas on this? I've been googling but have come up with nothing solid.

[gosh]

The welcome screen is a GUI for winlogon (if you delete logonui.exe you get the win2k logon). I'm not exactly sure how to debug winlogon, ive never done it. I searched google on 'winlogon debug' and found some hits. If you have a second computer you could use the parallel port to debug, but that isn't very convienent.

When you log off/hibernate/etc winlogon sends a request to all the hardware to shutdown, and it waits 3 seconds i believe by default. If a piece of hardware doesn't respond within the 3 seconds, windows could be stuck waiting.

I still suspect hardware. Is all your hardware on the HCL? (microsoft.com/hcl)

-gosh

[graysky]

The welcome screen is a GUI for winlogon (if you delete logonui.exe you get the win2k logon). I'm not exactly sure how to debug winlogon, ive never done it. I searched google on 'winlogon debug' and found some hits. If you have a second computer you could use the parallel port to debug, but that isn't very convienent.

When you log off/hibernate/etc winlogon sends a request to all the hardware to shutdown, and it waits 3 seconds i believe by default. If a piece of hardware doesn't respond within the 3 seconds, windows could be stuck waiting.

I still suspect hardware. Is all your hardware on the HCL? (microsoft.com/hcl)

-gosh

For some reason, I can't browse to that url... it redirects me to http://winqual.microsoft.com/hcl/ but displays a blank page.

Can you post the md5 sum to your C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe so I can compare it to mine?

EDIT: I found the problem with that microsoft page: Windows Vista Hardware Compatibility List

The Windows Vista Hardware Compatibility List is currently only compatible with Internet Explorer 6 and above. We apologize for the inconvenience."

Guess they hate firefox!

Edited August 24, 2007 by graysky

[graysky]

I have ruled out my keyboard/mouse as the cause since I replaced them both with PS/2 versions as well as unplugged all other USB devices from the machine. The only hardware the machine has that isn't part of the onboard stuff is my HIS X1950 Pro Ice3 card and I don't have another PCIe card to replace it with as the test... beyond that, I just reset my CMOS and allowed the default settings to load. I was met with the same result when attempting the standby mode so I can't imagine that it's a hardware related issue and must be something in the o/s... anyone have other suggestions?

[graysky]

Problem is now solved.... the culprit: kerio personal firewall! Apparently it has to be removed from the system, not just disabled in services tab to reveal itself as the reason power savings doesn't work. Now I can send the machine into standby mode.

Thanks to all who helped.