Windows won't resume after hibernating

Diestur · September 5, 2013

Hi, I have a problem with my computer, and google had not helped me in all the searches I did I have hope that someone here could lead me to the answer

Short version:

I have Windows 7, and it works fine. You can hibernate, and it will resume with no problems at all. The problem is, if I switch off my power strip while the computer is hibernated, then it won't resume, a black screen with a blinking white cursor is all I get.

Long version:

Everything worked fine for many years. Then, without any HW/SW change I started to have this resume issue. When I get stuck in the blank screen I have to do a hard reset, and then tell the computer to ignore the hibernation files and do a fresh start. The weird thing, is that this solved itself after a few days, worked fine for several weeks, and then started to happen again. Sadly this time it didn't fixed by itself.

After many tries I managed to confirm that it only fails when I switch off the power strip.

What should I check?:

My computer is not easily accesible, so I don't whant to have to open it 14 times in a month, thats why I whant to check as many things as posible at once.

Hardware Monitor (and BIOS) reports that the battery has 3.360 Volts. If I totally cut the electricity and internet connection to the computer for a whole night, it don't lose the date, so I did not replace it.

Thank you in advance for your help and time

Vertifai · September 5, 2013

Just sounds like genneral Windows weirdness. Just do a reinstall

Short and probably somewhat technically incorrect explanation:

When windows hibernates it saves what it stored in the RAM to your HDD/SSD
But for some reason Windows seams the keep the information that you computer is in this state in the RAM (at least that's how it seams) When you the turn off your power strip the data to continue form hibernation is still there. But the file that tells windows to load the hibernate state form the HDD/SSD back into the RAM is gone since it was stored in RAM that was erased when the power strip was turned off.

But normally Windows would just display an error and continue from hibernation anyway.

September 5, 2013

I know it sounds funny, but it could be your power strip. Try plugging the PC Directly into the wall and put it on hibernate then. If I'm wrong, which I probably am, then it's your software (or something on the motherboard)

Diestur · September 6, 2013

Just sounds like genneral Windows weirdness. Just do a reinstall

Short and probably somewhat technically incorrect explanation:

When windows hibernates it saves what it stored in the RAM to your HDD/SSD

But for some reason Windows seams the keep the information that you computer is in this state in the RAM (at least that's how it seams) When you the turn off your power strip the data to continue form hibernation is still there. But the file that tells windows to load the hibernate state form the HDD/SSD back into the RAM is gone since it was stored in RAM that was erased when the power strip was turned off.

But normally Windows would just display an error and continue from hibernation anyway.

I know sometimes that solves an issue that looks completely related to hardware, but I'd still ask myself how does the computer 'feel' the difference. Is the battery the only thing that can be to blame or is there any other thing that could be affected by the lack of power?

I know it sounds funny, but it could be your power strip. Try plugging the PC Directly into the wall and put it on hibernate then. If I'm wrong, which I probably am, then it's your software (or something on the motherboard)

Mmm. I guess I could try that. It's gonna be fun to have an extension cord all across the room from the wall on other side to power the monitor and speakers