System Standby/Hibernate Not Available in Windows XP SP3

[black069]

Hi.
I have a Dell Dimension 4550 with Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2 GHz and 2 GB RAM. The hard drive has a capacity of 112 GB, of which 77 GB are free.  I am running Windows XP Home Edition Version 2002 Service Pack 3. 

I looked in the other forums and help sections, but could not find anything that addressed this specifically.  The CPU is about 6 years old, but a little over a year ago I upgraded the memory, etc.

For the last couple of months, system standby and hibernate have not been functional.  I have read where some folks think that power saving options are more hassle than they are worth, esp. hibernation mode.  I do not HAVE to have these features for my computer to work, but (A) it would be nice to have the standby mode so as not to waste energy, and (B) the fact that it was present, working perfectly for years, then all of a sudden vanished is, to me, worrisome for some sort of malware problem or registry glitch.  (I have run countless antivirus & antispyware programs, and have found several bugs over the last year or so, but none seem to be present now. 

Just to explain a little further, not only does system standby/hibernate not work, but in "Power Options Properties" (via system icon try or control panel), the tabs for "Advanced", "Hibernate", and "UPS" appear normal.  However, the "Power Schemes" tab is useless...in the drop-down menu where you should be able to set the power scheme to normal, presentation, personal configuration, etc., my drop-down menu is completely blank, nothing at all. Nothing happens when I press "Save As" or "Delete".  And, perhaps more importantly, the four options below (turn off monitor, turn off hard disks, system standby, system hibernates) are "grayed-out" (nothing appears in the menus nor can I click on anything in this area). 

Lastly, around the time I noticed that standby/hibernation was not working (plus/minus a couple weeks perhaps), I kept getting error messages, such as this one I wrote down:
"System Standby Failed. The device driver for the "HP Photosmart C6100 Series (DOT4PRT)" device is preventing the machine from entering standby. Please close all applications and try again.  If problem persists, you may need to update the driver." 

Of course, the problem did persist, but when I went to the HP website..."Driver is correct and up-to-date."  And in fact my HP printer was still under warranty at the time, but they did not offer much assistance, saying that it was not their problem since my driver was up-to-date per the website. 

Now, I don't get the error messages anymore, but standby/hibernation do not work...plus there are some weird things I can't explain like when I left click on "My Computer", I see the correct icons (for hard drive, CD Drive, etc.).  But when I left click on the C drive ("Local Disk"), instead of opening my hard drive to show files/folders, it instead takes me to the "Search Page" with the canine search companion over on the left side.  Drives me nuts. Just an example of some quirky things. May not be related. 

I apologize for being so long-winded.  I have found that when someone knows what they are talking about, they can be concise. Obviously, I do not fit that description. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Scott

[Dias de verano]

But when I left click on the C drive ("Local Disk"), instead of opening my hard drive to show files/folders, it instead takes me to the "Search Page" with the canine search companion over on the left side.  Drives me nuts. Just an example of some quirky things. May not be related. 

Try this - either at the command prompt or typed into the Run box

regsvr32 /i shell32.dll

[black069]

But when I left click on the C drive ("Local Disk"), instead of opening my hard drive to show files/folders, it instead takes me to the "Search Page" with the canine search companion over on the left side.  Drives me nuts. Just an example of some quirky things. May not be related. 

Try this - either at the command prompt or typed into the Run box

regsvr32 /i shell32.dll

Dias de verano,

Thanks for the advice on how to correctly open my C: drive when I left click on it (instead of going to search companion).  It did work.

Could anyone please provide assistance on how to fix my POWER OPTIONS problem as described in the first post?  

Happy New Year,

Scott

[patio]

Here are a few things you can try:

Standby problems:
http://www.rickrogers.org/standby.htm

How to troubleshoot hibernation and standby issues in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=907477

Or Here...

Good Luck and let us know.
P.S. Sorry this took so long.

[black069]

Thanks, Patio, for the three links you found re: standby/hibernate issues.  As you can see from the date on your last post here, it's been almost a month since I received them.  I have TRIED to go through each of these, but it feels like the equivalent of translating a novel from Greek to Latin, when English is my primary language and my "Latin" is more like Pig Latin. So the Greek just seems like Greek.  I don't say this lightly; I have spent many hours, writing multiple pages of notes, but as something between a novice and a low-functioning intermediate user, I just don't get it.

For example, in the rickrogers solution, the following appears within the first two sentences:  First thing: Using both BIOS-based power management and Windows-based power management rarely works. If you are using both, disable one or the other.

Sometimes, reducing the power state that standby achieves can help (often a BIOS setting). Sometimes, updating a driver can help, especially a new install that is relying primarily on default drivers supplied with Windows. Default drivers don't usually cover the full spectrum of functionality, they just provide for basic function.

I have tried my absolute best to learn what a system BIOS is, but I have only a superficial understanding of it, and nothing that would qualify as applicable knowledge.  And as far as updating drivers, I can do so if I know what needs an updated driver and the driver is available right in front of me.  Otherwise, I have no clue.  Windows Update takes care of that for me.

If it used to work, then look at what you've changed. This can mean that you added hardware, added or modified conflicting software, or that you updated some driver.

Since this problem has been going on for a few months now (with me not even knowing when it started), it could literally be any one of hundreds of things.

As for the second solution (from Microsoft's Knowledge Database), I feel like it would be a useful article if I could understand it.  But it says in the beginning that the article is written at the level of the intermediate-to-advanced level user.

I'm not criticizing you by no means...just expressing my frustration.  The way that my life is set out on a daily basis, it would be very helpful to have system standby and hibernate working as it did for the first five or so years I have had the computer. 

Any more recommendations?  If not, could you point me to good place to learn the basics of working with computers.  Everything I have found either is too basic (e.g. how to perform "fast user switching") or too advanced (how to run code while parsing your partition on the WLAN network in Cisco mode).  I made that last one up But seriously, know of a site that, like the medical textbooks, teaches computer functionality (vs. neurosurgery) to dummies?

Thanks a bunch.  (And I haven't given up on the standby/hibernate issue, by the way.)

[BC_Programmer]

And as far as updating drivers, I can do so if I know what needs an updated driver and the driver is available right in front of me. 

Well, we can probably figure out what driver it is:

such as this one I wrote down:
"System Standby Failed. The device driver for the "HP Photosmart C6100 Series (DOT4PRT)" device is preventing the machine from entering standby. Please close all applications and try again.  If problem persists, you may need to update the driver." 

You haven't told us the exact model of the printer- so the best link I can give you is this:

http://h20180.www2.hp.com/apps/Lookup?h_lang=en&h_cc=us&cc=us&h_page=hpcom&lang=en&h_client=S-A-R163-1&h_pagetype=s-002&h_query=hotosmart+C6100&submit=Go+%BB

obviously the printer itself should have the proper model number listed. Just click the proper model and select your OS. Go for the "Basic" driver, unless you use any particular functionality provided by the HP software you currently have installed.

best course of action once you get the driver is to remove your current driver software for the printer. This will likely be in Add/remove programs. Then install the new downloaded version.