PC automatically comes out of standly.

[JB3]

I recently upgraded my PC's hard drive from a Maxtor 80gb to a Western digital 160gb and although everything seemed to work out fine an annoying problem has recently started to happen, that being that when I place the PC in standby it will on many occasions come back out of it again, this sometimes happening almost immediately but at other times it can take up to a few minutes.

 

I also observed that it only seems to do it if I leave Windows Explorer open, this usually sitting on the servers home page, (Virgin Media) but it has also done it if a page on e-bay etc was left open, it just seems to be erratic although its never at any timer happened if I first closed down Explorer before placing the PC in standby.

 

As I obviously had to go through all the laborious process of resetting all the drop down boxes etc after installing Windows XP home edition, this done using my back up disc burnt when the PC was first purchased approx four years ago, and so I wondered if I have either mistakenly checked, or maybe unchecked some box that shouldn't have been and would welcome any suggestions as to possible causes of this problem.

 

I would like to add that this never at any time was a problem before the HD was changed, and the PC is an HP Pavilion T340UK desktop fitted with 2mb of RAM.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Hi JB

 

Welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help

 

First of all may I ask why you want/ed to place the PC in Standby mode?

 

This is like Sleep or Hibernate and in my opinion is not one of Microsofts better ideas as these settings can cause all kinds of problems.

[JB3]

Hi JB

 

Welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help

 

First of all may I ask why you want/ed to place the PC in Standby mode?

 

This is like Sleep or Hibernate and in my opinion is not one of Microsofts better ideas as these settings can cause all kinds of problems.

 

 

Thanks for the welcome and pleased to have found this site!

 

In answer to your question its something I and most other PC users in my family (using a different PC) have always done since originally starting to use the PC a few years ago using a dial up "phone blocking" modem as broadband didn't exist in my location, albeit this having changed nowadays to broadband but on a low speed (max available!)connection, however the standby issue never really cropped up until very recently and so this is why I am seeking suggestions as I have just about exhausted my ideas on possible causes, although if none are forthcoming I might put the old HD back in again just to verify that its "not" something that has happened totally unconnected with the upgraded HD.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Trust me JB, it's nothing to do with the new hard drive.

 

Do your self a favour and just log off and shut down when you have finished a session.

 

In fact consider this debate here as to the pros and cons of this method of working.

 

http://extremetechsupport.com/forum/fpch-polls/5426-sleep-shut-down.html

[Plastic Nev]

Please take note of my post on the thread that link goes to. Even when shut down, there is still power being used by the power supply, also the monitor, printer (if you have one) etc. I was being presented with power bills in the hundreds till I started shutting down and then fully powering everything off. Now I get a reasonable bill down in the fifties and sixties, for such things as lighting and for the time when my computer is on and in use. I don't use that much electrical power otherwise than lighting, washing machine, fridge freezer, and a few other odds and things.

My heating and cooking is all gas so I expect a high gas bill during the winter months with a little bit lighter during summer, but certainly not a high electricity bill.

Nev.

[JB3]

PC automatically comes out of standby - update.

 

As an update on the situation, much as I hate to say it but I am afraid I have to beg to differ regarding comments made about the HD, as my suspicions have been confirmed about the problem only being associated with this new drive as approximately two days ago I changed it back again to the previous Maxtor one and even although the PC must have placed in standby about a dozen times or more not once did it flinch from being there so its either that some peculiar fault has cropped up with the drive itself or its some other odd and obscure reason that is causing the problem necessitating further investigation.

 

I also noted the various postings made regarding the issue of "standby vs shut down", and although in certain circumstances there may well be good reason that some people prefer to shutdown my own choice is not to, as I like the PC being ready to spring into action with a simple click on refresh rather than having to re-enter some website etc all over again, and I would like to reiterate that I never once had any problems in this respect during the past four years with the Maxtor drive in situ.

 

On the aspect of power consumption it doesn't really over bother me, as although there may be quite a number of ancillary devices plugged in so long as they are "not" switched on the modern SMPS (switched mode power supplies) used burn virtually nothing when not actually in use, and just as an example on a test I carried out with a watt meter in the power line of a pair of Buffalo external HD units the reading was only approx 3 watts for the pair when not actually switched on.

 

Measurements of my PC's consumption indicated a mean level of 80 watts whilst in use (the 17" LCD monitor being 18 watts of this) of course the tests were done with a stable homepage otherwise peaks of 120 watts were frequently noticed if any actions were taking place, however when the PC was placed in standby the power consumed dropped to 15 watts, a level which I personally do not consider to be excessive by any means.

 

Of course there is another good reason that I don't believe in shutting down electronic equipment unless intending not to use it (e.g:- overnight etc) and that being, although I may not be terribly deeply involved in personal PC's I have served a lifetime in the servicing / maintenance of electronic equipment in both the industrial and domestic side of the industry, and can say that its a well known fact that certain types of electronic equipments life can be reduced if subjected to frequent on / off operations, this accounting for the large number of people that report their devices were OK the night before but wouldn't work when switched on much later or the next morning, the switching on from cold operation mainly causing the problem through power surges in circuits that are less than 100% stable, this of course mostly applying to the domestic scene as most industrial equipment I dealt with ran 24 hours per day.

 

I do realise that amazingly PC's are actually quite reliable devices in this respect, but I have never really believed in the tempting of the proverbial Murphy's law.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

May I ask a question?

 

You state quite clearly that you installed XP or it was installed to the Maxtor roughly 4 years ago yes?

 

Then you state you installed XP to the Western Digital just recently, would this be correct?

 

I ask this because you stated this;

 

..........drop down boxes etc after installing Windows XP home edition, this done using my back up disc burnt when the PC was first purchased approx four years ago.

[JB3]

May I ask a question?

 

You state quite clearly that you installed XP or it was installed to the Maxtor roughly 4 years ago yes?

 

Then you state you installed XP to the Western Digital just recently, would this be correct?

 

I ask this because you stated this;

 

Yes that correct, as I used the Windows XP system back up restore disc that I burnt when the PC was first purchased (the one shot at job) then once installed I set about downloading all the Windows updates SP's etc to bring everything up to the same level as the Maxtor, and as can be imagined a lengthy process!!

 

After that was attended to I then installed all the documents etc that I had previously copied from the Maxtor onto one of the external HD's, then I finalised by downloading (from various sites) all the various programmes that I had in the Maxtor so that the new drive is just about a carbon copy of the Maxtor but with 98gb to play around with, rather than the 20gb that I was down to on the Maxtor.

 

I may decide to purchase a 320gb HD and repeat the procedure just mentioned "if" I cant get the standby problem rectified, as I do quite a bit of video editing (using Nero) and so the extra capacity would be handy, because as things are after I edit a holiday video or whatever I generally store an image recording plus a VOB file (in case I want to add something) of it in one of the external HD's (I have four) then delete the edited work from the PC to free up HD space and there wouldn't be the same urgency to do this with a larger HD.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Ok to sum up.

 

You have made a copy of the original XP operating system disk and you have used this copy to install XP to a machine that had a perfectly good 80gb hard drive, albeit small for your needs.

 

Would this be correct?

 

What happened to the original disk?

[Tootech]

I reckon there's a setting that is different between the two intsalls and that it's nothing to do with the actual drives.

 

Perhaps a Power Options setting or one of your devices is set wake the PC - could be LAN, mouse or keyboard for example. A mouse can easliy 'drift' whilst sat doing nothing and bring a PC back to life.

 

I'd use something like Acronis TrueImage to clone the old (working correctly) install over to your new 160GB drive. That way you get an exact copy of the settings and Windows setup that works.

 

Your new drive would then have an 80GB partition and 80GB free space. You could then make a new 80GB partition and use it to save data or you could expand your 80GB Windows partition to 160GB using Easeus Partition Manager.

[JB3]

Ok to sum up.

 

You have made a copy of the original XP operating system disk and you have used this copy to install XP to a machine that had a perfectly good 80gb hard drive, albeit small for your needs.

 

Would this be correct?

 

What happened to the original disk?

 

No, not a copy of the original XP operating system "disc" as such because there isn't one, but a copy of the "already installed by HP" operating system that they allow you to make a copy of on a "once only" basis, unlike for example a friends Packard Bell rough equivalent of my pc where they actually supplied a back up disc along with the new purchase.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Ok

 

Thank you for elaborating on this small matter anyway like Tootech states have you checked the Power Options?

[JB3]

I reckon there's a setting that is different between the two intsalls and that it's nothing to do with the actual drives.

 

Perhaps a Power Options setting or one of your devices is set wake the PC - could be LAN, mouse or keyboard for example. A mouse can easliy 'drift' whilst sat doing nothing and bring a PC back to life.

 

I'd use something like Acronis TrueImage to clone the old (working correctly) install over to your new 160GB drive. That way you get an exact copy of the settings and Windows setup that works.

 

Your new drive would then have an 80GB partition and 80GB free space. You could then make a new 80GB partition and use it to save data or you could expand your 80GB Windows partition to 160GB using Easeus Partition Manager.

 

 

Well I do have a sneaking suspicion it could well be a difference in settings somewhere, although I do know that whatever they are they should be in the default position in both drives as they haven't been altered, I will however look into trying out your suggestion regarding the use of Acronis TrueImage as that could be a very convenient tool.

 

I can though exclude mouse movement or similar as a possible reason as my PC area is to use the word "sacrosanct", and so nothing happens anywhere remotely near it.

 

What I did notice though was, that the problem seems to manifest itself far less if explorer isn't lying open displaying the servers homepage or whatever and its only the Outlook Express screen that's open, but of course that doesnt really help as its a web page that I don't want to have to re-enter and indeed never have had to with the old HD, the only programme that positively stopped me from standing by on it being Nero during some editing sessions that hadn't been completed and saved.

[Plastic Nev]

If I read this correctly, you are trying to get the machine into hibernate or standby but with it still connected to the net. Try disconnecting, it may be the odd server requests reactivating things.

Nev.

[JB3]

If I read this correctly, you are trying to get the machine into hibernate or standby but with it still connected to the net. Try disconnecting, it may be the odd server requests reactivating things.

Nev.

 

 

Well I tested out what you suggested by first of all unplugging the router (mains not Ethernet cable) whilst not only this site was still open but also Virgin Media's homepage plus another that I use with the result of this action being a perfectly stable standby, and the situation remaining the same on three further trials, however just to make sure it was only the unplugging of the router that caused the change I carried out another standby attempt without it first of all being unplugged and within about a minute the PC sprung back into life again, so the problem seems to be as you have suggested linked to some web related issue.

 

As all the websites I use were obtained purely from copying "favourites" from the old HD I haven't downloaded different versions of anything, although the only thing that could be different is in the multitude of Windows updates that were downloaded to bring the system up to date, as I had blocked some updates from downloading in the old HD whereby I didn't do that in this new one, so my next step is to fit the old HD back in again and print out the list of update numbers allocated to each one and crosscheck them with whats in the new HD, deleting any that isn't in the old drive.

 

Of course I suppose its just as easy for me to unplug the router before standby and plug it in again before coming out of it, then finalise by clicking on "refresh" to bring whatever site up to date, as I did try that a few times and find it perfectly satisfactory so may just leave it at that, as although the problem that started with the new HD annoys me I do realise its really quite trivial compared to some peoples problems.

 

Anyway I do appreciate all comments / advice given by all as I am a person more at home with a bench full of test gear, circuit diagrams and soldering stations rather than the finer points of PC settings etc.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Anyway I do appreciate all comments / advice given by all as I am a person more at home with a bench full of test gear, circuit diagrams and soldering stations rather than the finer points of PC settings etc.

 

In many ways they are one and the same JB, ludicrous as it may seem.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi again. I am not that sure if this applies, but when the original hard drive was still in, did you at any time alter any settings in the BIOS regarding the Wake On Lan function?

 

Although not directly connected to the operating system as such, and therefore the settings should still be in the BIOS, there may be some odd connection to the operating system nonetheless.

 

A very good description of of the Wake On Lan function can be found here-

Wake-on-LAN - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (thanks Wolfey)

 

I think there may just be some similar thing causing this waking up, because of your reply regarding disconnecting the power to your router.

 

An Edit to add,

You could also install the old drive as a slave to the new one if there is room, therefore increasing even more the hard disk space internally.

Just need to reformat it of course to make the space of it free.

 

Nev.

[JB3]

Hi again. I am not that sure if this applies, but when the original hard drive was still in, did you at any time alter any settings in the BIOS regarding the Wake On Lan function?

 

Although not directly connected to the operating system as such, and therefore the settings should still be in the BIOS, there may be some odd connection to the operating system nonetheless.

 

A very good description of of the Wake On Lan function can be found here-

Wake-on-LAN - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (thanks Wolfey)

 

I think there may just be some similar thing causing this waking up, because of your reply regarding disconnecting the power to your router.

 

Many thanks Nev for the link / advice, and in answer to the first point no, I hadn't altered anything - but!! - having had a read at the very informative "Wake-on-Lan" link you sent this transpired to point to the very thing that was causing the problem, that being a setting different from what it must have been before with the old HD, and I haven't really a clue as to how this could have happened as its definitely the case that nothing was altered. (any possible reasons for this happening much appreciated!!)

 

Anyway, I went into comp management - device manager - Network adaptors - clicked on Realtek RTL8138/810X Family fast Ethernet NIC - then Power management only to see that the "Allow this device to bring computer out of standby" was checked, something which I duly unchecked, although I left the other box in the unchecked state it was already in, that indicating "Allow comp to turn off this device to save power".

 

Finally carried out a multitude of tests and can report that everything is fine now with a perfect standby no matter how many web pages are left open, at least "fine" in the way I like things to operate!!

 

Regarding your suggestion on using the old HD, although I would like to as my PC does have dual HD holders with cables - plugs for use with a second drive, I was somewhat reluctant to have the two HD's running at the same time as I didn't want to effectively double the load on the PU for anything more than test purposes of a short nature, maybe its being a bit over cautious but I haven't as yet experienced any failures no matter how trivial (tempting Murphy's law again!!) so I might leave that idea as I have a spare caddy that I can use the old HD in as a general external device, and not upsetting the partition side of it containing the updated Windows etc just in case the new HD did falter in any way, and especially now that I made the aforementioned comment about not experiencing any failures as yet!

 

Thanks once again to all that gave advice - much appreciated!!

[JB3]

Missed the edit deadline - but the only thing that has been done recently, and maybe just coincidentally around about the time I started experiencing the standby problem, was that I uninstalled a very recently expired ESET security programme and installed "Avira" personal anti virus guard etc.

[Plastic Nev]

Very unlikely removing the old Eset did it, however it is one of those "who knows?" things, ticks in boxes being one of the odd ghostly things that seem to happen when the system is messed around a bit, and reinstalling the operating system to the new drive is the more likely reason. That is only a guess, as these things happen with no clue as to why sometimes.

Also, adding the drive into the system is very unlikely to overstretch the power supply, unless it is already on borderline conditions, as the hard drive itself isn't that power hungry. However putting it in a caddy as a portable external drive is a sound idea anyway.