Windows 7: What is harddrive/RAM doing???

Very often when I wake up my computer, for a good 5 minutes the harddrive goes completely bozo and the system is extremely unresponsive since (I guess) it is in the process of waking up - in addition, when I look at task manager (even when observing "Show processes from all users") the majority of the RAM (>85%) is "System Idle Processes."

1) What is it doing, and how do I stop it?

2) Whatever is happening, why isn't it displayed?

Thanks - BTW, I had observed similar behavior with Vista.

B

It is waking thus it need to do stuff...are you wanting the computer to remain off?

I guess what I'm getting at is:

1) If it's going to take 5 minutes before I can issue any commands to the system, what's the difference between turning it off (apart from the fact that all the applications remain open)

2) Whatever it's doing to wake up, why won't it tell me what it's doing so I can address it?

Thanks -

B

Welcome
System idle is not problem, it is what is not being used
http://www.ehow.com/how_5920742_dele...e-process.html

System Idle is the percentage of time the CPU is doing nothing.
85% seems pretty good to me!

Are you using "Sleep" or "Hibernate" when you leave the computer?

In Sleep, everything the computer needs to get going again is held in RAM, so when you wake from Sleep the process is fast.

In Hibernate, everything the computer needs to get going again is held on the Hard Drive, so it takes a while longer for the data to move from the Drive into the RAM.

Hopefully 5 minutes is a bit of an exaggeration, it shouldn't take that long unless you are doing other things while the computer is waking from Hibernation that would slow down the process.

Try turning off hybrid sleep.

Turn Off Hybrid Sleep in Windows 7 — MAXIMUMpcguides – Windows 7 tips, tricks, help, and how-to guides

Thanks for all the suggestions. It appears to be using sleep and not hibernate, and it looks like hybrid sleep was already turned off (both cases). But I did try to alter some power settings to see if it would alleviate the problem. And maybe I am exaggerating the 5 minutes . But 2-3? Just means a lot of sitting around waiting. It's like the GPS I got for my car, it takes 1.5-2 minutes to acquire a satellite, so I get in the car to punch in the address and I have to sit there and wait.

I guess I wasn't making myself clear to some - yes it SAYS 85% or higher, but it's sluggish and the harddrive is doing something (running up and down the stairs??) so I believe the 85% is misleading (or else RAM activity is low but some other activities are high).

Thanks -

B

Lets try to diagnose with a clean boot
How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7