HP Laptop Will Not Resume after Hibernation.

HP Laptop Will Not Resume after Hibernation - ETA: Sleep affected too.

I've recently encountered a problem on trying to take my laptop out of Hibernate mode. The machine hibernates normally, but when attempting to resume it will display a black screen with a flashing cursor in the top right-hand corner, then get stuck there. At the moment this is more an irritation than a serious issue as manually turning the machine off and on again at the power button offers me the choice between trying again and deleting the hibernation file's data and rebooting as normal. If I choose the first option the computer will lock in the same place as before; the second option has it booting as normal.

Can anyone please help me work out what might be causing this? I've tried troubleshooting the problem myself but my limited understanding of how my laptop actually functions means there's only so far I can go by myself. Is there any way I can go about fixing this or will I need to get someone to take a look at it?

ETA: I just tried waking the computer from Sleep only to find that it had a similar problem there as well. No flashing cursor, but the screen just went black and the machine wouldn't respond until I turned it off and back on.

It may not be hibernation that is the cause of the problem and I'd be inclined to try a hard reset first.

Disconnect the power cord and remove the battery.

Press down the power button for a least 30 seconds to drain any residual power.

Now put the battery back, reconnect the power cord and restart your laptop.

I'd also be inclined to go to HP Support and see if your laptop is subject to a battery recall as some models have had problems that have necessitated a replacement battery.

I probably should have mentioned that the second time this happened the laptop was running on AC power - would this make any difference? I don't tend to run it off batteries all that often as it's basically a home PC. Sorry if this is a stupid question, I really don't know much about computers at all.

In that case, dispense with hibernation and use sleep instead.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/778-power-plan-settings-change.html

Mmm. How coincidently, I built a PC for a friend and we are having exactly the same problems, but using the SLEEP command. I'm trying to troubleshoot this where I can.....but so far I haven't had any luck tracking down the problem.

I get the same two options after cold booting (having to turn off power at the wall socket) once I get the flasing cursor.

Regards,
Golden

At least it's not just me who's having this issue, then - that's something.

I changed my power plan settings to disable hibernation in the hope that'll fix the problem - hopefully it will and it'll just be a case of stopping using Hibernate. I haven't tried using Sleep yet, so I don't know if it has the same problem there. I'll give it a go and report back.

ETA: Just tested this quickly. Waking from sleep, so far, seems to be working normally.

Glad to hear it.

Please keep us posted as any solution is always of help to other people who encounter the same problem.

You can, if you wish, disable hibernation permanently.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920730

Just click the appropriate link to run the Fix-it.

Hi,

I found that sometimes waking from Sleep works, othertimes not - I haven't nailed it down yet. In my friends case this is a desktop system I built him and its pretty high-spec.

If I work this out I'll post here, but suggestions for troubleshooting from others are welcome.

Regards,
Golden

Disabling Hibernate is not solving the problem. Hibernate like Sleep are modern features which should work seamlessly in Win7 and not be avoided.

Most times this is caused by the Display driver. Check optional Windows Updates for any newer drivers, then the SUpport Downloads webpage for your HP model for newer Display driver.

You can also check the Performance log which often logs the cause of these hangs at the moment they happen: troubleshooting steps

Even if all other options are exhausted you'll always be able to resolve this with the tool the Pro's use to trace the failure: Gathering a Startup, Shutdown, Sleep, Hibernate, or Reboot Trace - Windows 7 Forums

The issue remains. Just tried sleeping the computer for a half hour and when I came back the fans started, the power button lit up, but the screen wouldn't turn on. The Wireless light was also not on. I waited it out for a while but ultimately the only thing that I could do was turn off the machine and start again.

I've run a check for updates and it says there aren't any that need to be applied - I have the computer set up to receive recommended updates as well, so I don't think it can be that I've missed one. I'm downloading the latest version of the AMD graphics driver as I type, but if installing that doesn't fix the problem I'll have pretty much reached the limit of my understanding of what to do about this.

The major problem I'm encountering here is that I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a pro as far as it comes to how computers work. I tried reading the tutorials on boot traces and troubleshooting that Gregrocker mentioned and I don't have the first idea what I'm being told to do, still less how it's supposed to help. It's all going completely over my head and I don't understand how to even go about doing most of these things. Finally, I'm really worried about inadvertently causing more problems than I might cure - which seems highly probable to me since I don't understand what I'm looking at.

Please, please, can someone help? I can't deal with a computer I cannot suspend at all and I can't go about trying to fix things if I don't understand what I'm reading. The computer's not quite a year old and is still under warranty - might it make more sense to take it back to the store and ask them for help, given what an absolute novice I am?


ETA: I have hibernated the computer successfully twice after installing the AMD driver update, once with only background programs running, once with background programs and my web browser. Obviously, I'm not sure if this has actually fixed it or not as it's only been a few minutes. I'll report back if I encounter any further problems.

Are you checking optional Windows Updates where drivers are delivered?

Where did you get the AMD driver update? Sounds promising. You can test sleep by setting it at 1 minute in Power options, then set Hibernate at 2 minutes. Test repeatedly.

If necessary to run the boot trace you can upload its file to a file server and our expert Cluberti will analyze it here for you. You have access to Skydrive to upload large files with every Windows Live ID.

Instead of two paragraphs about how helpless you are it works much better to dig into the steps and then ask back any questions to actually get them done?