Can no longer hibernate in Windows 7

Good Afternoon,

Having spent ages 'googling', and trying different suggestions I thought it was high time I posted a query, in the hope that someone can offer some guidance before I go completely insane!

Basically my laptop will no longer switch to hibernate. In the past I would simply go to the Start Menu, select Hibernate and the laptop would go through the process, once all lights were off, and effectively 'shut down', I'd pop it away, until the next time I require it, when I would be where I left off.

For some reason though, hibernation has stopped working. The option is still there, and when I choose it the laptop will enter sleep mode (black screen), and sit there until I press a key, or touch the mouse-pad, when the laptop screen comes on and I will be at the log-on prompt. This happens either on battery or mains.

I have checked powercfg -energy and whilst after reading the energy-report.html file it shows some errors, none seem apparent to the hibernation. Of course I am happy to post the contents here if required for diagnosis.

I have 4Gb of RAM and my hiberfil.sys is just over 2.8Gb.

I have run SFC and no errors were returned. I have also done a full defrag of the C Drive and checked that the C Drive (with the OS) is the 'booted' active partition (which I know if would have been anyway!).

The Advanced Power Settings are:-

Sleep - Sleep After - On Battery - 10mins
Sleep - Sleep After - Plugged In - Never
Sleep - Allow Hybrid Sleep - On Battery - Off
Sleep - Allow Hybrid Sleep - Plugged In - Off
Sleep - Hibernate After - On Battery - 600mins
Sleep - Hibernate After - Plugged In - 600mins
Sleep - Allow Wake Timers - On Battery - Enable
Sleep - Allow Wake Timers - Plugged In - Enable

A Windows re-install is not an option as firstly I do not possess a Win 7 installation disk, and secondly I do not want to 'return to factory settings' and start all over again. I cannot 'System Restore' as I am unsure on what date it stopped working. There must be something somewhere which is stopping the blasted thing going into hibernation mode!

Can anyone offer any suggestions please?

Many thanks in advance.

Paul

Work through the same steps for Sleep Mode Problems - Vista Forums.

The settings are weird. The benefit of Hibernate is you can walk away from the PC and it will sleep within the period of time you'll likely come back (say 30 minutes) then Hibernate after its likely you won't come back soon (say 45-90 minutes). This saves your work to HD and shuts down but starts up much faster so it's a convenient way to walk away without worrying about Shut Down, or to use in place of Shut Down as you do.

I'd set timeout temporily to Sleep 1 minute and Hibernate 2 minutes to test it. It is working correctly only when it will time out.

The Display driver is the first suspect. Run your WIndows Updates after enabling Automatically get recommended drivers and updates for your hardware (Step 3). If an update isn't provide check the Support Downloads webpage for your model PC or device.

Many thanks for your help gregrocker,

gregrocker said:

Work through the same steps for Sleep Mode Problems - Vista Forums.

I have gone through these steps but hibernation still does not work.

The settings are weird. The benefit of Hibernate is you can walk away from the PC and it will sleep within the period of time you'll likely come back (say 30 minutes) then Hibernate after its likely you won't come back soon (say 45-90 minutes). This saves your work to HD and shuts down but starts up much faster so it's a convenient way to walk away without worrying about Shut Down, or to use in place of Shut Down as you do.

Rather than wait for the laptop to switch to hibernation mode I want to force it myself via the Start Menu.

The Display driver is the first suspect. Run your WIndows Updates after enabling Automatically get recommended drivers and updates for your hardware (Step 3). If an update isn't provide check the Support Downloads webpage for your model PC or device.

All drivers up to date and all windows updates are up to date as well.

Something is telling me that I am going to have to get a Windows 7 disk and perform a Repair Installation, but this is the absolute last resort.

Many thanks again for the suggestions, I will continue scratching my head...

Regards

Paul

Check with SFC /SCANNOW Command

I would disable and then re-enable Hibernation: Hibernate - Enable or Disable - Windows 7 Forums

Next try rolling back to last display driver where it worked or check if it does, then reinstall display driver.

SFC /Scannow has completed - Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

Have tried also disabling hibernation and re-enabling it.

Haven't changed the display driver since I bought the laptop, everything seems up to date

When did Hibernate last work? Do you have System Restore point before then?

pauljscott2003

Try this solution may be it will help you

- Click the Start button , and then type cmd in the Start Search box.

- Right-click on the Command Prompt, and then click Run as Administrator.

- When you are prompted by User Account Control, click Continue.

- At the command prompt, type powercfg.exe /hibernate on, and then press Enter.

- Type exit,

- Press Enter

- Close the Command Prompt window.

Best of luck...

gregrocker said:

When did Hibernate last work? Do you have System Restore point before then?

I do have, and use System Restore, however I clear the old System Restore points out after a while and to be honest I cannot for the life of me remember exactly when hibernation worked! Not helpful I know.

britny said:

pauljscott2003

Try this solution may be it will help you

- Click the Start button , and then type cmd in the Start Search box.

- Right-click on the Command Prompt, and then click Run as Administrator.

- When you are prompted by User Account Control, click Continue.

- At the command prompt, type powercfg.exe /hibernate on, and then press Enter.

- Type exit,

- Press Enter

- Close the Command Prompt window.

Best of luck...

Thanks for your reply, I have tried this several times before and the laptop still will not hibernate when I choose the option from the Start Menu.

pauljscott2003 said:

gregrocker said:

When did Hibernate last work? Do you have System Restore point before then?

I do have, and use System Restore, however I clear the old System Restore points out after a while and to be honest I cannot for the life of me remember exactly when hibernation worked! Not helpful I know.

Apportion as much space as you can for System Restore and don't delete the points and cut off a critical first line of defense if you have problems like these.

If in doubt restore to the oldest Restore Point. It will tell you what may have to be reinstalled so you can prepare. It's a small price to pay.