laptop hangs intermittently when I close the lid

[Qvalff8]

Hi guys and gals,

I've had my gateway laptop for a little over a year, and I've been to this site off and on during that whole time. Now I think I have a problem that might need active help

I usually close the lid and the computer goes to sleep or hibernates, but for the past few weeks I occasionally (~10% of the time) get a hung computer (dark screen, no buttons do anything, except sometimes the play,stop,next, eject buttons blink, and occasionally eject the CD drive {my laptop is a gateway ID49, and has these touch sensitive buttons near the top right, no matter})

anyway, I ran sfc/ scannow in safemode, but it didn't find anything. Should I try it in non-safemode? do I need to run it three times?

The computer hasn't BSOD'd, it just hangs up, locks up, or crashes...

What else should I try?

Thanks,

Val

 

[braddersz]

Hey.

No, you do not need to run a SFC\ Scan now 3 times.

If i read your post right, You don't shut your laptop down, you simply close the lid, Letting it go into "Standby mode " so when you return, you can just open the lid, And off you go.

How often does the laptop get shut down properly?.

 

[roy69]

What is the model of your gateway laptop?

 

[Qvalff8]

Yes, I close the lid to suspend. Usually I restart/shutdown about once per week, but since the system locks up so often these past few weeks, it star ts up new about once per day...

My laptop is an ID49C 04h. It's a cheapo but hasn't given me any trouble for 14 months..

Thanks,

Val

 

[gregrocker]

If you have the laptop set to Sleep when the lid is closed, then you have a Sleep issue to troubleshoot: Sleep Mode Problems

This is almost always the Display driver, so update it or try another until Sleep performs correctly.

Is this the original factory preinstalled Win7, as most tech enthusiasts would never run such a corrupt bloated install but instead get the superior Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 to enjoy Win7's native performance.

 

[braddersz]

You should always shut down daily, to allow updates, and memory cache cleaning.

 

[gregrocker]

Actually if you use hibernate then you'll know exactly when to Shut Down because Updates requiring it will be cued on your Shut Down button, or more likely you'll be prompted from the System Tray to restart.

I average shutting down once every three days, but hibernate about a dozen times in between.

 

[Qvalff8]

I will run through those steps in sleep mode problems thoroughly, but a quick glance showed my settings for sleep/hibernation were fine (am I allowed to sleep after t= 10 minutes, and hibernate after 30?)

Is there a specific post to follow on how to update display drivers? I went through a windows driver updates, but it says I have up to date drivers. I remember checking a few months ago whether there were new ones, and intel has much more recent updates on its site, but gateway/acer hasn't published anything new since ~1.5 years. Is there a way to use intel's updated 'intel(R) HD graphics' drivers or must I stick with gateway's: Gateway Support - Downloads & Support Documents - Notebook / ID Series / ID49C (I'm not sure that link works, but I typed gateway support into google, notebook ID series, ID49c to get there) The link shows drivers from either 2010 or 2011...

Thanks for your help!

Val

 

[gregrocker]

I would try all drivers until you find one which allows it to sleep and hibernate correctly. Those settings should work. To test them you can set Sleep for 1 minute and Hibernate for 2. Be sure to set them back afterward.

Besides the sleep troubleshooting steps I posted, if nothing else works I would use the tool which the pros use for Gathering a Startup, Shutdown, Sleep, Hibernate, or Reboot Trace - Windows 7 Forums

 

[Qvalff8]

Okay, it seems that the driver for the ViewSonic external monitor I'm working on was causing the issue. Thanks for the headsup on the those drivers being the usual suspects. Is there a way to automatically check all the drivers for updates? is that what windowsUpdate for?

I will try suspending a few more times and will then mark this topic as solved...

I'm also intrigued by the clean crapware free install. I may do that some time in the future.

thanks for all your help!

Val

 

[gregrocker]

Yes, turn on Automatic Updates, enable Automatically deliver drivers via Windows Update (Step 3)
then run all Important and Optional Updates with reboots to completion.

If your install is not close to these steps for getting a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 then I would do it over. If you're still running the bloated factory preinstall then you're overdue.

At the minimum I'd Clean Up Factory Bloatware

 

[AddRAM]

You can go into device manager and check for new driver updates on just about everything. But I always get video updates directly from the vendors website.

 

[Qvalff8]

All right, after a half a dozen suspends by closing lid, pushing the power button and sleep from the start menu, it successfully sleeps and reawakens! I'm very happy!

Val

 

[Qvalff8]

Hi again,

The problem has re-manifested itself. To recap: my laptop (gateway id49C) occasionally freezes with the monitor off (both external, and laptop screen) but the wifi and power lights on. No activity from HDD light. Last time, I did a few things at once (updated external LCD driver, went back one system restore point, sfc /scannow 'd, etc). Not very scientific, I know, but it worked. But now the problem has come back. This week, maybe 10% of the time I close the lid or press the power button to put it to sleep, it will lockup into this annoying state, and I have to hold power for 5 seconds to force it to turn off.

I think what fixed it last time is that I undid an update that had been causing the problems during the system restore. I think it might be an adobe flash or acrobat update... I'm reading through the system trace and sleep mode problems threads, but I already did most of those things last time. What do I need to do periodically to prevent this from happening?

Thanks for all your help so far!

Val

 

[gregrocker]

I'm sorry if I missed it but is this the corrupt Factory Preinstall, or have you already gotten the superior Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

And if so, how close did you come to getting a perfect install as detailed in the steps.

 

[Qvalff8]

I have not done a clean reinstall, still working with the included crapware, though I've always disabled as much as possible in msconfig startup... I guess I'm going to uninstall flash and see if it that solves the problem.

 

[Qvalff8]

Okay, uninstalling adobe seems to have done it, though I'm not sure why. I'm kind of skeptical that was it, but we'll see. Display drivers seem the most likely since it usually hangs when an external monitor (viewsonic or dell) is hooked up and I try to put it to sleep.

I ran the intel driver update utility and got this for the display adapter:
Product Detected

Intel® HD Graphics



Current Driver Installed

8.15.10.2119



A customized computer manufacturer driver is installed on your computer. The Intel Driver Update Utility is not able to update the driver. Installing a generic Intel driver instead of the customized computer manufacturer driver may cause technical issues. Contact your computer manufacturer for the latest driver for your computer

My CPU is a pentium P6100, which has HD graphics, but not HD2000 or 3000, I think

I'll try the drivers linked here to see if they work:
Where is the Intel Pentium with HD Graphics generic drivers




I also ran driver detective. It says I have 14 drivers out of date. But running driver update through device manager doesn't find anything (I think mouse and keyboard HID devices are most of the 14)

Is there a sticky post about updating drivers that I haven't found? Is there a quick way to do this other than device manager and right clicking on each of the 200 things in each of the sub menus?

Thanks for the help,

Val

 

[Qvalff8]

It is still doing the lockup on suspend (Sleep) every once in a while. I'm also got a lock up just now. It happend when I was returning from sleep. The laptop repowered, and displayed the current time, but then froze and nothing responded (mouse, keyboard, etc). Is there a way to look up what caused that?

Val

 

[Bristii]

During wakeup something is failing the power state here. Some program associated at startup or some third party service or some USB\PCI\PCIe device.
Remove items from startup. Remove all non-microsoft services. Update the device drivers for all USB\PCI\PCIe devices. Additionally dont allow sleep to use USB selective suspend (it will consume some extra power though)

 

[gregrocker]

Did you even bother to read Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 which explains how drivers are handled in Win7? If so then why would you use an XPired-era driver program? This is asking for trouble.

Check for a BIOS update on the PC or Mobo Support Download webpage.

Then follow the steps to get a perfect reinstall. The one you have now is the worst possible install from factory, and corrupt.