Solved Laptop shuts down randomly or freezes while in sleep mode

[emaraszek]

Recently I've noticed that my laptop has been shutting itself down after I put it to sleep. Usually when I'm about to call it a night, I put it to sleep as well. Sometimes when I wake up in the morning I see that it's shut down so I have to turn it back on. Then I see a warning that it was shutdown improperly.

I have run memory and processor tests and neither have come up with any issues. My latest theory was that iTunes was causing the issue. I use an airport express router which allows me to use AirPlay to stream from iTunes to my stereo. I was under the impression that this could be the issue because I noticed a correlation, so I began quitting iTunes before I put the machine to sleep. This seemed to fix the issue but a similar issue has returned. Although this doesn't happen as frequently, sometimes when I put the system to sleep it takes a long time or just freezes up. Also sometimes after the delay it will sleep only for a few seconds before waking itself back up.

I have no idea what to check at this point. The last thing I did to it was upgrade it to an SSD in mid-December of 2011. Before that I upgraded the RAM in the summer of 2011 but that's it. It's pretty heavy (Alienware m15x) so it sits in my desk for the most part and I use my iPad instead during my classes.

If needed, I can upload any crash info as requested. The system specs are what I have listed as my configuration

 

[writhziden]

Shutdowns during sleep are usually blue screen crash related and specifically 0x9f. Try updating the airport express router drivers as they may be the culprit if they were in the past through iTunes. If they are already up to date, re-install them using the following procedure in case they are corrupted.

1. Click Start Menu
2. Right Click My Computer/Computer
3. Click Manage
4. Click Device Manager from the list on the left
5. Find the device you are trying to uninstall by expanding the appropriate set of devices
6. Right click the device
7. Click Uninstall (do not click OK in the dialog box that pops up after hitting Uninstall)
8. Put a tick in Delete driver software for this device (if this option is available, otherwise just hit OK) and hit OK
9. Restart your computer
10. Install the latest driver for the device once Windows starts.

Alternatively:

1. Login as an adminstrative user.
2. Click Start Menu
3. Click Control Panel
4. Click Hardware and Sound
5. Click Device Manager (the last link under Devices and Printers)
6. Find the device you are trying to uninstall by expanding the appropriate set of devices
7. Right click the device
8. Click Uninstall (do not click OK in the dialog box that pops up after hitting Uninstall)
9. Put a tick in Delete driver software for this device (if this option is available, otherwise just hit OK) and hit OK
10. Restart your computer
11. Install the latest driver for the device once Windows starts.

Also, please follow the http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/96879-blue-screen-death-bsod-posting-instructions.html instructions in case there are blue screen crashes occurring. You may not see the crashes if the system is waking from sleep most to run a scheduled task and then trying to enter back into sleep mode or crashing during the call to wake.

 

[emaraszek]

Thanks for the response.

I looked and couldn't find any airport express related drivers (even after showing hidden devices)

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the device but it's basically just a normal router that also has an auxiliary jack for streaming media from itunes to a stereo. It does have an application that manages the network settings but that seems to be up to date. Also the firmware for the router itself is up to date.

I did update the airport express firmware from 7.6 to 7.6.1 last week and it has crashed less frequently since then but that could just be coincidental.

Yesterday I ran a thorough check disk of my hard drive which took about a half hour to complete. I didn't watch it the whole time but so far nothing has gone wrong and I've put the computer to sleep a couple times today.

If this incident doesn't repeat itself within the next couple weeks I'll consider it resolved.

Again, thanks for the help. I'll be sure to keep this thread updated

 

[writhziden]

Thanks for posting back your steps. Appreciate the update and promise for further updates. Best wishes the steps provide more stability during sleep cycles!

 

[emaraszek]

So far so good, no sleep issues since my last post on this thread. I haven't tried leaving iTunes connected to AirPlay and putting the laptop to sleep but I will later today in order to isolate the issue.

 

[writhziden]

Alright, sounds good. Post back after testing with iTunes.

 

[emaraszek]

Well I can confirm that leaving iTunes open and connected to AirPlay will freeze the machine if I put it to sleep. I can assume that after being frozen for a while the computer will shut itself down thus causing the improper shutdown warning

 

[writhziden]

See if the router has a support site to post the issue on a forum or e-mail the company to notify them of the issue. Also, see if AirPlay has a support site to post the issue on a forum or e-mail the company to notify them of the issue.

 

[emaraszek]

I started a thread on the apple support site, let's see what they come up with

 

[writhziden]

Look forward to finding out what they say. Thanks for keeping us posted.


Any news from Apple support for AirPlay?

 

[emaraszek]

No replies to the thread within the Apple support community yet. Here is the link:

https://discussions.apple.com/message/17715418#17715418

I've just been closing iTunes before putting it to sleep and haven't had a problem in the past few weeks

 

[emaraszek]

I'm just going to classify this as an Apple issue that they fail to acknowledge. I actually lost this router while moving so I no longer have to worry about this issue I guess