pc refuses to wake after sleep

[hondavee4]

hi, ive had my pc 3 years now and up untill xmas all was sweet as a nut but then it started to refuse to wake from sleep around 50% of the time..

i use sleep mainly so i can start it from my iphone and play itunes without having to go upstairs and wait for it to boot and as i say up untill xmas all was well

ive done virus checks, spybot and malwarebytes but nothing solves it

i did take the case panel off and noticed the graphic card didnt seem to be working (fan was stationary) and 2 red lights were on

normal boot from cold is fine (if a little slow)

any help would be greatly appreciated

thanks

ps, this booting from sleep is getting worse all the time and i would guess its around 75% failure right now

if this helps if i put it to sleep and try and awaken straight away its 100% failure, and if i leave it for 24 hours its the same, try and boot after a few hours has a better chance of booting

 

[Tekno Venus]

Hi hondavee4,

Please run the SFC file checker (the sfc /scannow command) 3 times and post the last log file here once you have completed it for me. Follow the directions here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

Stephen

 

[Tekno Venus]

Also, regarding your graphics card, when you resume from sleep do the fans etc. come on or does it just not do anything? If it comes on but without the screen, it is a graphics card issue.

EDIT - One last thing, look at this tutorial. http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/63567-power-options-sleep-mode-problems.html It works the same for windows 7

 

[hondavee4]

hi stephen, have done that and posted the log...is it ok to close the elevated prompt now?

the graphic card does nothing, the pc seems to boot and might be running but i cant see anything...

when booting from cold as you would expect the graphic card fan fires into life but from sleep it does nothing and 2 little red lights appear....

 

[Tekno Venus]

Yeah, you can close the prompt now. I'll take a look through the log later but in the meantime, have a read of the tutorial I posted. If that doesn't help, I have some more ideas. To be honest anyway, I didn't expect the SFC to fix any issue, it was just a starting check.

Stephen.

 

[Tekno Venus]

Ok, I've looked through the log and all is ok there.

In terms of your graphics card, are the drivers up to date? If not, please update them using the official drivers from the AMD/ATI site.

Stephen

 

[hondavee4]

hi, drivers are up todate, that was the 1st thing i done, i took the card out and had a look but there was anything obvious so i put it back in

the power cable was marked up as PCI-E2, i have another that says PCI-E1, have plugged that in and will give that a try...

i took a pic of the 2 lights but not sure if that can help..

cheers

 

[Tekno Venus]

Ok, this is definatly a graphics card issue. Do the lights have numbers next to them as each on will signify a fault. I have a feeling it is a power issue but it could be a mobo issue. One of the lights (it's either called D15 or D1601) indicates a power issue. If this one is lit, you may need a new PSU.

 

[hondavee4]

ok, i still have the original hdd that i bought with the pc, something was never quite right with the install of win 7 on that drive so for that last 2 and a half years i have used the drive i have now, so i swapped them over knowing that the last time it ran it used to sleep ok

i turned it on and it started ok, waited a few mins and put it to sleep

on restart it refused, 2 lights and nothing
so i guess that does indeed rule out any posible software issues (i think)

so the main suspects are
1, Be Quiet! Straight Power 650W Power Supply
2, Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 AMD 770 (Socket AM3/AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
3, Asus ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail

nothing cheap to replace but ill do it if i knew which one was troublesome...is there any test i can do?

 

[Tekno Venus]

Ok then,
I've spoken to some of the senior members of the forum and had some advice.

To test the PSU you will need a multimeter. I found this decent tutorial that should help you: How Do I Test the Power Supply in My Computer?

For the graphics card, prime95 will help identify any issues. See here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/100352-hardware-stress-test-prime95.html.

As for the mobo, I have no idea how to test it.

Stephen

 

[hondavee4]

hi stephen, thanks for all the trouble your going too..

i had a thought earlier that made me even more confused...

its looking like the graphic card is responsible but earlier i realised that even if the card fails then why am i not able to control itunes via my iphone...

it says cannot find my library as if the pc wasnt on so from that i am guessing that allthough it might seem to have booted then perhaps it actually hasnt

would a failed gc cause that? if no then its something else...i was just about to buy a new card too

 

[Tekno Venus]

That's a good point. Are you able to test the PSU like I suggested? Because if that's going, then the whole thing would make sense.

 

[hondavee4]

Not easily I don't think... This has me totally baffled

Will do some more research but I suspect a format and start again maybe on the cards

 

[Tekno Venus]

Not to worry. I don't think a clean install will solve the issue but it might be worth a shot. Before you do that, a stress test using prime95 will see if there are any graphics card or PSU issues. That might be a bit easier than the multimeter method.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/100352-hardware-stress-test-prime95.html

Stephen

 

[hondavee4]

hi stephen


ok, i have now installed another graphic card and gone back to my old hdd

still the problem persists...

at least its narrowing it down now

incidentally the nvidia card i now have has cured the problem i had with the old hdd i took out because i couldnt fix it before...very bizzare (see my previous posts from a few years back)

but this is so frustrating now

 

[Tekno Venus]

Ok, so you now have an NVIDIA card rather than the ATI and the problem still perstists am I correct? If so, then I think its probably the motherboard. If you can please run the Prime 95 test as stated in my previous post as if it fails or the computer turns itself off, its a PSU issue. If it reports no issues and runs fine, its a motherboard issue.

Stephen