Standby Problems - blank screen after standby

Hey Guys-

I did a quick search and look around the web and turned up empty on this question. Maybe you guys can spread some light on it.

I recently bought a 80GB Hitatchi 7200RPM hard drive for my laptop. I installed it, installed Windows XP Home on it, and everything was working just peachy. However I eventually (a few weeks down the road) attempted to put the computer in Standby Mode, but now after I recover from Standby all I get is a blank screen. I believe Windows is working in the background but I can't see anything so I end up having to do a force shutdown and restart (by holding the power button).

It didn't used to do this on the previous hard drive (80GB 5400RPM). Any ideas if the new hard drive is the problem or what else could be doing it?

Thanks!
-Eric

 

Well it appears that after I resume from StandBy that I briefly can quickly see the "Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to unlock computer" screen (I use the old login prompt for better security). However after seeing this, in like a split-second it goes away and all that remains on is the monitor's backlight. Otherwise the display goes completely blank. Any ideas?

-Eric

 

This does not help solve my issue. Standby worked 100% of the time before and just now it started not functioning (after switching out the hard drives).

Please keep your opinions on Microsoft to yourself as they do not help me solve this problem.

-Eric

 

I would expect that the BIOS is identifying the new drive as the old one. [Although they are both 80GB they will have a different number of Cylinders, Sectors and Heads.] You will need to get the new hard drive identified correctly.

You could go into the BIOS/startup configuration settings and look for any settings related to the HDD. There may be a setting/menu to "identify the hard drive ". It may be better to check in the User Guide or there may be a (service) manual at the Laptop manufacturer's website that tells you about the BIOS settings.

Usually the BIOS is set for Quick Boot or Quick POST, it just uses previously saved information about the hardware. If you cannot find a setting/s related specifically to the hard drive, look for one that bypasses a full system check at startup (it may include the term "Quick ") and disable it. When the system is working correctly, you should be able re-enable it.

If you have trouble finding the information, search at the laptop manufacturer's website for instructions on how to replace the HDD.

If you used Windows to make the partition/s on the HDD, the partition information may be wrong. Run Error Checking (chkdsk) on the drive/s, see Help and Support. You may need to remake the partitions and install Windows again, in which case, I would use the Hitachi drive setup utility to make the partitions (look in the HDD downloads at Hitachi).

Matt

 

I have had the Registry key for mounted devices cause problems (not your type however) and have fixed them by deleting everything in the key except the default value. It will recreate the necessary data upon next boot.

That key is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

FYI, I quit using standby mode when it became apparent that it was putting my data at risk.

 

I went into the BIOS and checked the HDD Model # that was registered with the device. I then checked that against the sticker that was on the outside of the new hard-drives packaging case and they matched. This would mean that the BIOS is identifying with my new hard drive. I also noticed that with my BIOS (PhoenixBIOS) it does not give the option for a "Quick Boot" or to even skip POST checking.

Any other ideas?

Thanks!!
-Eric

 

Another thing I just thought of:

I somewhat recently fully encrypted my entire hard drive with TrueCrypt. Could this be causing problems with Standby mode?

 

From what I know , encrypting system files is a no-no.

 

Let's forget about the file system encryption for right now (because TrueCrypt advocates a full-system encryption; it is actually one of the main features of their software) and work on trying to think of other things that could be causing this. Any ideas?

Thanks!
-Eric

 

I don't get the feeling this is related, but, this hotfix came across my desk this morning When you try to put a Windows XP-based computer into hibernation or into standby, the computer stops responding.

 

That really got my hopes up and I applied it and tried Standby again, but to no avail. Event Viewer isn't helping me out much either (it isn't logging anything related to crashes that I can see of).

I feel like we're exhausting every lead.

Any more ideas? =P

Thanks!
-Eric

 

Anybody else..? I still haven't found a fix for this.