How to track down hang-on-standby issues?

Question

My windows laptop has started having problems when I put it in sleep mode or to hibernate it. Normally when I put it in sleep mode it works for a few second, the screen goes black and then a second or so later the power light goes amber. But now after the screen goes black the system just stays in the condition forever (hours). Some times there is intermittent disk activity and sometimes there isn't. Something similar happens on hibernate but it locks up with the screen still showing stuff.

I don't think I have installed anything in that last few weeks and this cropped up in the last few days. The last thing I know I installed was Skype and I did once or twice see a problem like this just after that but it seemed to be fixed by setting Skype to offline and now even turning it all the way off doesn't have any effect.

Does anyone know of a way to find what is stopping windows from going into sleep mode?

Answer 1

Some laptops don't like sleep mode. They might have once, but then Windows Updates changed something and now they don't. Anyway, hibernate mode may be a better alternative, since it doesn't require power (standby mode does require power).
Right-click on the desktop. Select Properties. Click the Screen Saver tab. Click the Power Settings button. Click the hibernate tab. Allow hibernation. Click the advanced tab Set it to hibernate when you press the sleep button or close the laptop.

Notes: You should do a complete restart at least once a week to clear out memory. If your computer won't turn on: Take out the battery Unplug the power This may sound funny, but now press the power button for a few seconds. This drains out any remaining memory. Put it all back together and power up.