Sometimes Have to Reboot From Sleep

Occasionally when I've been away from the computer for a short time and it goes into sleep mode (it`s set for 15 minutes), I can't bring up the display simply by hitting a key. I have to shut it down and restart. The boot button on the console will still be lit and I have to shut it down before I reboot. This probably happens about 30% of the time. The other 70% it comes back up with a key touch.

Change your power options settings.

Vista SP1 can be awakened from sleep with mouse movement. To use key to awake set power button to hibernate, sleep button to sleep...

When you want to wake from sleep, push in power button on keyboard/tower.

Push and release of the power button wakes/places system in hibernation. Holding power button in shuts down system.

rive0108 said:

Change your power options settings.

Vista SP1 can be awakened from sleep with mouse movement. To use key to awake set power button to hibernate, sleep button to sleep...

When you want to wake from sleep, push in power button on keyboard/tower.

Push and release of the power button wakes/places system in hibernation. Holding power button in shuts down system.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll try that.

1)I have a similar problem, sometimes when I wake from sleep, the USB mouse doesn't work, so I have to reboot.

2) I also noticed I could not download pics from my camera via USB cable after reviving from sleep, and I had to reboot

3) I also have a problem with my Norton Save & Restore on my Raid 1 array. I schedule backup times in Norton S & R, but they never run when the computer is sleeping.

I am a newbie at Vista, so any help would be appreciated. I have read the sleep tutorials, but they all seem to involve getting the computer to sleep or not waking up too early. My problems seem to be incorrect function after a wakeup, and the backups not working on schedule. ( They work fine if I run them manually)

I have a brand new Dell XPS 420, Quad core 9400, 4 gig mem, Dell Datasafe 2 X 500gig hard drives in mirror mode.

You're lucky, more than once I have had to upplug it to do a restart since the reset button became extinct.

When dormant for a longer time, system may take a few secs to fully wake up, something to do with some kind of "circuit". Just wake the PC, go to fridge for a beer or to BR or call Mom...say hello "just because", if she asks. Then get back to your PC and see if it's fully awake.

If multi-tasking before napping, some windows may not function normally, but as long as any window is normal...your PC is OK...sometimes it's the other guys who are not normal after sleep or hibernation...their formatting may need up-grading, NOT your PC.

coolnewyorker:
Thanks. I did notice that sometimes if I waited long enough ( trip to fridge) it sometimes worked.

I gave up on sleep. It would not do my automatic backups when sleeping ( that may be obvious to some, but I'm new to Vista, and I didn't understand what sleep really was). I now just let the screen and hard drives shut down after 20 minutes, don't use sleep, and everything works great. I'm not interested in "power savings" which would maybe save me the price of a beer once a month.

ps I found a great program on this forum for resizing pics like the XP Powertoys. It is simple , with no picture editing functions outside of resize, and it works even better than the XP version as you can send to a different folder. It's free at

Windows Vista Image Resizer PowerToy Replacement for Windows XP Image Resizer PowerToy | Prish Image Resizer