E6400 freezes after idling

Hi guys,

don't know if others had this same problem already. I've disabled sleep and hibernate and such and only set the display to turn off after 10 min. Pretty much every time the laptop is frozen when i start using it again. Sometimes it takes a while and it's usable again but mostly it just stays that way and i have to do a hard reboot

any ideas / suggestions? All is welcome!
Using all the latest drivers, BIOS etc.

 

There was a time when the webcam driver would prevent sleep / hibernation, but I'm short of suggestions as to what may stop the computer waking up. Are you getting a blank display or a display that shows no response to user input?

John

 

No response, sometimes it also tells me the display driver isn't responding and has been restarted. It seems pretty random. The display message occurs with both the drivers Dell provides and the latest WHQL ones from nVidia
Could it be something with the HDD maybe? It's still making weird noises when idling WD3200BEKT

 

also...something else looks odd (because my M4400 doesn't have it)
In device manager under IDE ATA/ATAPI-controllers, the following are listed:
ATA channel 0
ATA channel 1
Intel (R) ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller
Ricoh SD/MMC Host Controller
Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller

In my M400 only the Intel and Ricoh controller are visible. The two ATA were there before i installed the IMSM driver but then they vanished from the list. On the E6400 they're still there?

 

Are both computers using the same HDD access mode in the BIOS?

John

 

Yup, both are in AHCI. i think there might be something wrong with my HDD. When i run the WD lifeguard diagnositcs it immediatly gives me an error "Cable Test::Write sector error!"
Ï'm picking up my eSATA enclosure to check if it gives the same error if i take it out of the laptop. Other than that it does still make noises at intervals when idling but i don't notice any problems while writing/reading. Any other ways to test?

 

1. I'm running my E6400 in IRRT mode and the only device under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers is the Ricoh SD/MMC controller. The HDD is under SCSI/RAID controllers. (Windows XP).

2. Can you disable any time-out on the HDD activity so that it keeps spinning.

3. Uninstall the Intel Matrix Storage software.

4. Make sure you have the latest firmware for the optical drive and also the latest BIOS (A19).

John

 

1. That's because of IRRT indeed, i have no SCSI/RAID controllers in device manager at all. This goes for both my M4400 and E6400

2. All time-outs, power savings etc. are disabled.

3. I don't have the software installed, just the driver...both laptops.

4. Running latest BIOS.

I tested my HDD in an ext. eSATA enclosure and got the same "error 11 CABLE TEST::write sector error" so called WD and they're sending me a new drive I'll do a clean install when i have the new HDD iso a clone so i'll see what happens then

edit:
I reinserted the old HDD and the device manager looks the same. I'm running in IRRT now and there are no SCSI/RAID controllers listed.
IDE ATA/ATAPI-controllers looks the same except the Intel ICH8M-E/ICH9M is no longer there but is listed under "storage controller"

btw...i also have question marks for:
PCI Simple communications controller
PCI-serial port

I have all possible drivers installed so no idea what these can be

 

Ok....thought i'd run the WD diagnostic tool on my M4400 just to see what it comes up with there. I've had the same HDD in it for over a year or so (Seagate) and never had any issues. The WD tool gives me the same error!! How is that possible? I'll call WD to see what's up with their app but i probably has nothing to do with the idle issue

sooooo.....any other thoughts?

 

Do you have DCP installed ? I had many problems with DCP.