M17x Hibernate/Sleep Problem?

Hello everyone! I'm posting on behalf of a friend of mine that seems to be having a problem with his M17x coming out of sleep/hibernate.

I'll get more details from him if needed, but has anyone ever heard of something similar to this? It sounds like whenever he trys to take it out of Hibernate or Sleep, he just gets a black screen.

Any ideas as to what is going on?

Thanks very much!

 

If he's running in Hybrid SLI mode, he should try hitting FN+F7 once or twice. Most Nvidia display drivers versions have problems with waking from Sleep/Hibernation when Hybrid SLI is enabled.
Also, he may want to try different drivers. The 186.82 ones from Windows Update or the latest official 195.62 should get rid of the problem.

 

Sweet, thanks! I'll go give him this info asap and see if he can get it fixed.

Thanks again!

 

There could be other sources of problems, such as erased hibernate file. To restore, check out laptop won't resume from sleep

 

My wife's brand new M17x is having the same (or very similar) problem.

After opening the lid the system wakes *almost* all the way up but the screen remains black. We've updated to the latest official Nvidia drivers and hitting FN+F7 doesn't do anything.

However, hitting the power button will put the system back to sleep and hitting it again will cause it to wake all the way up.

After waking the windows for any apps that were open when the lid was closed are now smaller (e.g. as if the display properties had been changed to a smaller resolution).

Anyone else see this or have suggestions for a fix?

Thanks!

 

The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is a bad driver install. Try to remove the current display driver properly and try 186.82. Those were the first drivers that fixed the sleep issue you seem to have. And some think they are the most reliable drivers so far. (I use them too)

 

Clueless noob question -- what is the "proper" way to remove the drivers? I tried going through the display control "remove driver" but after it rebooted (now in vga mode) the system seemed to install a default driver.

Then, after installing the 186.82 drivers things got worse as there was a black screen all the time. Had to disable hybrid graphics to get the screen to display anything.

 

The safe and over the top way of getting rid of a driver:
1. Uninstall the driver as normal. If its a graphics driver this is easiest done by going to Device Manager -> Right click on graphics card -> Uninstall driver. Check the box asking to delete the files as well. Do this for the second graphics card too.
2. Reboot into safe mode. To get safe mode, hammer F8 (I think it's F8 for the M17x at least) as soon as you see the POST screen, then choose safe mode.
3. Go to Device Manager and make sure the drivers have uninstalled properly. It should instead show a 'standard' device of some sort. Do not worry if it states that it is not functioning properly.
4. Run a program called DriverSweeper (google for it) and get rid of any remnants of the driver.
5. Reboot (not into safe mode) and install the new driver as normal, rebooting after if necessary.

 

Jeebus, is that really necessary? I recently installed the 195 drivers for better CUDA support, and all I did was download the exe from Nvidia and run it. Seems to be working fine.

 

Somewhat mysteriously my wife's M17x is no longer having any sleep issues. The drivers don't seem to be the issue. Current theory is that the problem is related to the Windows Theme (display background images/wallpaper). Weird!!

 

The 'wake from sleep to a black screen' is an intermittent issue. If you are not seeing then great however I believe it will return. 186.82 and a couple of others have this issue resolved. I have yet to encounter the issue since moving to 186.82. Just a thought.

 

I have this same problem with my M17x but in addition my machine also wakes up on its own with the black screen, after about an hour or 2 of hibernation. Anyone else have this problem?

 

I have exactly the same issue with M15x, so its not about SLI, mine wakes up with blank screen too..

 

Correct, its a driver issue. Try a different driver.

 

I'm using Driver version 195.62 so maybe i'll try version 186.82. Also I have the 9400 enabled so maybe i'll try disabling it.

 

Switching to 186.82 has fixed half of the problem. If the laptop is put to sleep for less than two hours it will wake fine. However if kept asleep more than 2 hours it will wake on its own but will have a black screen and be unresponsive. Anyone else have any luck with this issue?

 

If you have not already done so, try performing a clean uninstall of the NV Display driver and then install the 186.82 after.

I have no issues with system sleep on the 186.82 and have had the system asleep for 6 hours or more. The process I use is here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5699970#post5699970

 

Sounds like there is a problem with hibernate, and not with suspend. check out the possible solution to the hibernate problem here: http://annoyances-resolved.blogspot.com/2009/09/vista-sleep-problem-laptop-not-waking.html

 

When you guys say black screen what do you mean?
when i open the lid and the system wakes up from sleep the computer turns on and the screen lights up but remains black with only the mouse visible. since i live in with roommates i need to have a password so to get rid of the black i simply login by hitting enter typing my pass and then enter again and it usually works sometimes i have to do it 2-3 times.

is this the same issue?

 

It happened to both my AW laptops ages ago, it is a driver issue.

I'm unsure what drivers to update too though, I don't have the cards you guys have.

 

If you all been playing with the Bios With the overclocking Feature that could be what giving you the issues. I also Had the Black screen. Moving the bios back to out of box spec. fix mine.

 

Nah its not Bio, the only thing i touched in bios was the AC adapter warning. hated that Beep sound still happened even when i set it back. Ive updated and tried almost everything that i could find and it still happens once occasionally. Lol its kinda good kinda not, at least people cant see the length of my password and try an guess it. They try to open the screen and are greeted with what appears to be a broken paperweight (I scan a lot of pictures and the room gets hot so theirs a fan on me)

 

same here on my m17x with dual 4870s.
can only see the mouse cursor when it wakes up! blank screen... help!

 

What video drivers do you have?

 

Im using the 10.3 driver

 

same here. 10.3 Catalyst

 

My new M17x-R2 system also only wakes to a black screen from hibernation. That's with Catalyst 10.3 (Mobility version).
What happens is after the Resuming Windows screen, the screen goes black briefly with a white cursor flashing at the top left (DOS-style) and then the screen appears to shut off completely. All I can do at this point is shut the system down hard by holding the power button and restart the system deleting the hibernation data.
Is there anyone that doesn't have this problem with the M17x-R2? If so, which version of drivers are you using (the exact one) and did you do a clean install of the drivers (including cleaning old driver remains with Driver Sweeper or a similar program?

I've tried clean installs of the ATi Catalyst Mobility 10.3 drivers including using driver sweeper to get rid of driver remains. I've reinstalls a couple of times with no luck.

 

Well, I really don't know what's causing the problem. I've tried various Catalyst drivers and none help.
The system resumes from hibernation properly around 1 of 8 times for me, no matter what I try.
I'm beginning to think it might be some kind of BIOS problem.

 

Just to let you know, I've solved my problem. The Free Fall Sensor driver was the culprit. After uninstalling it, my M17x-R2 wakes from hibernation perfectly, but with that driver I got a black screen almost every single time.

 

how to unistall this?