6024W - Hibernation problem

The problem of the 6x24W immediately resuming from hibernation has already been touched on in this thread which has a different title. Since I have just had an encounter with the immediate resume problem, I'm starting a new thread.

I had previously reported that disabling the TPM option in the BIOS will trigger immediate resume. Now, after a couple of nights when my 6024W has hibernated properly, last even it immediately work up again.

The computer appears to hibernate properly except that there are a couple of clunks from the optical drive, the lights go off for a couple of seconds, then they come on again, the Zepto splash screen says "resuming" and then the attached message is displayed.

What does "TCG: MA driver function call failed" mean? I don't normally see this message.

Last evening, I retried hibernation and the second time it works, however I have been trying again today and the notebook immediately resumes. I see three possibilities about the cause of this problem which, for me, seems to be happening after several successful hibernations :

1. It is related to the Turbo Memory module which I installed on Sunday

2. It is related to BIOS update 005

3. It is some other BIOS bug.

Whatever the cause, it is potentially dangerous because there is a short pause when the lights go off during which time the computer could be put in a bag.

John

 

I recently discovered that when my 6214W is in hibernation, I can wake it up by pressing any key on the keyboard. If I'm not mistaken, I could only waking it up by pressing the on/off button before installing the latest bios.

If the computer can go on by pressing any button on the keyboard, this could also become a problem since the screen might bend in and press a key while inside a bag or similar

EDIT: I just attempted to press the lid while being in hibernation, but it did not press any key

So nevermind

 

I have had one or two hibernation problems with my 6224W. Once it just showed a blank screen and a few other times everything has booted up OK, but then the keyboard refused to work. The keyboard problem has not recurred since I put a password on my profile.

I will monitor any future problems for any pattern.

 

At the moment I'm getting about a 50% chance of my computer staying in hibernation. I would like to know what "TCG: MA driver function call failed" means.

If the computer bounces out of hibernation the first time round then there seems to be a good chance that the second attempt will be successful.

The tell-tale characteristic is two clunks from the optical drive just as the computer is switching off. If this happens then the lights stay off for five seconds (time to put the computer in a bag) then it wakes up again and stops at the error message.

John

 

Google found this thread. Can someone tell me what it means?

Google has also turned up some documents from the TCG (Trusted Computing Group). One piece of text:

I have commented elsewhere that my 6024W mainboard appears to include a TPM module although there is no corresponding hardware on the outside. I am starting to wonder if the TPM is interfering with the hibernation. But why is it erratic? Last time around, my computer hibernated on the 3rd attempt. I'll try fiddling withe TPM settings in the BIOS (currently all on the dafaults).

John

 

Hi, the post is merely a question.
Translation: 'Does anyone know about the error message:"tcg: ma driver function call failed"? It appears in the BIOS at boot up'.

There have been no replies to his question, so can't help you there I'm afraid.

 

I think I can now answer the reason for the "TCG: MA driver function call failed".

It is caused if the TPM is enabled in the BIOS (under the security menu). I disabled the TPM and the message went away. However, this did not stop my problem of immediate resume from hibernation.

What I did notice, however, is that on one of the occasions when the computer bounced out of hibernation the fan reverted to the fast mode. I made six attempts to hibernate while the fan was in the fast mode and on each occasion the hibernation worked fine. That seems to be more than a coincidence! Normally for me, less than 50% of the hibernation attempts are successful.

However, I didn't like the noise and I have reset the BIOS again (and re-disabled the TPM).

Where's that next BIOS update with, I hope, a few less bugs?

John

 

An update:

I have banished the message "TCG: MA driver function call failed" by disabling the TPM support in the BIOS. Sensibly, this should be the BIOS default.

However, I am still getting the problem of immediate resume from hibernation when running Vista. Fortunately, I have my 6024W set to dual boot Vista / XP and, so far, XP has not shown the same problem.

I have been trying to recall events before encountering the immediate resume problem. The two things I had been doing had been trying to get my USB TV tuner to work and installing the Turbo Memory. As reported elsewhere, the turbo Memory installation failed because AHCI had not been enabled in the BIOS when the operating system was installed. However, I did manage to install the Turbo memory driver. I am now wondering whether that driver is the cause of the problem: It must work at quite a low level in Vista. I must now look for an uninstaller (but the longer term plan is to reinstall everything with AHCI enabled).

John

 

I update this thread for anyone who stumbles across it.

I think I have fixed the problem after reinstalling Vista (with AHCI and Turbo Memory). Hibernation worked OK. I then loading the Turbo memory driver which caused the hibernation problem to return. After a period of head scratching I recalled a warning during the installation of the Turbo Memory driver about overwriting the Matrix Storage driver with an older version (which I let it do, thinking Intel know what it was doing). So I then reinstalled the latest Matrix Storage driver and hibernation now behaves as it should.

It is interesting and annoying that the older Matrix Storage driver can screw up Vista even when AHCI is not enabled.

John