Satellite battery dies during hibernate mode

I just purchased a Satellite u205-s5057, and overall it's not a bad computer, but if I try to leave the computer in hibernate mode for more than just a couple of hours, the battery dies.

This confuses me, because my standard procedure for carrying around my other laptop (a 17" Gateway) is to hit the sleep hotkey, close it up, and bag it up. After being in sleep mode for ~30 minutes, it will hibernate. I've left that computer in hibernate mode for several days without having the battery die.

However, I seem to remember that the other laptop initially had a problem where it would wake itself up from hibernate for no reason and let itself die. I think I fixed it with a certain update from Microsoft for XP Home. However, this OS is Vista Home Premium, and so I'm not sure what that fix would be even if this is the same problem. I've googled around for answers, but I can't seem to find anything. I registered for this site to pick your collective brain. Thanks in advance for anything you folks can tell me.

Oh, I've already tried checking the power management settings in windows and trying BIOS. I couldn't find anything at all that controlled how or when the computer comes back from hibernate mode.

 

It's impossible for a laptop to die in Hibernate mode, since the laptop is turned completely off. For Vista, if you want to change power settings, go to: Start/Control Panel/Power Options. On the page that pops up, click on "Change Advanced Power Settings" and that spawns a new window. Scroll down to the tree called "Sleep" and expand it. Expand "Hibernate after" and select how many minutes your computer is inactive before it hibernates. I would recommend that you physically tell windows to hibernate because then you can make sure that it shuts down completely (power light is off) and then it doesn't overheat itself while its in its messenger bag waiting to shut off.

-J.B.

 

I have actually tried both methods of hibernation: Trying to allow the computer to hibernate from sleep mode and directly telling it to hibernate from the start menu. I even have the power button on the keyboard configured to trigger hibernation.

I realize that the computer is actually off during hibernation, but I'm afraid it is starting itself from hibernation (or, feasibly, not even fully entering the state to begin with), draining the battery in the process.

Are there any known problems with Vista/Toshiba laptops either not hibernating fully or waking up for no reason during hibernation?

Edit: Though, that is good advice regarding telling it to hibernate instead of just using the sleep key. Doesn't help me much on this laptop now, but I'll keep that in mind on my Gateway.

 

LOL. That SHOULD NOT happen!!!

 

After investigating a bit more, I'd like to describe more specifically what happens:

I tell the computer to hibernate, the screen fades, and I close the screen. Usually the computer is almost fully charged at this point, as I keep it closed in at my desk.

Then, I go home for the day. When I come back, I plug in the computer, open the lid, and hit the power button. The screen that comes up is a standard system message screen, telling me that the system went into a critical battery state. It then asks me if I want to recover my system (state...I think?). If I hit enter, the system still comes up as if it had hibernated, but what I suspect is happening is that the hibernation doesn't kick in until the battery is nearly drained, which sets off hibernation as per the power management settings.

Does this clarify my situation any?

 

Last night when leaving work, I put my laptop into hibernate by clicking the hibernate option in the start menu. The battery capacity was nearly full at the time. Then, this morning when I hit the power button to turn it back on, the "Windows did not shut down properly" message appeared, asking me if I'd like to start windows in Safe Mode, etc. When windows started, my battery capacity was at 0%.

So clearly the battery is draining after I put the computer into hibernation. Whether it's coming back from hibernation without being prompted or whether it is never fully entering the state to begin with, I'm not sure. I guess I'll google around for problems related to a laptop not entering the hibernation mode.