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Question

Help. Energy Saving Mode in Vista returns to BSOD?

Nov 6, 2012 1:53AM PST

Hi.
Recently I feel in need of using Vistas energy saving mode, since it would be a lot faster than shutting down & rebooting every time. So it really sucks if it doesn't work.

I'm using Vista 64 bit Home Premium SP2. My motherboard is a MSI K9A2 CF. I have 4 GB Ram, an AMD Phenom X4 9950, my GPU is a Sapphire HD 7750 Ultimate.

If I put Windows Vista in "Energy Saving", as it would translate from my German OS (which also seems to be the only option available that would come close to XPs old Standby), and any time later attempt to restore it by pressing any keyboard key as I've set it up in my BIOS, then one of two things will happen:
a) Windows will open, but will show an error "Display Driver shut down" or something similar, and the screen will flicker and show artifacts and other buggy stuff all over. This problem will remain till I restart the PC
b) I get a Bluescreen. The bluescreen has following information:
"Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed."
"... (a few blocks of the usual text like "Make sure any new hardware is properly bla bla) ..."
"Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x00000116 (0xFFFFFA802BBBA4E0, 0xFFFFFA6002411DB8, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000002)

*** atikmpag.sys - Address 0xFFFFFA6002411DB8 base at FFFFFFA6002409000, DateStamp 5064f994


It's not like I can't use my PC anymore, but I have to shutdown & reboot completely, which is a real hassle everytime. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Still have a good day yourselves, Greetz Night

Discussion is locked

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Answer
The clue is the ATI item.
Nov 6, 2012 3:32AM PST

That looks to be a driver bug. While you could try driver hunts why not forget this and try HIBERNATE instead to save power? I did that for years while I waited for drivers to be fixed.
Bob

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Good, but how do I get a Hibernate button?
Nov 8, 2012 8:41AM PST

I just have a button for energy saving. I read some stuff on other sites after searching for hibernate, like various command prompts for re-enabling hibernate. So far it didn't do anything. The last thing I can try is set the standby in my BIOS settings from S3 back to S1. I just hope my PC can still wake up again, because it doesn't give me the option to wake up on Keyboard prompt when choosing S1...

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Hibernate appeared, but fruitless!
Nov 8, 2012 9:27AM PST

Apparently this forum has no "edit" feature, so sorry for this double post.

After setting from S3 to S1 in BIOS and restarting, the "Hibernate" button indeed appeared in my Start menu. It did seem to enter some mode, as my screen went to standby, but the CPU fan was still active. I definitely want a mode where it wont be, because I also want to have some silence from time to time.
Besides, I was unable to wake my PC up again, like I feared. Keyboard, Mouse, Power button, nothing worked, I had to hard-reset.

What's that about driver-hunting? Obviously I got the newest ATI drivers from their homepage, but I still have this problem. Are there any other drivers of note that can solve this?

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Odd
Nov 8, 2012 11:17AM PST

I never had to change the BIOS to use Hibernate. It's a bug so you deal with the machine's maker until it's fixed.

I can't guess which driver is going to work. ATI is FAMOUS about drivers. Not in a good way.
Bob

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Annoying
Nov 10, 2012 2:52AM PST

Shame. The machines maker is, as far as components are concerned, me. The original assemble time is also out of warranty. So I truly doubt the shop that put it together for me is going to offer help, especially when I tell them I changed some hardware since then.. Silly

So, there's the slight chance some older ATI driver is not going to cause this problem? And I am to try them all? Geez I'm not sure I have the nerves for that... especially since I had a similar problem before with my older HD 4800.

For the time being, I contacted AMD customer service, see if they can help me somehow. If anyone else has some good ideas I would really appreciate them, though...

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You bet!
Nov 10, 2012 3:16AM PST

Yes, if you read forums that discuss ATI drivers you find out that folk do find older drivers sometimes fix an issue or work better. I can't guess which one but if it worked before, you probably had the driver you wanted back then.

Bob