No signal to the monitor when resuming from sleep (S3)...

[ZaO]

Using hibernate, I can resume normally. But when I use sleep (S3), there is no signal to the monitor when I turn the screen back on.

In the Bios I have "Video off option". I can set that to either "Always on", or "Suspend -> Off". It is currently set to the latter option. I didn't try the first option as I was concerned it might just leave the gpu switched on, and maybe it would overheat or something..

I also have "Video off method". The options are "Blank screen", "V/H Sync+Blank" and "DPMS Support". I have the last option enabled.

This is on Windows 7 x64 with an Amd 4850-512MB btw.

Before I say "any ideas why this happens". I need to make it clear that I had a random issue with the graphics card the other day where I temporarily lost the signal to screen about 5 times while I was watching a video. Each time, the signal loss lasted for about 2 seconds. So it is likely there is an issue with the graphics card. And it is probably the culprit. But what I don't get, is why do I have a signal to the screen when I resume from Hibernate? Why is it Sleep mode that doesn't work properly?


And as we're on this subject, I just wanted to ask another question about sleep mode if anyone can help.. I like to use Sleep-S3. I don't like the S1, as the fans keep running. I like the computer to be silent when it is in sleep mode. I've been using sleep for years (restarting/shutting down when necessary), not only because it is convenient, but because I was under the impression that it is better for the life of the hardware to do so. But I was just thinking, which sleep modes actually benefit the hardware? When I use S3, the only thing that gets left on is the Ram (as far as I know). So all the other components are being cold booted, right?

Thanks

[scaryjim]

I'm not a hardware expert, but I believe the following is the answer to your key question (i.e. why don't I have the problem with Hibernate)

Hibernate actually turns off the computer, saving memory state to the hard drive before hand. Sleep just powers down some parts of the computer (I believe it typically puts the CPU into an extremely low power state while maintaining the computer state in powered-up RAM). So when you resume from Hibernate the computer goes through a full power-up sequence including all the BIOSy stuff that prepares peripherals etc. Presumably resuming from Sleep doesn't do that, since the computer wasn't powered off completely anyway.

I had issues recently with a Radeon 7750 that had exactly the same issue: that is, if the computer went to sleep, there was no display when I woke it up. I never actually got round to diagnosing it properly, and have since passed that computer on to a friend (I should probably have told hum about that issue, tbh ). I read something somewhere that suggested having the GPU overclocked played badly with some power settings, so if your card is overclocked that might be worth looking at?

[ZaO]

I'm not a hardware expert, but I believe the following is the answer to your key question (i.e. why don't I have the problem with Hibernate)

Hibernate actually turns off the computer, saving memory state to the hard drive before hand. Sleep just powers down some parts of the computer (I believe it typically puts the CPU into an extremely low power state while maintaining the computer state in powered-up RAM). So when you resume from Hibernate the computer goes through a full power-up sequence including all the BIOSy stuff that prepares peripherals etc. Presumably resuming from Sleep doesn't do that, since the computer wasn't powered off completely anyway.

I had issues recently with a Radeon 7750 that had exactly the same issue: that is, if the computer went to sleep, there was no display when I woke it up. I never actually got round to diagnosing it properly, and have since passed that computer on to a friend (I should probably have told hum about that issue, tbh ). I read something somewhere that suggested having the GPU overclocked played badly with some power settings, so if your card is overclocked that might be worth looking at?

yeh it's a true cold boot from hibernate as you say. so i guess s3 is maybe still keeping some amount of power to the gpu. this could partly explain the problem i suppose! i'm not even sure if this card is overclocked. i guess i better check that out. might be the answer to all my issues here! cheers

[Agent]

Hibernate actually turns off the computer, saving memory state to the hard drive before hand. Sleep just powers down some parts of the computer (I believe it typically puts the CPU into an extremely low power state while maintaining the computer state in powered-up RAM).

The CPU is actually entirely powered down

Resuming from S3 are usually one of a few things:

1) Bad memory - memtest86 the suckers
2) Bad PSU - S3 actually is quite demanding when resuming from it (in many cases it's worse than hibernation due to processes immediately nabbing the CPU)
3) Driver related - S3 needs all drivers to support resuming properly. An issue with anything on your system can cause issues. Update them all, unplug all USB for testing purposes and see if you get anything different. Always make sure you have chipset drivers installed. They can really make a difference.

[deejayburnout]

Sorry to hijack your post Zao, but i have a similar issue with a HD7850 card.

my PC is on 24/7 and sometimes ( daily ) when the screens go off, one of them ( i run 2 ) does not wake properly and i need to switch it off then back on again before the image comes back to the screen.

i have tried both screens and i think that the issue is with the card as it seems to be with one of the DVI outputs on the card. Various drivers have not fixed the issue and i am wondering if my card is beginning to fail.

[ZaO]

The CPU is actually entirely powered down

Resuming from S3 are usually one of a few things:

1) Bad memory - memtest86 the suckers
2) Bad PSU - S3 actually is quite demanding when resuming from it (in many cases it's worse than hibernation due to processes immediately nabbing the CPU)
3) Driver related - S3 needs all drivers to support resuming properly. An issue with anything on your system can cause issues. Update them all, unplug all USB for testing purposes and see if you get anything different. Always make sure you have chipset drivers installed. They can really make a difference.

Chipset drivers is something that I'm not even sure are available for this board on the website for it. There's only a few drivers there. There was an old Amd Catalyst package in there. I just assumed the chipset drivers were in with that (It's a Sapphire 790GX board). I might go and have a look on the Amd site to see if they have any drivers for this chipset!

Sorry to hijack your post Zao, but i have a similar issue with a HD7850 card.

my PC is on 24/7 and sometimes ( daily ) when the screens go off, one of them ( i run 2 ) does not wake properly and i need to switch it off then back on again before the image comes back to the screen.

i have tried both screens and i think that the issue is with the card as it seems to be with one of the DVI outputs on the card. Various drivers have not fixed the issue and i am wondering if my card is beginning to fail.

No worries. That's ok. Have you tried running each card individually (in the first PCI-E slot), with the other one taken out of the setup? If they work individually, then it's probably not a hardware issue.