Wake my laptop from its nonpersistant vegitative state.

July 1, 2005 8:50 AM

My laptop is getting lazy: it readily goes to sleep, but refuses to wake up again. Help!

My laptop (Fujitsu N3010 w/ WinXP Pro) has been having two power issues lately, which I’m pretty sure are related. Firstly, if you put it to sleep (standby mode), it refuses to wake up again. That is, if you push the power button to wake it, the status LEDs turn back on, but the screen stays black and the machine appears to be in some sort of infinite loop (judging by the fact that the fan spins up).

Also, if you plug in, or unplug, the AC adapter while the machine is running, it completely freezes (even if you do this in, say, the BIOS screen, before Windows has even loaded). Otherwise, it runs fine on either the battery or AC.

These problems apparently first appeared shortly after I was fiddling around in the BIOS (with totally unrelated settings). This suggests to me that the BIOS may somehow be corrupted(??). It definitely isn’t Windows’ fault: a complete reformat and reinstall hasn’t helped. Fujitsu insists that they cannot send me the software to re-flash it. Are BIOS’s standardized enough that I could find that program elsewhere, somehow?

posted by kickingtheground to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

Response by poster: Oh, I should mention: the BIOS appears to be something called PhoenixBios, and it's version 1.03.
posted by kickingtheground at 8:54 AM on July 1, 2005

Best answer: Fiddling with BIOS settings you don't understand is always a risky proposition...be careful...

Have you tried restoring the "defaults" in the BIOS settings? This may reverse whatever you may have inadvertently set in there.

The Fujitsu support web site may also have BIOS updates. Be careful with reflashing, too -- unless you see a specific solution to a problem you're having, updating isn't a good idea.

Otherwise, re-check those "Power" settings in the Windows control panel.

I'd also try Googling for the symptoms you're experiencing (maybe "dead screen on suspend" or something that -- keep it short).
posted by catkins at 9:18 AM on July 1, 2005

Be very, very careful flashing the BIOS! On the recommendation of HP, I used the utility provided on their website to flash my mother-in-law's laptop to cure some battery problems. Dead, dead, dead. She is really happy with her new iMac, though.

Try catkins suggestion of setting the BIOS back to 'default' if it's an option.
posted by dual_action at 9:28 AM on July 1, 2005

Response by poster: Just to clarify: the setting I was changing in the BIOS was the password; there's nothing that I touched that was even remotely related to this problem. If this is a BIOS issue - it's not about wrong settings, it's about some odd form of minor corruption. Interestingly, a google search has found one or two other Fujitsu owners with the same problems as I have (so there is a pattern) - but no solutions that I've found.

Also - Fujitsu does not supply BIOS updates (not on their website, nor by email or cd, etc). The machine is under warranty, but, as I don't live near any service centre, I'd have to UPS the thing to them, and that means shipping costs, and packing the thing, and a week or two without my laptop, and the chance that something else will be screwed up.
posted by kickingtheground at 9:46 AM on July 1, 2005

I see. Unfortunately, if that is your problem, you will probably have to send it in for repair. Most laptops have custom hardware/BIOS configurations set by the manufacturer specifically for that model, and a generic BIOS update will probably set you back farther than you are now. Or not work at all.

Have you ruled out all hard drive malfunctions? I had a somewhat similar problem with an old Sager laptop. The hard drive testing software kept returning no errors, but a new drive fixed it right up. I wasn't having the plug in/freeze problems, though, just the would-never-wake-up-problem.
posted by dual_action at 10:25 AM on July 1, 2005

You probably already checked into this, but it's worth repeating, I guess: most laptops have a mechanical switch that is actuated by a "nub" that sticks out on the screen. When the screen is closed, the switch is, too, which signals the operating system that the screen is closed. Then the O/S can figure out what to do with that information. With Windows, you can specify whether you want the system to suspend, hibernate, or simply turn off the screen and keep everything else running.

Same goes for the power switch -- you can configure Windows to do one of a few things when you hit the switch.

Unfortunately, this may just be a BIOS/firmware bug that can only be corrected by sending in the laptop for "repair". Bummer.
posted by catkins at 10:57 AM on July 1, 2005

How old is the battery?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:41 PM on July 1, 2005