Hibernation drawing too much power...

Borte · 09-03-2006, 03:25 PM

Hello everybody!

I'm hoping somebody could help me out with this strange hibernation issue (I have searched but came out with no good answer to this).

I have a Dell c610 Laptop in my car, which works just fine for everything besides the hibernation issue.
The computer is wired up so it powers on with the ignition (receives a pulse on the power button), when the usb is activated the power supply to the computer turns on via a relay (it boots from laptop battery power). This works just fine no problems here... Then when I turn of the ignition the relay for the power supply turns off and the computers runs off laptop battery. The software is set to hibernate after 10 minutes on battery power, which it also does.

The problem is that when I leave the computer in hibernation for more than approx. 12 hours the battery in the laptop is dead, stopping the computer from booting up since it starts off laptop battery.
This issue started after I changed my hard rive from the original 4200Rpm 10Gb disk to a 60Gb 7200Rpm disk.
I had to reinstall my operating system (winXP) when swapping the disks and that’s when this started to happen.
One thing I have noticed is that after I changed the disk, hibernation is way faster. Now it takes about 10 seconds to hibernate. Before it was about 10 minutes...
I tried reinstalling WinXP but still no luck on this issue.

I turned the disk caching off too see if that had anything to do with it but it still gave the same result.

It doesn't sound like changing from a 4200rpm disk to a 7200rpm disk should cause this big difference in time.

Does anyone have any idea to what causes this difference in hibernation time and what is causing the computer to draw more power when hibernated?

Btw: Laptop memory is 128Mb so it's not a lot of data to write during hibernation.

I hope this explanation makes sense to the one reading it...

Cheers
Borte

Rob Withey · 09-03-2006, 03:33 PM

Hibernation should take no power at all once hibernated, are you sure you are not running standby. Also check that nothing is drawing on 5v standby if you haven't shut that line off after hibernating.

Edit : ignore 5v standby comment, not necessarily relevant for a laptop.

Borte · 09-03-2006, 03:36 PM

Thanks for the quick reply..!

Windows says: Hibernating... and the progressbar comes on the screen.

I've been thinking about if its in standby mode too but can it go into standby even when it says "hibernating... bla bla"?

I even tried manually activating hibernation from both winXP and RoadRunner but it's always the same result.

Cheers
Borte

Rob Withey · 09-03-2006, 03:42 PM

Any USB devices? Are they still being powered after the laptop powers down?

Borte · 09-03-2006, 03:46 PM

I have the following USB units:

Onboard USB 1.1:
- 4 port USB hub (used for powersupply comunication)
- Touchscreen

CardBUS USB2.0:
- 4 Port USB 2.0 Hub
- GPS Antenna
- OBDII Interface

All units are bus powered so I dont think they should stay on when the computer is off.

Cheers
Borte

AllThingsEnd · 09-03-2006, 08:59 PM

um this might seem like a dumb question but.... have you checked the laptop battery? using a laptop while its plugged it kills that battery, same with anything else, for instance a cell phone. i bet if you charge that battery and then shut down the computer instead of hubernate it wont boot up 12 hours later either.

ARCTiC · 09-03-2006, 10:17 PM

That's normal for laptops as far as i know, but i'm not sure about laptops. With my CarPC if i leave it in hibernation without cutting the main power, it sucks my car battery! That is biggggger than a laptop battery.. then i guess 12 hours for you is something fair. For the desktop this is caused by the power drain from the USB ports.. that's why the automotive PSU does have a 12v monitor to cut off completely the power. I usually cut it with a switch when i place my car in the box, just to be 100% safe.

AllThingsEnd · 09-03-2006, 11:12 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by ARCTiC

That's normal for laptops as far as i know, but i'm not sure about laptops. .

what the what?

Jahntassa · 09-03-2006, 11:21 PM

Are you sure the system is actually turning OFF when it goes to hibernate? Watch the physical laptop and make sure all the lights turn off when windows says it hibernates. If it does, you should be fine. It's possible it's hitting standby instead of hibernate.

When laptops truely hibernate, they take as much power as 'off'.

AllThingsEnd · 09-03-2006, 11:28 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Jahntassa

Are you sure the system is actually turning OFF when it goes to hibernate? Watch the physical laptop and make sure all the lights turn off when windows says it hibernates. If it does, you should be fine. It's possible it's hitting standby instead of hibernate.

Quote: Originally Posted by Borte

Thanks for the quick reply..!

Windows says: Hibernating... and the progressbar comes on the screen.

I've been thinking about if its in standby mode too but can it go into standby even when it says "hibernating... bla bla"?

I even tried manually activating hibernation from both winXP and RoadRunner but it's always the same result.

Cheers
Borte

well from that post i can guess that its not standby......

check the battery on the laptop, take it out of the car put it in hibernate and see if it will boot up after 12 hours

Friedrice · 09-03-2006, 11:40 PM

Hibernate does not draw current, it saves everything in RAM to the Hdd. The only thing i can think of is that it's not really entering hibernate for some reason. My Vaio does this sometimes, you hit the HIbernate button and it goes through the hibernate screen with the running bars and the screen goes off, BUT the thing is still on like it's frozen or went into standby (which draws power).

AllThingsEnd · 09-03-2006, 11:46 PM

ok but even if you try to hibernate a laptop while plugged in, then after its off if the battery doesnt hold its charge it doesnt matter if hibernate draws any current its still not going to boot up under its own power.

Friedrice · 09-04-2006, 12:10 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by AllThingsEnd

ok but even if you try to hibernate a laptop while plugged in, then after its off if the battery doesnt hold its charge it doesnt matter if hibernate draws any current its still not going to boot up under its own power.

Yep, the circuitry in the battery itself and on the computer are always drawing current, so there is now avoiding drainage issue. But 12 hours does sound a bit short. How old are these batteries. How hot does your car get. If the computer is ok and the wiring is not faulty, then have a look at the battery, they may not be keeping a charge anymore. Excessive heat and old age kills the ability to keep a charge for extended periods.

Borte · 09-04-2006, 03:32 AM

Hello everybody!

Thanks for the replies!

Here's to answer a few questions:

The batteries are less than 2 months old so it should not be a problem with that. If I run the laptop off the batteries it's gonna last for about 3,5hours so the battery seems good to me.

The problem started after I changed the hardrive, before that I could leave the computer in hibernation for 1 week without having any problems. The only thing that has changed during the hardrive swap was the OS reinstall (same OS, same USB config, same everything except the physical disk and OS install).

Quote: Originally Posted by Friedrice

Hibernate does not draw current, it saves everything in RAM to the Hdd. The only thing i can think of is that it's not really entering hibernate for some reason. My Vaio does this sometimes, you hit the HIbernate button and it goes through the hibernate screen with the running bars and the screen goes off, BUT the thing is still on like it's frozen or went into standby (which draws power).

How could I ensure that the computer actually hibernates?

Quote: Originally Posted by Jahntassa

Are you sure the system is actually turning OFF when it goes to hibernate? Watch the physical laptop and make sure all the lights turn off when windows says it hibernates. If it does, you should be fine. It's possible it's hitting standby instead of hibernate.

When laptops truely hibernate, they take as much power as 'off'.

All lights are off after the hibernation has completed so I assume it's completely off. I can still resume from hibernation after I remove and reinstall the battery too.

If I do a "shutdown" on the computer before I leave the car I have no problems rebooting the computer even after 1 week. So it seems like the laptop is not hibernating properly.

Is it somekind of setting in WinXP that can cause this?

Cheers
Borte

Friedrice · 09-04-2006, 03:36 AM

I'd check that the powersetting for "running on batteries" or on any other power management software does not have a "standby" time limit that kicks in before your hibernate time period.

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