Windows 7 and hibernation

At my POE the Help Desk threw me a ticket from a user complaining that his
new Windows 7 (64-bit) system didn't allow him to turn on hibernation. It
turned out that he had the same make and model as the one I use (Latitude
E6510) and I was able to reproduce the problem. The POWERCFG -H ON command
was accepted without any confirming message to the user...but that's they
way POWERCFG works. I verified that the HIBERFIL.SYS file was not created.

I found a Microsoft KB article (888575) documenting that for
XP/2003/Vista/2008 hibernation is unavailable for any machine having more
than 4GB of memory - this is a deliberate design specification by Microsoft.
The article hasn't been updated since April 2008 but it's probably
reasonable to believe that it also applies to Windows 7.

Here's the reason for this posting: both the user and I have systems with
exactly 4 GB of main memory memory (video uses unshared memory). Does
anyone know if there is a known restriction against hibernation for systems
*at* 4GB as opposed to *more than* 4GB?

So...does anyone know if hibernation is supposed to be available on 64-bit
Windows systems with exactly 4 GB of memory? Has anyone successfully used
hibernation with exactly 4 GB, or with more than 4 GB?

Thanks...

Joe Morris

On Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:30:15 -0500, Joe Morris wrote:

At my POE the Help Desk threw me a ticket from a user complaining that his
new Windows 7 (64-bit) system didn't allow him to turn on hibernation. It
turned out that he had the same make and model as the one I use (Latitude
E6510) and I was able to reproduce the problem. The POWERCFG -H ON command
was accepted without any confirming message to the user...but that's they
way POWERCFG works. I verified that the HIBERFIL.SYS file was not created.

I found a Microsoft KB article (888575) documenting that for
XP/2003/Vista/2008 hibernation is unavailable for any machine having more
than 4GB of memory - this is a deliberate design specification by Microsoft.
The article hasn't been updated since April 2008 but it's probably
reasonable to believe that it also applies to Windows 7.

Here's the reason for this posting: both the user and I have systems with
exactly 4 GB of main memory memory (video uses unshared memory). Does
anyone know if there is a known restriction against hibernation for systems
*at* 4GB as opposed to *more than* 4GB?

So...does anyone know if hibernation is supposed to be available on 64-bit
Windows systems with exactly 4 GB of memory? Has anyone successfully used
hibernation with exactly 4 GB, or with more than 4 GB?

Thanks...

Joe Morris

I have a 4 GB Sony Vaio all-in-one desktop running Windows 7, and there
is a hiberfile on my C: drive.

OTOH, I thought I had hibernation disabled. Also, I installed Win 7 a
while ago, and the date on the hiberfile is 1/11/10 (January 11, not
November 1). Maybe it was created under Vista. But that seems like it
would contradict the restriction you mentioned, since Vista would
probably be affected too.

Just a bit of OT: maybe the 4 GB in the rule is 4 decimal GB, so your 4
binary GB is than the rule calls for :-)

I have to admit that although that was my first though, it was never
meant seriously...

But to be serious:

I ran the command
powercfg -AVAILABLESLEEPSTATES

and got this output:

The following sleep states are available on this system: Standby ( S3 )
Hibernate Hybrid Sleep
The following sleep states are not available on this system:
Standby (S1)
The system firmware does not support this standby state.
Standby (S2)
The system firmware does not support this standby state.

Which leads me to another (possibly more helpful) speculation: is it
possible that your hardware or firmware won't let your computers
hibernate?

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On 11/23/2010 9:55 PM, Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:30:15 -0500, Joe Morris wrote:

At my POE the Help Desk threw me a ticket from a user complaining that his
new Windows 7 (64-bit) system didn't allow him to turn on hibernation. It
turned out that he had the same make and model as the one I use (Latitude
E6510) and I was able to reproduce the problem. The POWERCFG -H ON command
was accepted without any confirming message to the user...but that's they
way POWERCFG works. I verified that the HIBERFIL.SYS file was not created.

I found a Microsoft KB article (888575) documenting that for
XP/2003/Vista/2008 hibernation is unavailable for any machine having more
than 4GB of memory - this is a deliberate design specification by Microsoft.
The article hasn't been updated since April 2008 but it's probably
reasonable to believe that it also applies to Windows 7.

Here's the reason for this posting: both the user and I have systems with
exactly 4 GB of main memory memory (video uses unshared memory). Does
anyone know if there is a known restriction against hibernation for systems
*at* 4GB as opposed to *more than* 4GB?

So...does anyone know if hibernation is supposed to be available on 64-bit
Windows systems with exactly 4 GB of memory? Has anyone successfully used
hibernation with exactly 4 GB, or with more than 4 GB?

Thanks...

Joe Morris

I have a 4 GB Sony Vaio all-in-one desktop running Windows 7, and there
is a hiberfile on my C: drive.

OTOH, I thought I had hibernation disabled. Also, I installed Win 7 a
while ago, and the date on the hiberfile is 1/11/10 (January 11, not
November 1). Maybe it was created under Vista. But that seems like it
would contradict the restriction you mentioned, since Vista would
probably be affected too.

Just a bit of OT: maybe the 4 GB in the rule is 4 decimal GB, so your 4
binary GB is than the rule calls for :-)

I have to admit that although that was my first though, it was never
meant seriously...

But to be serious:

I ran the command
powercfg -AVAILABLESLEEPSTATES

and got this output:

The following sleep states are available on this system: Standby ( S3 )
Hibernate Hybrid Sleep
The following sleep states are not available on this system:
Standby (S1)
The system firmware does not support this standby state.
Standby (S2)
The system firmware does not support this standby state.

Which leads me to another (possibly more helpful) speculation: is it
possible that your hardware or firmware won't let your computers
hibernate?


The system I'm currently using gives the same
powercfg -AVAILABLESLEEPSTATES
Answers you listed.
However,the BIOS and hardware do support the S1 & S3 sleepstates when
the options are correctly set.
Out of box MBD settings may have sleep options disabled.
Normally, this system is used in ON, S1, or OFF,
so the BIOS options are set accordingly

Example
Asus M4A79 Deluxe MBD (Retail Box Version)
BIOS Suspend mode options (Choose one)
Auto
S1 (POS) only
S3 only

Repost Video on S3 resume (No)
ACPI 2.0 Support (Enabled)
ACPI APIC Support (Enabled)

"Joe Morris" wrote in message
...

So...does anyone know if hibernation is supposed to be available on 64-bit
Windows systems with exactly 4 GB of memory? Has anyone successfully used
hibernation with exactly 4 GB, or with more than 4 GB?

My system is Win7 64-bit with 4 GB of ram (separate vid memory) and will go
into hibernation.

However, hybrid sleep needs to be set to Off in order to hibernate. If
hybrid sleep is set to On the system will do that instead and you won't see
hibernation as a shutdown option, just sleep.

--

-smithdoerr

that is faulse i run a machine with 16 gig's of ram and it works just fine


--
AL'S COMPUTERS
"Joe Morris" wrote in message
...
At my POE the Help Desk threw me a ticket from a user complaining that his
new Windows 7 (64-bit) system didn't allow him to turn on hibernation. It
turned out that he had the same make and model as the one I use (Latitude
E6510) and I was able to reproduce the problem. The POWERCFG -H ON
command was accepted without any confirming message to the user...but
that's they way POWERCFG works. I verified that the HIBERFIL.SYS file was
not created.

I found a Microsoft KB article (888575) documenting that for
XP/2003/Vista/2008 hibernation is unavailable for any machine having more
than 4GB of memory - this is a deliberate design specification by
Microsoft. The article hasn't been updated since April 2008 but it's
probably reasonable to believe that it also applies to Windows 7.

Here's the reason for this posting: both the user and I have systems with
exactly 4 GB of main memory memory (video uses unshared memory). Does
anyone know if there is a known restriction against hibernation for
systems *at* 4GB as opposed to *more than* 4GB?

So...does anyone know if hibernation is supposed to be available on 64-bit
Windows systems with exactly 4 GB of memory? Has anyone successfully used
hibernation with exactly 4 GB, or with more than 4 GB?

Thanks...

Joe Morris

Andy wrote:

that is faulse i run a machine with 16 gig's of ram and it works just fine

Andy, if you top post (deprecated) and leave the quote below your signature
marker the whole of the quoted item becomes your signature. If you must top
post, put your signature right at the bottom.
--
Regards, Bob

A pessimist is an optimist with experience.

?Hi, Gene.

OTOH, I thought I had hibernation disabled. Also, I installed Win 7 a
while ago, and the date on the hiberfile is 1/11/10 (January 11, not
November 1). Maybe it was created under Vista.

The two Hidden, System files hiberfil.sys and pagefile.sys should always be
dated today, at the time the computer was turned on and Windows was started.
Mine both now read "11/24/10 7:04 AM".

So, perhaps you do have hibernation disabled.

My system is Win7 Ultimate x64 SP1 RC (no relation g), with 4 GB RAM.
These file sizes a
3,220,865,024 hiberfil.sys
4,294,488,064 pagefile.sys

(What's a POE, Joe? Point of Embarkation? Port of Entry?)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-9/30/10)
Windows Live Mail Version 2011 (Build 15.4.3502.0922) in Win7 Ultimate x64
SP1 RC


"Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message
.. .

On Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:30:15 -0500, Joe Morris wrote:

At my POE the Help Desk threw me a ticket from a user complaining that his
new Windows 7 (64-bit) system didn't allow him to turn on hibernation. It
turned out that he had the same make and model as the one I use (Latitude
E6510) and I was able to reproduce the problem. The POWERCFG -H ON
command
was accepted without any confirming message to the user...but that's they
way POWERCFG works. I verified that the HIBERFIL.SYS file was not
created.

I found a Microsoft KB article (888575) documenting that for
XP/2003/Vista/2008 hibernation is unavailable for any machine having more
than 4GB of memory - this is a deliberate design specification by
Microsoft.
The article hasn't been updated since April 2008 but it's probably
reasonable to believe that it also applies to Windows 7.

Here's the reason for this posting: both the user and I have systems with
exactly 4 GB of main memory memory (video uses unshared memory). Does
anyone know if there is a known restriction against hibernation for
systems
*at* 4GB as opposed to *more than* 4GB?

So...does anyone know if hibernation is supposed to be available on 64-bit
Windows systems with exactly 4 GB of memory? Has anyone successfully used
hibernation with exactly 4 GB, or with more than 4 GB?

Thanks...

Joe Morris

I have a 4 GB Sony Vaio all-in-one desktop running Windows 7, and there
is a hiberfile on my C: drive.

OTOH, I thought I had hibernation disabled. Also, I installed Win 7 a
while ago, and the date on the hiberfile is 1/11/10 (January 11, not
November 1). Maybe it was created under Vista. But that seems like it
would contradict the restriction you mentioned, since Vista would
probably be affected too.

Just a bit of OT: maybe the 4 GB in the rule is 4 decimal GB, so your 4
binary GB is than the rule calls for :-)

I have to admit that although that was my first though, it was never
meant seriously...

But to be serious:

I ran the command
powercfg -AVAILABLESLEEPSTATES

and got this output:

The following sleep states are available on this system: Standby ( S3 )
Hibernate Hybrid Sleep
The following sleep states are not available on this system:
Standby (S1)
The system firmware does not support this standby state.
Standby (S2)
The system firmware does not support this standby state.

Which leads me to another (possibly more helpful) speculation: is it
possible that your hardware or firmware won't let your computers
hibernate?

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Wed, 24 Nov 2010 09:33:25 -0600, "R. C. White"
wrote:

On Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:30:15 -0500, Joe Morris wrote:

At my POE the Help Desk threw me a ticket from a user complaining that his

(What's a POE, Joe? Point of Embarkation? Port of Entry?)

RC

Probably means place of employment.


--

Char Jackson

I believe POE is Place Of Employment, as opposed to being Edgar Allen's last
name :-)
--
SC Tom
-There's no such thing as TMI when asking for tech support.

"R. C. White" wrote in message
ecom...
?Hi, Gene.

OTOH, I thought I had hibernation disabled. Also, I installed Win 7 a
while ago, and the date on the hiberfile is 1/11/10 (January 11, not
November 1). Maybe it was created under Vista.

The two Hidden, System files hiberfil.sys and pagefile.sys should always
be dated today, at the time the computer was turned on and Windows was
started. Mine both now read "11/24/10 7:04 AM".

So, perhaps you do have hibernation disabled.

My system is Win7 Ultimate x64 SP1 RC (no relation g), with 4 GB RAM.
These file sizes a
3,220,865,024 hiberfil.sys
4,294,488,064 pagefile.sys

(What's a POE, Joe? Point of Embarkation? Port of Entry?)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-9/30/10)
Windows Live Mail Version 2011 (Build 15.4.3502.0922) in Win7 Ultimate x64
SP1 RC


"Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message
.. .

On Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:30:15 -0500, Joe Morris wrote:

At my POE the Help Desk threw me a ticket from a user complaining that
his
new Windows 7 (64-bit) system didn't allow him to turn on hibernation.
It
turned out that he had the same make and model as the one I use (Latitude
E6510) and I was able to reproduce the problem. The POWERCFG -H ON
command
was accepted without any confirming message to the user...but that's they
way POWERCFG works. I verified that the HIBERFIL.SYS file was not
created.

I found a Microsoft KB article (888575) documenting that for
XP/2003/Vista/2008 hibernation is unavailable for any machine having more
than 4GB of memory - this is a deliberate design specification by
Microsoft.
The article hasn't been updated since April 2008 but it's probably
reasonable to believe that it also applies to Windows 7.

Here's the reason for this posting: both the user and I have systems with
exactly 4 GB of main memory memory (video uses unshared memory). Does
anyone know if there is a known restriction against hibernation for
systems
*at* 4GB as opposed to *more than* 4GB?

So...does anyone know if hibernation is supposed to be available on
64-bit
Windows systems with exactly 4 GB of memory? Has anyone successfully used
hibernation with exactly 4 GB, or with more than 4 GB?

Thanks...

Joe Morris

I have a 4 GB Sony Vaio all-in-one desktop running Windows 7, and there
is a hiberfile on my C: drive.

OTOH, I thought I had hibernation disabled. Also, I installed Win 7 a
while ago, and the date on the hiberfile is 1/11/10 (January 11, not
November 1). Maybe it was created under Vista. But that seems like it
would contradict the restriction you mentioned, since Vista would
probably be affected too.

Just a bit of OT: maybe the 4 GB in the rule is 4 decimal GB, so your 4
binary GB is than the rule calls for :-)

I have to admit that although that was my first though, it was never
meant seriously...

But to be serious:

I ran the command
powercfg -AVAILABLESLEEPSTATES

and got this output:

The following sleep states are available on this system: Standby ( S3 )
Hibernate Hybrid Sleep
The following sleep states are not available on this system:
Standby (S1)
The system firmware does not support this standby state.
Standby (S2)
The system firmware does not support this standby state.

Which leads me to another (possibly more helpful) speculation: is it
possible that your hardware or firmware won't let your computers
hibernate?

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

?Hi, Char - and Tom.

Thanks. Makes sense. ;^}

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-9/30/10)
Windows Live Mail Version 2011 (Build 15.4.3502.0922) in Win7 Ultimate x64
SP1 RC


"SC Tom" wrote in message ...

I believe POE is Place Of Employment, as opposed to being Edgar Allen's last
name :-)
--
SC Tom
-There's no such thing as TMI when asking for tech support.

"R. C. White" wrote in message
ecom...
?Hi, Gene.

OTOH, I thought I had hibernation disabled. Also, I installed Win 7 a
while ago, and the date on the hiberfile is 1/11/10 (January 11, not
November 1). Maybe it was created under Vista.

The two Hidden, System files hiberfil.sys and pagefile.sys should always
be dated today, at the time the computer was turned on and Windows was
started. Mine both now read "11/24/10 7:04 AM".

So, perhaps you do have hibernation disabled.

My system is Win7 Ultimate x64 SP1 RC (no relation g), with 4 GB RAM.
These file sizes a
3,220,865,024 hiberfil.sys
4,294,488,064 pagefile.sys

(What's a POE, Joe? Point of Embarkation? Port of Entry?)

RC


"Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message
.. .

On Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:30:15 -0500, Joe Morris wrote:

At my POE the Help Desk threw me a ticket from a user complaining that
his
new Windows 7 (64-bit) system didn't allow him to turn on hibernation. It
turned out that he had the same make and model as the one I use (Latitude
E6510) and I was able to reproduce the problem. The POWERCFG -H ON
command
was accepted without any confirming message to the user...but that's they
way POWERCFG works. I verified that the HIBERFIL.SYS file was not
created.

I found a Microsoft KB article (888575) documenting that for
XP/2003/Vista/2008 hibernation is unavailable for any machine having more
than 4GB of memory - this is a deliberate design specification by
Microsoft.
The article hasn't been updated since April 2008 but it's probably
reasonable to believe that it also applies to Windows 7.

Here's the reason for this posting: both the user and I have systems with
exactly 4 GB of main memory memory (video uses unshared memory). Does
anyone know if there is a known restriction against hibernation for
systems
*at* 4GB as opposed to *more than* 4GB?

So...does anyone know if hibernation is supposed to be available on
64-bit
Windows systems with exactly 4 GB of memory? Has anyone successfully used
hibernation with exactly 4 GB, or with more than 4 GB?

Thanks...

Joe Morris

I have a 4 GB Sony Vaio all-in-one desktop running Windows 7, and there
is a hiberfile on my C: drive.

OTOH, I thought I had hibernation disabled. Also, I installed Win 7 a
while ago, and the date on the hiberfile is 1/11/10 (January 11, not
November 1). Maybe it was created under Vista. But that seems like it
would contradict the restriction you mentioned, since Vista would
probably be affected too.

Just a bit of OT: maybe the 4 GB in the rule is 4 decimal GB, so your 4
binary GB is than the rule calls for :-)

I have to admit that although that was my first though, it was never
meant seriously...

But to be serious:

I ran the command
powercfg -AVAILABLESLEEPSTATES

and got this output:

The following sleep states are available on this system: Standby ( S3 )
Hibernate Hybrid Sleep
The following sleep states are not available on this system:
Standby (S1)
The system firmware does not support this standby state.
Standby (S2)
The system firmware does not support this standby state.

Which leads me to another (possibly more helpful) speculation: is it
possible that your hardware or firmware won't let your computers
hibernate?

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

"R. C. White" wrote:

(What's a POE, Joe? Point of Embarkation? Port of Entry?)

Place of Employment, as opposed to PPOE (Previous Place of Employment). AKA
the place that keeps me out of the unemployment office.

Joe

On Wed, 24 Nov 2010 09:33:25 -0600, R. C. White wrote:

?Hi, Gene.

OTOH, I thought I had hibernation disabled. Also, I installed Win 7 a
while ago, and the date on the hiberfile is 1/11/10 (January 11, not
November 1). Maybe it was created under Vista.

The two Hidden, System files hiberfil.sys and pagefile.sys should always be
dated today, at the time the computer was turned on and Windows was started.
Mine both now read "11/24/10 7:04 AM".

So, perhaps you do have hibernation disabled.

Or perhaps I haven't hibernated my computer since Jan 11...which was
(possibly) when I (or the Win 7 installer?) enabled it.

I *never* use hibernation :-)

No particular reason. I just don't.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

[several people wrote]

lots of responses to my query

....to which I say "thanks". Based on comments here it looks like the KB
article saying "no hibernation above 4GB" doesn't apply to Windows 7, which
pretty much puts me back to square one. I'm officially off the clock until
Monday but I'll probably build an out-of-the-box 64Win7 system on the E6510
and start installing drivers and apps to reproduce our standard image until
hibernation breaks (assuming that it works with a vanilla image.)

Computers...a sure cure for any spare time you might have. Also my excuse
for losing hair on top of my head and turning my beard gray after nearly 50
years in the business...it can't be my age...of course not.

Joe Morris

?Hi, Gene.

I *never* use hibernation :-)

Then you may as well delete that dormant file and stop wasting disk space.
As I recall, disabling hibernation does not erase the file; it just stops
using it. If the file does not exist when Win7 wants to hibernate, it
simply creates a new hiberfil.sys, almost as large as the installed RAM, so
that it can store the full contents of memory to be reloaded when it wakes
up from hibernation. The file has Hidden and System attributes, and is
always in the Root of the Boot Volume (typically C:\hiberfil.sys).

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-9/30/10)
Windows Live Mail Version 2011 (Build 15.4.3502.0922) in Win7 Ultimate x64
SP1 RC


"Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message
.. .

On Wed, 24 Nov 2010 09:33:25 -0600, R. C. White wrote:

?Hi, Gene.

OTOH, I thought I had hibernation disabled. Also, I installed Win 7 a
while ago, and the date on the hiberfile is 1/11/10 (January 11, not
November 1). Maybe it was created under Vista.

The two Hidden, System files hiberfil.sys and pagefile.sys should always
be
dated today, at the time the computer was turned on and Windows was
started.
Mine both now read "11/24/10 7:04 AM".

So, perhaps you do have hibernation disabled.

Or perhaps I haven't hibernated my computer since Jan 11...which was
(possibly) when I (or the Win 7 installer?) enabled it.

I *never* use hibernation :-)

No particular reason. I just don't.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Wed, 24 Nov 2010 20:23:44 -0600, R. C. White wrote:

?Hi, Gene.

I *never* use hibernation :-)

Then you may as well delete that dormant file and stop wasting disk space.
As I recall, disabling hibernation does not erase the file; it just stops
using it. If the file does not exist when Win7 wants to hibernate, it
simply creates a new hiberfil.sys, almost as large as the installed RAM, so
that it can store the full contents of memory to be reloaded when it wakes
up from hibernation. The file has Hidden and System attributes, and is
always in the Root of the Boot Volume (typically C:\hiberfil.sys).

RC

When I'm down to where that ~2.85 GB matters to me, I'll either take
your advice or buy a new computer :-)

If (before deleting it in your reply) you read the report I posted,
you'd see that hibernation is available on this computer. I have no idea
whether that means it's enabled in hardware but not in software, or
enabled in both. If the latter, either installing Win 7 reenabled it, or
my attempt to disable it failed. It doesn't show in the start menu.

Obviously I didn't much care, although at this point it is becoming of
academic interest. Maybe.

--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-9/30/10)
Windows Live Mail Version 2011 (Build 15.4.3502.0922) in Win7 Ultimate x64
SP1 RC


"Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message
.. .

On Wed, 24 Nov 2010 09:33:25 -0600, R. C. White wrote:

?Hi, Gene.

OTOH, I thought I had hibernation disabled. Also, I installed Win 7 a
while ago, and the date on the hiberfile is 1/11/10 (January 11, not
November 1). Maybe it was created under Vista.

The two Hidden, System files hiberfil.sys and pagefile.sys should always
be
dated today, at the time the computer was turned on and Windows was
started.
Mine both now read "11/24/10 7:04 AM".

So, perhaps you do have hibernation disabled.

Or perhaps I haven't hibernated my computer since Jan 11...which was
(possibly) when I (or the Win 7 installer?) enabled it.

I *never* use hibernation :-)

No particular reason. I just don't.


--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)