Use Standby and Hibernate
Published: November 7, 2002
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Summary
The power management features in Windows XP include standby and hibernate. This article covers how standby and hibernate settings can help you manage your battery power, giving you maximum mobility when you are away from your desk for an extended period of time.
Let's say you are in a day-long training course. You bring your Tablet PC to take notes and check e-mail messages, but there are periods of time when you are not using your Tablet PC—for example, during certain group activities and breaks.
To save battery power, you set up your computer so that when you press the power button, your computer goes into standby mode: a low power state that saves your work and quickly returns you to your desktop when you power up your computer again. You also select a power scheme that automatically puts your computer in standby mode after being idle for a certain period of time. That way, if you forget to manually put the computer on standby, it will automatically go into standby after it has been idle for a specified amount of time.
As a safety precaution, you set up your computer to go into hibernation when it reaches a specified low level of battery power. When your Tablet PC goes into hibernation, your opened files and your desktop are saved to the hard drive and your computer shuts down.
With your Tablet PC, you should use standby to conserve battery power when you are away from your office and you should use hibernate as a backup system so that if you lose all battery power your information will be saved.
Standby: Conserve Battery Power
Standby reduces the power consumption of your computer by cutting power to hardware components that you are not using. Standby can cut power to peripheral devices, your monitor, even your hard drive, but maintains power to your computer's memory so you don't lose your work.
You can put your computer in standby automatically or manually. Automatic standby is handled by your computer through the power scheme settings. If your computer is idle for a specified period of time, it goes into power-saving standby mode. Manual standby requires you to specify an action that puts your computer in standby mode—closing the lid of your computer, pressing the power button, or pressing the sleep button. You can also select standby when you shut down Windows from the Start button. For the best management of your battery power, you should consider initiating both automatic and manual standby.
Important: Airlines might request that you turn off your computer during certain portions of the flight, such as takeoff and landing. To comply with this request, you must turn off your computer completely. Make sure that your computer is not on standby and that you shut down your computer completely. Also, if your Tablet PC is equipped with a cellular modem, make sure that it is turned off.
How to put your computer on standby automatically
1. | On the taskbar, tap the Start button, and then tap Control Panel. |
2. | Tap Performance and Maintenance, and then tap Power Options. |
3. | On the Power Schemes tab, under Power schemes, tap the down arrow and then select the power scheme that you want to use. |
Under Settings for power scheme, you can review System standby settings and adjust them if you prefer.
For more information on power schemes, see the how-to article Use Power Schemes.
How to put your computer on standby manually
1. | On the taskbar, tap the Start button, and then tap Control Panel. |
2. | Tap Performance and Maintenance, and then tap Power Options. |
3. | Tap the Advanced tab. |
4. | If your Tablet PC has a lid (convertible style), under When I close the lid of my portable computer or When I press the power button on my computer, tap Stand by. – or – If your Tablet PC does not have a lid (slate tablet style), under When I press the power button on my computer, tap Stand by. |
5. | Tap OK. |
Your computer will go on standby when you close the lid or press the power button of your Tablet PC. You can also put your computer into standby by tapping Start, then Shut Down, and then selecting Stand by from the list. Or your computer may have a dedicated sleep button that can be used to put your Tablet PC on standby. See your Tablet PC manufacturer's instructions.
To come out of standby, you should press the power button or open the lid of your computer. For security reasons, you will be required to log on when you resume from standby. If you want to resume from standby without having to log on, go to the Advanced tab on the Power Options Properties dialog box and clear the Prompt for password when computer resumes from standby check box.
Note: If your battery dies while you are on standby, you could lose unsaved work. See Hibernate: Avoid Losing Your Work, below.
Hibernate: Avoid Losing Your Work
Hibernate saves an image of your desktop with all open files and documents, and then it powers down your computer. When you turn on power, your files and documents are open on your desktop exactly as you left them.
How to put your Tablet PC into hibernation when your battery power reaches a critically low level
1. | On the taskbar, tap the Start button, and then tap Control Panel. |
2. | Tap Performance and Maintenance, and then tap Power Options. |
3. | Tap the Hibernate tab, select the Enable hibernation check box, and tap Apply. |
4. | Tap the Alarms tab. |
5. | Under Critical battery alarm, select the Activate critical battery alarm when power level reaches check box and specify the power level by moving the slider. |
6. | Tap the Alarm Action button under the slider, and under Alarm action, select the When the alarm goes off the computer will: check box. |
7. | In the list, select Hibernate. 
Important: Your Tablet PC must come out of standby to go into hibernation. During this brief period, your computer is on. For this reason, when the airline requests that you turn off your computer, you must completely shut down your Tablet PC. |
Troubleshooting
Your system doesn't go into standby mode after the specified amount of idle time has passed.
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition automatically performs certain maintenance tasks to improve performance and reliability. These tasks require reading and writing to the hard drive. When these tasks are performed the idle timer is reset, which affects the amount of time it takes your Tablet PC to go into standby mode.
Other automated tasks can also reset the idle timer and delay your computer from entering standby mode, including:
| • | Scheduled tasks |
| • | Paging operations |
| • | The loading of services or drivers |
| • | Windows Update checking the system state |
| • | Event logging |
| • | Network detection, such as DHCP or Autonet |
| • | Third-party services, such as quota software or an antivirus program |
To help eliminate the delay of entering standby mode while your Tablet PC is on battery power:
| • | Manually put your computer in standby mode if it is going to be idle for more than a few minutes. |
| • | Turn off your wireless or LAN connection to prevent automated network tasks from occurring. |
| • | Set up scheduled tasks to occur only if you are plugged into AC power. |
