New SSD / Windows freezes after idle

[bigboxes]

When I originally built this rig in 2009 I had the same problem with Windows freezing after idle. Usually it was the next morning. I never turn off my pc only rebooting when necessary. I would turn my monitor on and the screen's resolution would be at a much lower resolution. Having Windows detect the monitor usually resolved the issue. I figured out that setting "Turn off the display" and "Put the computer to sleep" to never in Power Option settings solved my issue.

That worked great for years. I had just assumed the issue had something to do with my KVM switch. I didn't care since I no longer had the issue. I just turned my monitor off when I went away for any length of time. Fast forward to Monday. I finally decided to upgrade my venerable WD Raptor to an SSD, the Samsung 840. Used to Norton Ghost to clone the drive and Samsung SSD Magician to set the over provisioning. I used DISKPART to check the alignment (offset at 1024) and verified that TRIM was set (it was). Yay! New SSD, fast boot up and shut down. Latency was reduced and programs loaded almost instantly. A good upgrade although the Raptor was no slouch.

Now, the problem with the leaving the pc at idle has returned. Sometimes the resolution is changed to a lower resolution, but sometimes the video is blank and non-responsive. The pc is still running, but the video will not resume. I have to reboot the pc to bring the video back up. I checked the power management settings. Changed the ones as shown above to "never" again. Next morning the same problems return after a lengthy idle.

I went to the advance settings of the Power Options. I set the Hard disk to never turn off. Set Sleep and Hibernate to Never and Allow hybrid sleep to Off. I also set the Display to never turn off.

After all this I'm still having the same issues. I'm at a loss. I have not recently updated the video drivers. The only change is the new SSD. Any advice to fix the issue?

 

[bigboxes]

Had to do a hard reset this morning to bring back the video. PC was still running. Almost a hundred views so far. Somebody has had this happen to them and knows the answer!

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

it might be your power saving features on the CPU through the bios. Turn off the stepping, turbo, C1E, and all that crap

 

[bigboxes]

it might be your power saving features on the CPU through the bios. Turn off the stepping, turbo, C1E, and all that crap

Sorry I did not get back to you sooner. I wanted to test everything out before I declared a success/failure. I tried all that you suggested. Problem still exists. However, I did find a technet thread that seemed to be speaking of my issues.

Windows 7 Freezes when Resumed from Idle due to Screen Blanking

I did try changing the suspend mode to S3 only in the bios as this worked for one of the posters with an Asus mobo. Did not work for me. This is really frustrating as the only difference with my current setup and the last working setup is the change to the Samsung 840 from the Raptor. Could the SSD be defective and causing me these issues?

 

[denis280]

I would try a sfc /scannow. wont hurt.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Make sure you have the latest firmware for your 840. There was another release that fixed problems like yours.

 

[bigboxes]

I would try a sfc /scannow. wont hurt.

Did that before. No integrity issues. Ran it again just to make sure.

Make sure you have the latest firmware for your 840. There was another release that fixed problems like yours.

I already have downloaded the latest firmware update when I installed the drive. There isn't a newer version as of today.

 

[Puppies04]

Any options in your bios relating to power saving features for S-ATA ports? Do you have any samsung controller software installed?

 

[bigboxes]

Any options in your bios relating to power saving features for S-ATA ports? Do you have any samsung controller software installed?

No power options for the SATA ports in the bios. The driver for the 840 was installed automatically when I installed the SSD into the PC.

I updated the chipset software and bios last night. It reset all my settings. That's ok. I wanted to undo my overclock anyways so that I could rule that out. Unfortunately, I awoke with a blank screen and had to do a hard reset. Went out for lunch today, came back, turned on the monitor and the pc had lost the information about my monitor. I had to click the Detect button and my resolution came back. Frustrating. Anyone know if this points to the SSD (after all it's memory)? I didn't have these issues with the six year old Raptor.

 

[bigboxes]

I just thought of something else. I installed a new 32" LED LCD TV in my office around x-mas. I ran an HDMI cable from the video card to the new TV. I then extended the desktop to both displays. It's great for playing video on the TV while still leaving other pc work to be done on the 20" monitor. Could this setup cause my issues when I turn off the monitor when I am away? I know the SSD installation was later. I will troubleshoot tonight and report back.

 

[sm625]

Despite all the praises windows 7 gets, it has always been a buggy mess when it comes to multimonitors and sleeping. I have a computer that simply refuses to sleep, even though it used to sleep just fine before I reinstalled windows this last time. The reverse is also true: computers will sleep, hibernate, or turn off the display even when they are told not to.

 

[Ketchup]

Have you checked for any options in Catalyst Control Center that may control this behavior?

Try telling your monitor to switch through connections. Does your screen ever come up?

In the 'Power" menu of the BIOS, what option are you using for 'Suspend Mode'?

 

[nature1ders]

I declare RMA mobo

 

[mikeymikec]

I declare RMA mobo

I don't think that'll wash with the mobo manufacturer. "My PC acts funny therefore it's your board that's the problem."

I think it may be a software issue, possibly drivers. What about AHCI / chipset drivers? In my experience, if there's a failure in stability that isn't either under load or shortly after switching on, there's still a good chance that it is a hardware problem, but IMO a better chance that it is a software issue.

However I would also talk to Samsung and ask for help. They may have experience of the issue or are aware of stability issues with certain hardware combinations.

 

[nature1ders]

I want to say I've never experienced such an issue that was not hardware related, for the most part if it behaves oddly this way it's hardware. I think it's mobo

 

[Steltek]

Have you tried to disable power saving mode on the power tab in Device Manager for the SSD?

 

[Dstoop]

I just thought of something else. I installed a new 32" LED LCD TV in my office around x-mas. I ran an HDMI cable from the video card to the new TV. I then extended the desktop to both displays. It's great for playing video on the TV while still leaving other pc work to be done on the 20" monitor. Could this setup cause my issues when I turn off the monitor when I am away? I know the SSD installation was later. I will troubleshoot tonight and report back.

Three things i'd check:

1. Disconnect the HDMI from your PC and see if it still does it. I remember with my 5850 the HDMI out to my TV did all sorts of sketchy things. Whenever my main monitor went into powersaver mode, it would autodetect the TV and switch that to the primary monitor even though it wasn't turned on. Turn the monitor back on and... it wouldn't swap back. I'd have to turn the TV on and swap them back from there. It was such a PITA I just resigned myself to leaving the HDMI unplugged until I was using it. Might be your problem too.

2. Check your SSD firmware again. Look at the samsung forums for known issues with the current firmware. Many times SSD manufacturers will release a new firmware to fix a specific issue, but unless you actually have that issue it may not be the best firmware for you. I know with my Crucial M4, the "latest" was actually riddled with problems.

3. What version of your video card drivers are you using? I know between 12.5 and 12.9 many people had issues with hard locks when the monitor turns off. 7xxx series cards seemed to have the most issues with it, not sure if they span all the way back to the 4xxx cards, but a driver update may help.

 

[bigboxes]

Have you checked for any options in Catalyst Control Center that may control this behavior?

Try telling your monitor to switch through connections. Does your screen ever come up?

In the 'Power" menu of the BIOS, what option are you using for 'Suspend Mode'?

The CCC is a weak bit of software. Not much to adjust even under the "advanced" menu. Nothing I do with the monitor changes things. In the BIOS I am given the suspend options of Auto, S1 and S3. I currently have it set back at Auto after having tried S3 (see above).

Three things i'd check:

1. Disconnect the HDMI from your PC and see if it still does it. I remember with my 5850 the HDMI out to my TV did all sorts of sketchy things. Whenever my main monitor went into powersaver mode, it would autodetect the TV and switch that to the primary monitor even though it wasn't turned on. Turn the monitor back on and... it wouldn't swap back. I'd have to turn the TV on and swap them back from there. It was such a PITA I just resigned myself to leaving the HDMI unplugged until I was using it. Might be your problem too.

2. Check your SSD firmware again. Look at the samsung forums for known issues with the current firmware. Many times SSD manufacturers will release a new firmware to fix a specific issue, but unless you actually have that issue it may not be the best firmware for you. I know with my Crucial M4, the "latest" was actually riddled with problems.

3. What version of your video card drivers are you using? I know between 12.5 and 12.9 many people had issues with hard locks when the monitor turns off. 7xxx series cards seemed to have the most issues with it, not sure if they span all the way back to the 4xxx cards, but a driver update may help.

1. I already troubleshooted that by disconnecting the HDMI cable. Not much difference.

2. I did make sure that the firmware was updated to the latest when I installed the SSD. Is that what is causing the problem? I do not know.

3. In the Device Manager it says that I have v8.85. Windows says the driver I have is up to date. I am going to try to install the latest driver from AMD (v13.1) and see what happens.

Before I give an update on my endevours I just want to say thank you for you guys for your assistance in troubleshooting this issue. I am a pc tech, but sometimes it just takes another set of eyes to find the issue.

Things I have tried:

* Set the power options in Windows to never turn off (hard disk, monitor, etc.)
* Turned off power savings features in BIOS
* Changed the suspend mode to S3 (worked for another ASUS mobo user)
* Ran sfc /scannow (twice). No integrity issues
* Made sure SSD had the latest firmware
* Updated the chipset software and bios (ASUS P6T Deluxe v2)
* Undid my overclock :'(
* Unplugged television from HDMI input
* Checked Catalyst Control Center for settings applicable for my issue (none found)

So, a few days ago my videos stopped playing (in any player). My music (mp3) stopped playing in Winamp. I could not figure out why the PC was acting in this manner. I rebooted and number of times (always the first thing you try as it solves many issues more often than not). I tried different players. Nothing. I had been having desktop issues as well. I thought I would do a fresh install, but I can't do a secure erase, even in the bootable USB proggie that you are supposed to use when the Samsung Magician software doesn't work. Samsung says the SSD memory is frozen. I was so frustrated that I took out the 840 and put back in the Raptor. Made me miss the old girl! Over six years of operating uptime and she still purrs along. However, when left overnight the screen still resizes. I'm guessing that Windows loses the display signal. I don't know. Instead of my NEC it just shows generic PnP monitor. I click Detect and it sees my monitor and my resolution returns to normal. So, I am still having the display issue with the old HDD installed.

Today, I ran the latest memtest86+ (v4.20) and it found no errors in one pass. I will run it overnight just to make sure. Outside of that what could it be? SSD? Video card? Mobo?

 

[bigboxes]

After installing AMD Catalyst Driver v13.1 windows now says I have display driver v8.970.100.7000. I will update any changes that I encounter in the next few days.

 

[mlc]

1) are you still using a dual monitor setup.. or does the problem also occur when configured to use a single monitor?

2) How long is the HDMI cable running to your monitor?.... Can/Have you tried another cable ? HDMI's are more suseptible to problems carrying signals, etc.. so may be worth a try.

 

[bigboxes]

1) are you still using a dual monitor setup.. or does the problem also occur when configured to use a single monitor?

2) How long is the HDMI cable running to your monitor?.... Can/Have you tried another cable ? HDMI's are more suseptible to problems carrying signals, etc.. so may be worth a try.

Thanks for the response.

1)I have unplugged the television as I said above. Just plugging the HDMI connector in as needed. The problem persist either way.

2) I'm using a 15ft Ultra Slim Series High Performance HDMI® Cable from Monoprice.

 

[bigboxes]

FYI, I just looked at the newer version of CCC and there's a crapload more options than was available in my original version. It will take me some time to go through all that. Any suggestions to their settings would be appreciated.

 

[bigboxes]

Update time! Alright, I RMA'd the SSD. I think it was having issues and sent it back to the Egg today. They'll ship me back a replacement when they get the old one. Hopefully, I'll have no issues with the new one. This time I'm going to do a fresh install. It will take a while to get things back to the way I like them, but for now my Raptor is making me quite happy.

Now, I don't think that the SSD was the cause of my video issues. I think it all started when I hooked up the television (2nd monitor to Windows) via HDMI. Even when I unhook the cable and have CCC detect the monitor (just the original one) I'm still having the issue where Windows doesn't detect my monitor and just has a generic Pnp monitor settings. Another step I did last night was to uninstall all my drivers and CCC. Following that I used Drive Cleaner Pro to make sure there was no remnants of any of the drivers from the past. Windows showed driver v8.85 so I was back to my starting point. Went away for a while and still had the issue. Then reinstalled the latest CCC and drivers. Still having the issue.

So, everyone is now up to date. If you have any suggestions (other than try a nVidia card :awe: ) please chime in. Thanks for everyone's advice!

 

[bigboxes]

I was just thinking that I wasn't having any issues lately with my display as it concerns to this issue. I turn on the monitor for my main rig and no problems. No shifting, no resizing of the resolution, no redetecting of the video card. I kept thinking, "When did that happen?"

A month ago I rebuilt my file server. I used the RMA'd Samsung SSD as the boot drive. After working out all the kinks it has run flawlessly. In fact, it's been better than ever. Mapped drives are accessed almost instantly like they were in the computer I was using to access the files. All the flaky issues that I had in the past were gone. You are probably wondering, "Where is he going with this?" Well, both of my computers (main rig & file server) are connected via a KVM switch. Could the dying file server have had an effect on the video on my main rig when sharing the keyboard/monitor/mouse through the KVM switch?