Win XP pro "hanging" problem

[Jassi]

I have an almost new IBM/Lenovo T60 that I got from my company and it is equipped with Win Xp Pro. I've been using Win XP for years now (2 with my personal laptop) and I've never seen this before (atleast not 100% of the time). If I put my laptop in sleep mode or lock it, I can't log back in. I get to the password screen and enter it in and then it just hangs at a blank screen for a long time.

I've been extremely careful with installing software (just the bare minimum that I need for work) so I don't know what could be the issue. Can someone please guide me to an explanation and hopefully a fix? I can provide more info if needed.

Jassi

 

[Tarrant64]

When it hangs with the blank screen do you mean 'no display' blank screen or just the desktop background with nothing else.

If that's the case a temporary way around that is to kickstart explorer.exe.

Ctrl-Alt-Del->File->Run->explorer.exe

You shouldnt' have to do this, but if the problem doesn't get resolved anytime soon, this should get you by.

 

[Jassi]

Just the desktop background. So this trick will work? I'll try it the next time it happens.

 

[Tarrant64]

Yes it should. If explorer.exe is already running under processes. Just kill it and launch it again with the method I listed above.

 

[Jassi]

I can't use CTRL-ALT-DEL to solve this problem, when I hold them down it does nothing

Any other ideas?

 

[Tarrant64]

You could attempt a System Restore.

Boot into safe mode. When you login it should ask you if you want to do a restore.

If you can't get this far...I don't know honestly. I will think it over during lunch.

 

[Tarrant64]

Had lunch, can't think of anything still. I thought Chicken Alfredo would help, guess I was wrong.

Have you tried the System Restore yet?

 

[Jassi]

I don't want to mess with permanent stuff but I might have to speak with the IT guy (we are a small company and the IT is outsourced to another company which is some distance away). I do have another variable and a theory that someone may be able to use to help me out. My main account on this laptop uses the company's domain and every time I login while I am not in my office (I have to travel frequently) I get a message that my roaming profile cannot be accessed and it will use a local profile. My question is, can putting it into standby while I am not near the domain cause problems with my local profile. I can understand that it can't log me in because it can't find a profile. If this is true, any idea on how I can fix it?

 

[jcgrcm]

I guess turning off 'Prompt for password when computer resumes from standby" isn't an option (corp security?) in the Power Options control panel?

Is your machine set to hibernate or standby? When it goes into hibernation it will flush the entire contents of ram to a hidden file in the root directory, and restore when you go back in. That can sometimes be a fairly slow process.

Anything in the event log? It might be trying to connect out to a domain controller, Novell server (if you have netware installed), etc.

 

[Tarrant64]

Originally posted by: Jassi
I don't want to mess with permanent stuff but I might have to speak with the IT guy (we are a small company and the IT is outsourced to another company which is some distance away). I do have another variable and a theory that someone may be able to use to help me out. My main account on this laptop uses the company's domain and every time I login while I am not in my office (I have to travel frequently) I get a message that my roaming profile cannot be accessed and it will use a local profile. My question is, can putting it into standby while I am not near the domain cause problems with my local profile. I can understand that it can't log me in because it can't find a profile. If this is true, any idea on how I can fix it?

Jassi...just out of curiosity are you working out of Lincoln, Nebraska office?

 

[jcgrcm]

Oops, I didn't see your last reply before I replied.

Anyway, when you first login (not coming out of standby), if you click the 'Options' button on the login screen it should give you a listbox that contains the domain name and your machine name; if you select your machine name it should just log you in directly to your machine and ignore the domain.

It should log you in using a cached version of your id, and it might even give you a warning to that effect. You might want to have a local id on the machine just in case you have login problems.

 

[Swampster]

Jassi,
As a system ages, it gets weaker and weaker in its ability to recover from Sleep or Hibernation modes. The easiest solution is to just get in the habit of turning these options off (if corporate will allow it) and then do a standard ShutDown when you are ready to quit the session.

To answer your later question . . . yes, it would be totally confused if you were logged into a domain when it went to sleep and it couldn't find it when it woke up.

the Florida Swampster