I'm gonna try to make this as short and straightforward as possible - tough job. I do have lot of things to say, because anything in all of this could be related.
OS version is Windows Ultimate 64 Bits.
So what happened is I made quite a lot of changes on a system that, on the other hand, still has the same "core hardware" - CPU and Mobo did not change. I won't go into details for now, you can see the actual setup in my sig, if you think it might be important I'll post another bit on the specific changes. But I do have to mention that I reinstalled Windows anew on a SSD. Everything went smoothly upon booting and windows install. Very clean install I might add, all the latest drives were ready on a USB stick, along with my favorites applications, all downloaded the day before. Updates went smoothly. Three things I did for the first time, and why I'm telling you this : disabled hibernation, shrank page files a tiny bit (I just wanted it under 5 GB), turned off drive indexing, but for the rest I went just like I would on a HDD.
Then two weeks later I bought another HDD, intending it for internal system backup. Installed FreeFileSync to backup data, and Acronis True Image (complete version) for system backup,. That's when I had my first problem. When I was done installing Acronis and restarted the PC, three things happened : my Rocket Dock application did not start on logon; my internet connection would not resolve; Acronis, when I opened it, made everything freeze. I could not even use the keyboard in the start menu, nor access any of the system tools (they would just load indefinitely if I could even get to them with the messed up start menu thing) in order to get a feel of what was going on. Then I realized upon a couple test reboot that the system would just freeze if I attempted anything while windows was trying to resume the internet connection. So I uninstalled both Acronis and FFS with Your Uninstaller, one at a time, but even when both were uninstalled I still had the internet connection problem, and Rocket Dock not running on logon. So then I used system restore to restore to the first point before the installation of both programs. It worked, but from then on it also took twice as long for my SSD to boot Windows (meaning I could see the dots becoming the window, and it shine one time, which I was very happy not to see since two-three weeks, the dots usually barely crossed two times before logging on). Not only that, but the booting of my desktop itself was kind of messy. Rebooted a couple of times, shut down completely too, still messy.
So then I undid the restore, and restored back to where I was before. Both "faulty" backup programs were still uninstalled, of course, as it was this way when I first restored. No more hassle with Rocket Dock or the internet connection neither, but the SSD still presented that drop in speed I mentioned above. I was starting to think I had messed up my OS entirely, but I still had a couple of ideas. One of them, how I finally resolved this, was so ridiculous I now wonder if it did not weakened the system or something, although it seemed so simple and logical at the time. What I did is : I reinstalled both backup programs (weird move I know, just wait for the rest of it!!), restarted, had the same exact bug, so I restarted again, and instead waited for Windows to be done with its searching and not finding internet network. I knew that took about five totally unreal minutes with the recent similar experience, and you know that when it takes so long for Windows to find that something is wrong, then something is way wrong. When finally the red X appeared on the icon and I could move about freely, I just went to my programs, and forced Rocket Dock to open. Magic : internet resolved instantly to my network, Rocket Dock opened without a single glitch, and I could now open Acronis without any problem. Restarted : SSD was even faster than before all those problems (now it logs on just BEFORE the second time the dots cross their path), Rocket Dock started on logon about the same time that internet connexion was ready - pretty much instantly. After a couple days all seemed well so I set my backup routines with both programs, made a batch file out of my FFS settings, set it up with task manager, tested both setups when I was there to be sure that task manager did wake the PC, successfully backup, then sent it back to sleep, and only then I changed the timing settings to when I knew I was away. Since then I kept an eye on log files to be sure, but for some reason I did not notice the actual bug I have until one week later.
So here it is, the bug that will illuminate why it took so many words to get there : system does not resolve from Sleep properly. And I must mention, this does NOT happen when the backup programs make their routines, because I crosschecked the hours and it just doesn't match. But still I can trace the bug in Event Viewer back to the very day I set up those routines. It just happens randomly : when I come back to the sleeping PC after an hour or so, or when I come back from work, or whenever in between successive come-and-go, but just not after the backups - each morning I can wake my PC without any problem, and FFS runs around 6. Acronis runs twice a month saturday afternoon, it just did backup by itself for the first time this weekend and I was aware of the bug, so I can confirm I had no problem waking the PC up when I came back from work. The bug itself is labeled in Event Viewer as a Kernel-power error 41 Task Category 63 - all seven occurrences have that same ID. "The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly."
Two other "special events" : the first, related without a doubt with the bug, is that one time the PC went to sleep as I was using it, precisely typing a message here. I could then resume from self-induced sleep by stroking a key, and the browser was still up with the post waiting. And even if the next event is probably much worse, it's that first one I can't stomach. The second event, probably not related, happened when I was testing a Prime-ok 5GHz OC in progress : I had a BSOD while gaming. At the time I was not aware of the bug, so I just worked on the OC a bit more, re-Prime, replayed the game from the same level for four hours straight, went another day with it without any incident doing random stuff, and only when I was through all that I reverted back to my 4.8 GHz, which I liked better anyway, my personal sweet spot - unless I can get that 4.9 to run just below 1.4V and be just as stable. From results I saw this far the actual OS does seem to like it a noticeable bit better than the 4.8. Digression, sorry.
To resume, four possible causes :
1- Acronis - it is after installing it, and not FFS, that the problem first occured.
2- FFS - although none of the kernel-power errors occured AFTER FreeFileSync backed up my files, it did happen three times out of seven about three hours BEFORE the scheduled task. That's a lot of time and I don't quite see how it could be related, but tought this was worth mentioning.
3- Rocket Dock. The resolving of the first problem would seem to indicate it somehow as a possible cause. I've read the disclaimer concerning Win 7 64 Bits and Rocket Dock; I also read quite a lot of serious posts from users having it running without a glitch. I was among those in my previous install, and the one before that. If I had to choose, Acronis, FFS would go anytime before Rocket Dock ever will. I may be wrong with this, but I'm a huge fan, it's the cleanest solution ever to a heavy set of shortcuts without having a cluttered desktop. Although if you know one that's better I may become I huge fan.
4- Added HDD - PSU problem. That was discussed in another post as an unlikely possibility and probable OS sleep pattern cause, hence why I'm here. If you take a look at my rig, there's maybe a 450-500W load top there, I went 100W over just for that reason. Thermaltake PSU calculator was giving me 470W with a 30% wear level when I was planning the upgrades, based on that I sold the HCG-520M I had and bought the 620M. I'm a steady user that likes a speedy PC, but I'm no power user. Just can't believe that adding a single HDD to a system running mighty fine would bring it to a dangerous limit, but as the HDD addition happened just prior to the backup programs install (cleaned, primary partitioned and formatted it through command prompt) I still feel I can't skip that part.
I could probably go over all this once again and try to trim some, but I'm getting tired right now I hope you'll find the patience to put up with this.
Thanks!
OS version is Windows Ultimate 64 Bits.
So what happened is I made quite a lot of changes on a system that, on the other hand, still has the same "core hardware" - CPU and Mobo did not change. I won't go into details for now, you can see the actual setup in my sig, if you think it might be important I'll post another bit on the specific changes. But I do have to mention that I reinstalled Windows anew on a SSD. Everything went smoothly upon booting and windows install. Very clean install I might add, all the latest drives were ready on a USB stick, along with my favorites applications, all downloaded the day before. Updates went smoothly. Three things I did for the first time, and why I'm telling you this : disabled hibernation, shrank page files a tiny bit (I just wanted it under 5 GB), turned off drive indexing, but for the rest I went just like I would on a HDD.
Then two weeks later I bought another HDD, intending it for internal system backup. Installed FreeFileSync to backup data, and Acronis True Image (complete version) for system backup,. That's when I had my first problem. When I was done installing Acronis and restarted the PC, three things happened : my Rocket Dock application did not start on logon; my internet connection would not resolve; Acronis, when I opened it, made everything freeze. I could not even use the keyboard in the start menu, nor access any of the system tools (they would just load indefinitely if I could even get to them with the messed up start menu thing) in order to get a feel of what was going on. Then I realized upon a couple test reboot that the system would just freeze if I attempted anything while windows was trying to resume the internet connection. So I uninstalled both Acronis and FFS with Your Uninstaller, one at a time, but even when both were uninstalled I still had the internet connection problem, and Rocket Dock not running on logon. So then I used system restore to restore to the first point before the installation of both programs. It worked, but from then on it also took twice as long for my SSD to boot Windows (meaning I could see the dots becoming the window, and it shine one time, which I was very happy not to see since two-three weeks, the dots usually barely crossed two times before logging on). Not only that, but the booting of my desktop itself was kind of messy. Rebooted a couple of times, shut down completely too, still messy.
So then I undid the restore, and restored back to where I was before. Both "faulty" backup programs were still uninstalled, of course, as it was this way when I first restored. No more hassle with Rocket Dock or the internet connection neither, but the SSD still presented that drop in speed I mentioned above. I was starting to think I had messed up my OS entirely, but I still had a couple of ideas. One of them, how I finally resolved this, was so ridiculous I now wonder if it did not weakened the system or something, although it seemed so simple and logical at the time. What I did is : I reinstalled both backup programs (weird move I know, just wait for the rest of it!!), restarted, had the same exact bug, so I restarted again, and instead waited for Windows to be done with its searching and not finding internet network. I knew that took about five totally unreal minutes with the recent similar experience, and you know that when it takes so long for Windows to find that something is wrong, then something is way wrong. When finally the red X appeared on the icon and I could move about freely, I just went to my programs, and forced Rocket Dock to open. Magic : internet resolved instantly to my network, Rocket Dock opened without a single glitch, and I could now open Acronis without any problem. Restarted : SSD was even faster than before all those problems (now it logs on just BEFORE the second time the dots cross their path), Rocket Dock started on logon about the same time that internet connexion was ready - pretty much instantly. After a couple days all seemed well so I set my backup routines with both programs, made a batch file out of my FFS settings, set it up with task manager, tested both setups when I was there to be sure that task manager did wake the PC, successfully backup, then sent it back to sleep, and only then I changed the timing settings to when I knew I was away. Since then I kept an eye on log files to be sure, but for some reason I did not notice the actual bug I have until one week later.
So here it is, the bug that will illuminate why it took so many words to get there : system does not resolve from Sleep properly. And I must mention, this does NOT happen when the backup programs make their routines, because I crosschecked the hours and it just doesn't match. But still I can trace the bug in Event Viewer back to the very day I set up those routines. It just happens randomly : when I come back to the sleeping PC after an hour or so, or when I come back from work, or whenever in between successive come-and-go, but just not after the backups - each morning I can wake my PC without any problem, and FFS runs around 6. Acronis runs twice a month saturday afternoon, it just did backup by itself for the first time this weekend and I was aware of the bug, so I can confirm I had no problem waking the PC up when I came back from work. The bug itself is labeled in Event Viewer as a Kernel-power error 41 Task Category 63 - all seven occurrences have that same ID. "The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly."
Two other "special events" : the first, related without a doubt with the bug, is that one time the PC went to sleep as I was using it, precisely typing a message here. I could then resume from self-induced sleep by stroking a key, and the browser was still up with the post waiting. And even if the next event is probably much worse, it's that first one I can't stomach. The second event, probably not related, happened when I was testing a Prime-ok 5GHz OC in progress : I had a BSOD while gaming. At the time I was not aware of the bug, so I just worked on the OC a bit more, re-Prime, replayed the game from the same level for four hours straight, went another day with it without any incident doing random stuff, and only when I was through all that I reverted back to my 4.8 GHz, which I liked better anyway, my personal sweet spot - unless I can get that 4.9 to run just below 1.4V and be just as stable. From results I saw this far the actual OS does seem to like it a noticeable bit better than the 4.8. Digression, sorry.
To resume, four possible causes :
1- Acronis - it is after installing it, and not FFS, that the problem first occured.
2- FFS - although none of the kernel-power errors occured AFTER FreeFileSync backed up my files, it did happen three times out of seven about three hours BEFORE the scheduled task. That's a lot of time and I don't quite see how it could be related, but tought this was worth mentioning.
3- Rocket Dock. The resolving of the first problem would seem to indicate it somehow as a possible cause. I've read the disclaimer concerning Win 7 64 Bits and Rocket Dock; I also read quite a lot of serious posts from users having it running without a glitch. I was among those in my previous install, and the one before that. If I had to choose, Acronis, FFS would go anytime before Rocket Dock ever will. I may be wrong with this, but I'm a huge fan, it's the cleanest solution ever to a heavy set of shortcuts without having a cluttered desktop. Although if you know one that's better I may become I huge fan.
4- Added HDD - PSU problem. That was discussed in another post as an unlikely possibility and probable OS sleep pattern cause, hence why I'm here. If you take a look at my rig, there's maybe a 450-500W load top there, I went 100W over just for that reason. Thermaltake PSU calculator was giving me 470W with a 30% wear level when I was planning the upgrades, based on that I sold the HCG-520M I had and bought the 620M. I'm a steady user that likes a speedy PC, but I'm no power user. Just can't believe that adding a single HDD to a system running mighty fine would bring it to a dangerous limit, but as the HDD addition happened just prior to the backup programs install (cleaned, primary partitioned and formatted it through command prompt) I still feel I can't skip that part.
I could probably go over all this once again and try to trim some, but I'm getting tired right now I hope you'll find the patience to put up with this.
Thanks!
