Gordon wrote:
>What is the difference between "Hibernate" and "Stand By"?>>


They are a function of the motherboard (or more accurately the BIOS).

So they may differ on different computers.  On most, hibernation puts the 
state of the computer into memory, then shuts everything down. On 
awakening, the boot process is bypassed and the state is revived from 
memory.  Some systems can have problems in coming out of hibernation (older 
Compaqs were notorious for this, but they aren't alone).  On shutdown, a 
minimum amount of memory is retained in an active state, from which the 
system revives itself. If that memory is insufficient, then the system will 
not be able to waken itself, and all you get is the blank screen. Unless 
you're clever enough to rewrite the BIOS, there's nothing you can do about 
this other than to ensure there's only a minimum of things open when you 
place the machine into this state.
Therefore Hibernation works in some cases, but not in others.

Standby can also vary according to the design of your BIOS. In most cases, 
this will shut down the monitor and the hard drives, and all but essential 
power supplies. RAM remains fully alive, therefore recovery is much faster. 
This is the state I find most effective overnight on my present computer, 
though on my previous one, hibernation was my preferred choice.

Most modern mobos have both options which you will find in Control 
Panel/Power Options. In some cases, you can modify exactly what you want 
Standby to do.

Don Penlington


 From the Beach at Surfers Paradise in sunny Queensland.
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