Suspend to RAM

The_Other_One

Daemon Poster
Messages
1,321
I thought I should share this with you guys as most didn't seem to know about it. I updated the bios on my new comp and was just looking around to see what had changed. I got to power saving mode and saw Suspend to RAM. THAT is what I have been using, where it will suspend the system but basically shut it down(no activity what so ever) Very cool, and it really cuts down on the boot time.

On both of my systems, there's S1(XXX) I forget what was there ;P then S3(STR) Unless someone can tell me a reason Suspend TO Ram is bad, you guys really should try it :D
 
Even without the latest BIOS update, most people can use 'Hibernate' which does a similar thing except it saves to hard disk. Click START - SHUTDOWN. Hold down SHIFT key and 'Stand By' changes to 'Hibernate' before you click it.
 
True, but that takes harddrive space and a while to go to suspend. This is instant and you don't have to reboot
 
Yeah I understand how it could be instant because it doesn't have to load it onto a format which takes time, where as RAM can almost be instant.

What I don't get is, it can't all be put onto RAM, since RAM memory is deleted once the computer shuts down, and so couldn't have any info to bring it back, unless suspending to RAM keeps power to it to keep the memory, in which case, you have to keep the power switch on which I dont like to do when I go to bed

I would stil prefer to use the Hibernate option...thers no real problem with it taking about 5 seconds shutting down if its going to take about half the time starting up, especially since if your shutting it down, your not going to turn it on for a while anyway, and so why should the extra time hibernating matter? :p

Might try that sometime though, haven't really turned the feature on before.
I mean I only just tested hibernate on this machine which i had to turn on in Power settings, its kewl :D
 
All it probably does is rather than backing up the RAM, it just keeps it powered so nothing is lost. Probably about like PDA's do... You know when they loose power, you loose the info on them.

I just timed mine by hand... It takes less than 9 seconds to start up from this mode ;) A quick post with RAID and all takes at least that much time ;P
 
kewl, yea probs

Can you switch off the power to the computer though? See if it still retains it? If not, using Hibernate is defintiely more power friendly, especially if you have a laptop running from a battery or something since it needs no power at all to retain it, so is still better to use Hibernate
 
Yeah, I know you can with Hibernation, but I doubt it with suspend to ram... I mean just as with normal operation, when the RAM looses power, stuff is gone. I'll try it sometime.
 
Yeah am sure it would be lost. Thats why I'm saying Hibernation is a more power friendly solution :)
 
I tried cutting the power after suspend, and sure enough(as we all expected :p) It went though normal post. If you don't plan to cut the power, it's ideal. Though, my machine did act up one time after I shut it down. Just set on the POST screen. After the IDE detect, it only showed 2 drives, then skipped down a few lines and said some weird crap with 91G in there(only has an 80G o_O) That machine never did like to go to suspend...
 
Back
Top Bottom