Over the years, as well as recently, we have encountered clients with PCs that won't properly shut down, turn on, and/or that otherwise seem to be stuck asleep, in a slumber, not quite on, and not quite off.

Oftentimes, we find that in these types of cases, hibernation is enabled on the desktop, laptop, or server. Hibernation is a useful feature whereby "the contents of RAM are written to non-volatile storage such as a hard disk, as a file or on a separate partition, before powering off the computer. When the computer is restarted it reloads the content of memory and is restored to the state it was in when hibernation was invoked." (from Wikipedia)

We have found that, by and large, the only (and most useful) usage for hibernation is when clients have desktops or laptops connected to battery backup units, also known as UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) devices. Oftentimes, the easiest way to resolve issues where computers won't properly shut down, turn on, or wake up, is to disable hibernation altogether. Sometimes, one will need to delete the existing (and corrupt) hibernation data before the computer can properly boot or reboot.

If you have similar troubles, try disabling hibernation, or if you can't figure it out, of course feel free to contact us.