When my previous laptop gave up the ghost, I purchased a new Toshiba Satellite computer, with Windows 8.1 on it. Before I did much of anything else, I upgraded to Windows 10. Then I set out to set the “sleep options.” I use the sleep options to quiet and darken the computer, because it is in my bedroom, and the light of the screen and the exhaust fan interfere with my sleep.
Lock does not put the computer to sleep, it just locks the keyboard and displays the login screen. Sleep does not turn off the computer; it does some file-saving, then shuts off the screen and locks the keyboard. The exhaust fan keeps running. Hibernate saves the machine’s state, then, while not doing a complete shutdown, turns off the computer – the exhaust fan stops, and devices I have powered by the computer’s USB also power down.
I like hibernate, because it turns everything off, but boots faster than a complete shutdown. I set it up so that I can enter the hibernate state by pressing the power button . After about a week (more or less), I awoke in the middle of the night and discovered that it was probably the light from the screen that woke me up. Somehow, while “hibernating,” the computer decided to power up. That was the primary reason that I also associated closing the screen with entering the hibernate state.
Then, last week, I woke in the middle of the night – light was leaking out between the base of the computer and the screen. I opened it up, then clicked the icon to perform a shutdown.
Now that I shut down my computer every evening, all should be well, right? Well, no. Sometimes when I power up, the Toshiba screen comes up within a few seconds; sometimes it does not. When the product splash screen does not appear quickly, it will not ever (OK, at least an hour…) continue to boot up. My only recourse, in that case, is to hold the power button for a few seconds until the power cuts off. Then, re-push the power button and try again. Usually, it will boot the second time.
Those issues are annoying, but wait, there’s more! Sometimes, when I press the power button, the light around the button comes on for a brief moment and then goes out. The power light on the front edge of the laptop base goes out as well. Pushing the button over and over again does absolutely nothing, nor does disconnecting the power cord. The only thing that works is to hold down the power button for about ten seconds – eventually, all of the power lights come on, and the product splash screen is displayed.
And then, the screen switches over to the setup screen, and I have to reset the time and date. Apparently, holding the power switch for ten seconds is the Universal Reset Command, and resetting includes the computer’s clock.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should also tell you that the last behavior I described, the reset, also happened once or twice when I tried to restart after hibernating.
I had Windows 10 (upgrade from 7) on my previous (now dead) computer (HP), but it never exhibited this behavior.
Is this a known issue with Toshiba? Or is it the combination of Win 10 on the Toshiba? Is there anything I can do that will eliminate these issues?
Best case scenario: I can use hibernate without it waking up in the middle of the night, and NOT require a reset to power up.