Vista sleep problems

A month ago i started to use the Vista sleep function at night. Every morning i tapped the windows key on keyboard to wake up the system. Normally i would hear system fans noisily starting up inside system casing with couple beepings indicating all systems go. But on 2-3 occasions the wake up process stuck at the fans start up phase, with beeping sound continue indefinitely. The log-in windows will failed to appear and the display screen remained black. I had to forcefully shut down the system through power button or on and off button behind the power supply unit.

what gives?

Sleep mode? When I put my Vista PC into sleep mode, I hit the power button to turn it back on.
At any rate, here are some things to check.
Right click on my computer>properties>device manager. Check the monitor and display adapter. Make sure there is only one monitor and one video card listed. If there is an extra one there remove it. This was a problem with a computer I once had.
Try updating your video card driver.

Do you have the latest updates? Alternatively, did your problem begin after you downloaded a particular update? Try going back to a system restore point at a time when the sleep function was behaving.

Hopefully one of these remedies will help.

Windows can not go without rebooting once in a while, Remus. It's like that for the home OS, but also true for servers. 5HPUX or linux can easily run for a year without requiring the reboot, while windows is more like monthly)

The sleep function is very dodgy, especially on desktop hardware. The ACPI interface is pretty crappy to start with, and implementations on desktop hardware drivers is patchy at best. I wouldn't trust it to work 100% properly even on a laptop if the OS wasn't manufacturer-installed and configured.

"Sleep" is a momentary thing as the name suggests, the system is always activated in sleep mode. I would opt for "hibernation" as this unloads system drivers etc but they would reload on a wake up call. Better still, for daily routines or similar starts "Wake up on Lan" is more functional provided that the motherboard supports it. This enables many function calls to start the system, eg: clock, irq interrupt, pci slot, modem or lan signal, almost any pc signal.

Yeah, hibernate is what you would want for overnight, though personally I just shut the thing down and turn off the power strip. That way, if some lightning storm flies in at 3am, I don't have to worry about it.

Yep, the "suspend" functions are mostly used in corporate or business systems - in this mode a pc appears lifeless with just an orange "suspend" mode led (triple voltage for activity colour change) as well as the normal power led. The monitor, mouse and keyboard can be by-passed - but somewhere deep down in the bowels of the system a small current of electricity constantly surveils for a signal just as in Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator in 'smashed-up' mode with only the faintest flicker of electrons detectable in one eye ......then, from the other side of the planet an email ping, server or line request is received and the pc springs into life. The files are accessed, emails exchanged, messages and notes interacted etc'. Then, because the suspend system is unique in that it also monitors for inactivity as well as activity, after a still perod usually about 10 minutes (adjustable) the pc system automatically reverts back to its "suspend to ram" mode, again monitor, keyboard, mouse, or any irq interrupts can be disabled and need not be enabled on wake-up. The pc is once again in suspend mode and all of this can happen with nobody anywhere near to the machine, in a locked room perhaps. Correctly set up, a machine could stay in this mode for months on end, many domestic machines have this function. A quick search of the manual or bios will tell if the motherboard is capable.