Recovering from a Failed Resume

When your computer enters sleep mode or hibernates, Windows 7 creates a snapshot of the current state of the computer. With sleep mode, this snapshot is created in memory and then read from memory when you wake the computer. With hibernate mode, this snapshot is written to disk and then read from disk when you wake the computer. Windows Resume Loader handles both the sleep and the hibernate operations.

Your computer may have a problem with resume for a variety of reasons, including errors in the snapshot, physical errors in memory, and physical disk errors. If there is a problem resuming after waking the computer, Windows Resume Loader will prompt you with a warning message similar to the following:

Windows Resume Loader
The last attempt to restart the system from its previous location
failed. Attempt to restart again?

Continue with system restart
Delete restoration data and proceed to system boot.

Enter=choose

This prompt gives you two options for resuming:

• Continue with system restart.
• Delete restoration data and proceed to system boot.

If you select "Continue with system restart," Windows Resume Loader will attempt to reload the system state again. If you select "Delete restoration data and proceed to system boot," Windows Resume Loader will delete the saved state of the computer and restart the computer. Although a full restart will typically resolve any problem, you'll lose any work you hadn't saved before the computer entered sleep or hibernate mode.