strange folder modification/disappearance

[Philippe Laurichesse]

The trouble started when I didn't unplug my Sony mp3 player (model NWZ-S545) from my X41 before putting it on standby. The "preparing to standby" screen came on and stayed like that (I could move my mouse arrow, but that's about it). I tried unplugging the mp3 player, of course that did nothing. Finally, I manually shut off the laptop. Turned the laptop back on, everything seems OK, except one thing :

On plugging the Sony mp3 player back in, where it used to have 2 yellow subfolders, one titled (I think) "Setup" and another titled "Media", now there's a gray external drive icon titled "Storage Media" - i.e. the 2 yellow "Setup" and "Media" folders have been replaced with this single icon. When I click on the "Storage Media" icon all of my songs are still there, the songs that used to be in the "Media" folder.

Is there any way to get my previous folder arrangement back ? What in heavens happened ?

(I posted this under "X41" as it happened with my X41 running XP Pro sp 3. If this is in the wrong section, please let me know.)

[Philippe Laurichesse]

The above mentioned problem seems to be part of a larger problem.

I don't think not unplugging the mp3 player had anything to do w/ the X41 not going to sleep. I read on another forum that being connected to a network 24/7 was causing the problem. I've done everything to try & install Access Connections because it's the only way to shut off the wifi radio on the X41. AC ver 5.98 is the only version available for XP - there's 5.12 and 5.3something but it's for W2K and Vista respectively - and in any case all 3 do not work on my X41 running XP sp3.

Anyone have a copy of AC ver anterior to 5.12 for XP ? Is there another way to turn off the wifi radio ?

Now, in addition to not going on standby, the X41 won't even shut down. Or rather, ~1/3 times it goes to standby/shutdown OK, the other 2/3 I have to hold down the power button.

I had no problems on another wifi network, but I don't know if it's this 2nd wifi network or my X41.

Before XP sp3 I had Ubuntu Maverick 10.10 on it but I honestly could not stand it which is why I installed XP.

I've read the many threads on this and other forums of pple who've had this "can't go into standby" problem. Like them, I too was getting the "Access Connections cannot run on this machine" msg on start up and tried installing the appropriate drivers (system interface, intel wifi, etc.) before installing Access Connections and for me I STILL can't get Access Connections ver 5.12 to work. Perhaps it's because there's an AC 5.12 for W2K and one for XP ? No idea. The ReadMe file says my copy of AC 5.12 is for both but, like I said, doesn't work for me.

I'm at my wit's end. Short of leaving my laptop on 24/7, don't know what to do.

[Philippe Laurichesse]

At this point, my laptop does not turn off at all. Won't go into sleep mode, won't shut down.

Any moment I'm expecting the "holding down power button for 10 seconds" to stop working as well.

[emtee3511]

Maybe the X41 perceived your mp3 player as it's hard drive? Perhaps you could check in bios and make sure your hdd is set as startup drive -- if no change in powering off/sleep, then maybe reset bios to defaults? Hopefully one of our Forum experts will come by and offer some insight

[Philippe Laurichesse]

Thanks for the reply. In fact I had changed the boot priority order when installing XP/uninstalling Ubuntu, making "USB CD" number 1, although I don't know if that had anything to do w/ the problem. After reading your comment I changed it back to the original order just in case, where "USB FDD" is number 1. FYI "-USB HDD" is number 6 and has always been when I had Ubuntu (and no standby problems).

In any case I used CCleaner to clean up the registry and that seems to have solved (?) the problem. But the other night I left the laptop on for a few hours and when I returned it was still running but the screen wouldn't turn back on. Again, I did not put it into standby - just left it on - and the mouse and HDD seemed to be responding. But the screen remained black.

Any thoughts ?

[RealBlackStuff]

Try it with the Screensaver turned OFF. Maybe reinstall the graphics driver?

[Philippe Laurichesse]

The screen saver was never turned on. I have it set up so the screen turns off after 3 min. But maybe I will try reinstalling the graphics driver. I have nothing else left to lose.

I had thought using CCleaner to clean the registry had fixed the problem (see previous post), so I did not follow through w/ the system restore I was going to do. And now the "won't go into standby" problem has returned, and I no longer have the system restore points (didn't realize they disappear rather quickly from the "calendar").

It's really beginning to look hopeless.

[emtee3511]

Well, this is definitely a loooooooooooooong shot, but -- I purchased a very nice T60 recently at a 'give-away' price from a Forum member. It came without hard drive -- I put in known good hard drive and did fresh Windows 7 install -- everything seemed on track, but five minutes after loading desktop and beginning to install Microsoft updates, screen froze (not black, but no input/keyboard/mouse/arrows worked, but desktop looked completely normal, but with frozen mouse, to include no task master.) I did several hard shutdowns, with machine loading windows to desktop and then frezing within one to two minutes.

Took out hard drive and replaced with second known good hard drive to see if hdd was problem. Again completed fresh install of Windows without issue, but within five minutes of reaching desktop, screen froze again -- no input worked except hard shutdown.

Decicded to check memory, but when removing battery, I noticed a broken latch on the battery and had to use screwdriver to pull back machine latches to remove battery. Remembered reading various/mixed issues with 'bad' battery, so replaced battery with known good battery (i.e. Lenovo/green/no broken latches) and put first hard drive with Windows install back in machine -- T60 ran beautifully -- I completed installing my usual additional programs/software -- now about ten days later, I've used the machine every day and no problems.

My memory of reading other Thinkpad issues is that some of the machines did work without the 'bad' battery/or any battery installed -- I didn't try to run my machine 'without' a battery -- My guess (percentage-wise) is your battery is probably not the problem -- but worth checking anyway just to see

[Philippe Laurichesse]

I only have this third-party 4-cell battery I'm using, and no easy way to buy a OEM battery for a X41 these days (in the event that it's the battery). But I'll look into it, thanks for the input.

I wanted to add/reiterate that after cleaning the registry w/ CCleaner the X41 went to stanby/sleep w/ no problem for a few days before going back to freezing on the "standby" screen. I suppose I'm just puzzled by why it worked for a while and then stopped working again. What changed ? I didn't install/uninstall anything or make any changes of any sort. Is the nature of the standby problem to work for a while, then not work ? Or did I actually fix it but unwittingly "un"fixed it - that's what I'd like to know...

[RealBlackStuff]

Try not using standby, just switch off when you are done.
That way you won't need any battery to keep the machine 'alive' while in standby/sleep.