spkey Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 Hi all,I have recently re-installed Windows XP on my laptop as it was becoming extremely slow to work with. My original plan was to completely remove Windows XP (format) and re-instal them fresh from start. My plan failed miserably as Windows only allowed me to install XP on top of my previous installation. As a consequence Service Pack 2 was replaced with a downgraded XP installation. I have now downloaded and installed all updates without any noticable improvement on speed. My problem is the following: The Standby command accessed from Start/Shutdown/Standby is greyed out thus not allowing me to select it.Any ideas?Any help or suggestion will be greatly appreciated.sp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason.b.c Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 Hi all,I have recently re-installed Windows XP on my laptop as it was becoming extremely slow to work with. My original plan was to completely remove Windows XP (format) and re-instal them fresh from start. My plan failed miserably as Windows only allowed me to install XP on top of my previous installation. As a consequence Service Pack 2 was replaced with a downgraded XP installation. I have now downloaded and installed all updates without any noticable improvement on speed. My problem is the following: The Standby command accessed from Start/Shutdown/Standby is greyed out thus not allowing me to select it.Any ideas?Any help or suggestion will be greatly appreciated.sp.Well for one thing: My original plan was to completely remove Windows XP (format) and re-install them fresh from start.It sounds like you missed a step there ( a very important one ) and that is the FORMAT part, It sounds like you re-installed over the top of your old install...The Standby command accessed from Start/Shutdown/Standby is greyed out thus not allowing me to select it.Do you have sufficiant rights to have those..??? Are you admin..? User..? Power User..?As a consequence Service Pack 2 was replaced with a downgraded XP installation.And how is that downgraded again...??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted September 11, 2006 Report Share Posted September 11, 2006 Hello, and welcome to the Windows Forum!By installing over a previous Windows installation you are not going to gain any performance improvements. In fact I would not recommend to anyone to reinstall Windows to regain lost performance - there are good and easy methods that can keep a Windows system on top performance for many years.In your case, since you have already reinstalled, I would recommend that you redo the installation; this time starting with a format. (When you tried your reinstall, did you do that from Windows? If so, it may not have allowed the format. Try booting from the install disk instead.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spkey Posted September 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2006 Hi Jason & Pat,I did not try to install XP from Windows. I booted from installation CD. The Format command was not allowed because XP was installed on the only available Drive, that is C: There is no partition either so the only option as far as I know was 'format c:' Furthermore, the installation CD gives only two choices. First install on a different partition (selecting C: won't work as XP is there) and Second, Repair previous installation. Only the second would allow me to go to next level and after trying a million different things I was left excausted with the hope that the format command would appear at sometime later. I am not planning to try again as the Laptop is quite slow and the process tedious. I am concerned about the StandBy command. How can I check my rights (admin, user, power user...) and change if necessary?Of course if in my situation 'Format' was allowed somehow please let me know or direct me to a link for future reference.thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted September 11, 2006 Report Share Posted September 11, 2006 Is the O/S disk you have a Windows XP disk or is it some kind of recovery or other disk tied to the particular machine you are working with?You say you booted from CD. Was this the real case or did you boot with the CD in place and then Windows loaded as normal? The reason I ask is beause the behaviour you state suggests that Windows is loaded and expects you to install another copy.Are you certain that the machine is organised to boot from CD (this is done by settings in the BIOS and has nothing to do with Windows). Forgive me if I am stating things you already know but, that's the only explantion I have for the odd behaviour you are experiencing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spkey Posted September 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2006 Hi Pops,The CD is a Windows XP installation CD. I am sure I have booted from CD as it was me who changed the settings in BIOS to allow laptop to boot from there. Reaching the DOS environment, the command Format C: would not work because of Windows XP installed there. The two choises given from the CD are to install on a free partition (no free partition available and selecting C: gives the same result as above) and pressing R to Repair previous installation.As I said earlier on, I'm not going to try again as I spent many hours trying to Format (which is something I have down with success in different machines in the past). I'm just trying to find out why the 'StandBy' command is greyed out.Thanks for your time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted September 11, 2006 Report Share Posted September 11, 2006 I don't understand how you can be reaching a DOS environment. XP doesn't operate on a DOS system that you or I would normally recognise and even if it did, that is nothing to do with the screens that you see in the BIOS pages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spkey Posted September 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2006 Sorry Pops,I understand Windows is not working on DOS anymore, I am confusing myself with the BIOS and CD pages which look similar to a DOS environment.However, I am certain that I have been booting from CD and that the CD is an XP installation one.Everything else seems to be working as it used to apart from the StandBy command.thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cozofdeath Posted September 11, 2006 Report Share Posted September 11, 2006 Here are some solutions. 1. Click Start, click Run, type devmgmt.msc, and then click OK. In the Device Manager window, expand Computer, and then verify whether you can see the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC option. If you can see it, the computer is using the ACPI functionality. If not it may say APM and you may want upgrade the bios. This is of course if you have never had standby functionality. You can also check your BIOS and make sure your ACPI/APM settings are correct.2. Upgrade your video drivers especially if your using the Windows defaults. Uninstall the old ones and download and install the manufactures recommended drivers.3. Make sure you did not disable standby via registry or policies.4. These two pages offer additional help...http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_standby.htm#xp_buttonhttp://www.fujitsu-siemens.co.uk/rl/servic...toreStandby.htmRollbacks and restores are other options but not usually after an xp install. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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