I have an Acer TravelMate 4720 laptop with Windows Vista Business. I had an Acer Aspire with Windows XP that had the same problem, described below.

I know of the need to restart Windows every few days, and I do. However, I also enjoy the Sleep function - being able to leave it, come back and not to have to wait for the laptop to restart. My problem is that sometimes when I press the power button to resume the laptop from sleep, I can’t open any new applications. It started with not being able to open a program from the Quick Launch toolbar. Now I can’t open a file from my Documents toolbar (I have the Documents as a toolbar, down by the clock). Then I realized that every time this problem occurs, there are also no shut down options when I go to Start, Shut Down Arrow. Usually, there is a menu that pops up with options: Switch User, Log Off, Lock, Restart, Sleep, Hibernate, Shut Down. But when I come back from Sleep and can’t open any programs, that whole menu isn’t there. I can, however, use the Quick Launch icons to open My Computer or Show Desktop.

This problem used to occur every once in a while, now this happens almost every time the computer goes to Sleep. However, I can use any programs that are already running, but I can’t open any new ones from anywhere (Start Menu, Desktop, Toolbars, nada). The only way to be able to open a new program is to restart the machine and the only way to do that is Ctrl+Alt+Del, and then the laptop says the Task Engine is running, Would you like to End Task? Yes, End Task, computer reboots and all works well.

Since I’ve had the same issue with another Acer, I believe it’s a hardware problem. Acer Tech Support believes it’s an operating system issue. We’ve checked the Power Options in the Control Panel and in the BIOS and all is good. Their next step is to do a System Restore – I am not a fan. On my last Acer their next step was to reload the operating system, which I did 4 times in 4 months – also, not a fan. Finally the machine was deemed unrepairable.

Like an idiot, I fell for the low price of my current Acer and now I have the same problem. Any ideas???

Sorry to read about the problems - however - I've had similar problems with other machines with sleep.

Usually when the updates are out-of-date then the system slows and struggled with sleep mode.

Is your system up-to-date with all of the security updates from MS?

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Glad to hear I'm not the only one!! Acer Tech Support has never heard of this problem.

Yes, the updates are current. I update for Windows automatically, and also get updates from Adobe, Java, iTunes, etc... In fact, the latest update for Vista has made my entire machine slower, but I'm sure there are bug fixes they'll release soon.

I just found out this morning that if I try to check if this problem is going to happen by looking at the Shut Down Options first, they are there until I click on the Quick Launch toolbar.

I was wondering, maybe I should use Hibernate instead of Sleep, but I don't really know what the difference is.