How to fix a Dell Inspiron laptop that crashes after Hibernate or Sleep Mode [Troubleshooting Guide]

Is your Dell Inspiron laptop crashing after waking from sleep mode and searching for solutions? If that is so, then this post is for you.

Putting your laptop into hibernate mode or sleep mode when idle can help save some power. However if doing so will give you troubles upon waking the screen up, then you might as well just opt to keep your display on even when not in use. This is a common dilemma encountered by a number of owners of a Dell Inspiron laptop. For some reason, the laptop crashes with the keyboard and mouse not responding when waking up from sleep mode or hibernation. If you’re dealing with a similar issue on your Dell Inspiron laptop right now and need some help, this post highlights generic solutions and user-defined fixes for your reference.

Now, before we proceed, if you found this post while finding a solution to a different problem, then visit our Dell Inspiron troubleshooting page for we have already addressed some of the most common issues with this machine. If you can’t find something useful, then fill up our computer issues questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.

What causes your Dell Inspiron laptop to freeze after waking from hibernate or sleep mode?

Based on prior diagnostics, the problem is somehow inflicted by the O2Micro SD/MMC drivers installed on Dell laptops. That said, consider heading to the Device Manager then check for any suspected driver. Do this especially if your laptop starts freezing up after waking from sleep or hibernate mode with no response from the keyboard or mouse after adding new drivers to your computer as that might be the culprit.

Aside from a faulty driver, there are also other factors that can cause your laptop to crash when waking up from hibernate or sleep mode. Among the known triggers would include but not limited to new programs installed, new Windows update, and new changes  made on your laptop settings. In other cases, the problem occurred when some programs are left running when the laptop is switching to hibernate or sleep mode. Security software like antivirus can also be among the triggers. The worst among the possible causes is a faulty laptop component or hardware damage.

Potential solutions for your Dell Inspiron that crashes after coming out of sleep mode

Here’s a rundown of standard procedures and recommended workarounds that will help you troubleshoot and fix your Dell Inspiron laptop that crashes after waking from sleep mode. If the first method doesn’t work, try the next method and see if that will fix the problem.

First method: Forced restart.

The process is good as performing the usual restart or reboot only that it’s carried out in a slightly different procedure. As the name implies, you’ll need to force your laptop to restart by pressing down the Power button for a few seconds until the laptop turns off. Remove or unplug the A/C adapter from the power source. Keep it unplugged for about 30 seconds. After the elapsed time, plug it back in to power then turn your laptop back on.

Test to see if that fixes the problem by putting your laptop in sleep mode again. If it’s still crashing after waking from sleep mode, try the next method.

Second method: Quit all running programs using Task Manager.

Some people found out that the problem occurs when they left some other programs running in the background while their laptop is in sleep mode. The running programs might have crashed while your laptop is hibernating or in sleep mode and that adversely impact the system functions. Given that something went wrong with any of your running programs, chances are that your computer won’t be able to work as intended.

windows 10 offers a more advanced Task Manager with a number of tabs used to monitor applications, processes and services running on your computer. If you’re on the same Windows platform, you can try to close running apps before switching into sleep mode. Here’s how it’s done:

  1. Right-click the Taskbar and click on Task Manager.
  2. Or you can also click the Start button then search Task Manager on the search box.
  3. If you prefer to use shortcuts, use the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keyboard combos or Ctrl + Alt + Del then click on Task Manager. Click to select the applications or programs that you want to close then click the End Task button.

Restart your laptop then try to put it in sleep mode again. See if it still crashes when waking up from sleep mode.

Third method: Disable firewall or antivirus software.

To rule out the possibility that your firewall or antivirus software causing conflict, you can try to disable it momentarily. Then try switching your laptop into sleep mode with your security programs disabled. To turn off Windows Firewall on your laptop, click the Start button then follow these steps:

  1. Open Windows Defender Security Center.
  2. Click Firewall & network protection.
  3. Select a network profile.
  4. Navigate to Windows Firewall.
  5. Turn it off.

If the problem persists with Windows firewall and antivirus software disabled, contact Microsoft Support for more help in performing advanced troubleshooting with Windows OS.

Fourth method: Check the memory status and clear up some space if needed.

The quickest way to check your computer memory usage is done by opening up Resource Monitor or pressing the Windows key and R key on your keyboard then enter resmon in the search box and click OK. Once you’re in the Resource Monitor screen, click the Memory tab to view details on how much memory is in use, modified, standby, and free.

The the amount of available or free memory is below 10 percent, that means the need for you to delete some files and data from your laptop in order to free up some space. Note that insufficient memory can greatly affect the overall performance of your computer so make sure it’s ample.

Fifth method: Restore Windows on your Dell Inspiron laptop.

If the problem is tied to some bad apps and files you’ve recently downloaded on your computer, it will likely be rectified by restoring Windows OS to a point when it was still stable or before the onset of the problem. To perform a system restore on your Dell Inspiron laptop, follow these steps:

  1. Go to your desktop (Home screen).
  2. Click the option to Search the web and Windows box.
  3. Type Control Panel.
  4. Look for Control Panel for Recovery.
  5. Select Recovery-> Open System Restore menu.
  6. Then click Next.
  7. Select the option to restore point related to the problematic app, driver, or update, then select Next.
  8. Click Finish.

If the system restore failed, contact Dell Support for further assistance in fixing the error.

Sixth method: Refresh a copy of your Windows system without losing data.

Windows 10 OS gives you an option to reset all of its system files without affecting your personal data. That said, follow these steps if your running on the same OS version on your Dell Inspiron:

  1. Go to the desktop or Home screen.
  2. Click on Search the web and Windows box.
  3. Type in RESET.
  4. Select Reset this PC (System Setting) option.
  5. Then click on Get Started.
  6. Select the option to Keep my files.
  7. Take note of any apps or drivers that will need to be reinstalled after the refresh is finished.

Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the system refresh process. Your computer will then restart once it’s all done.

Last resort: Back up your data and then reinstall Windows OS on your Dell laptop.

It is highly recommended that you back up your data using File History before attempting to refresh or reset your operating system to factory condition. Reformatting Windows OS will wipe everything from your device including your personal data. Keeping a backup of your files on another device allows you to retrieve them in the future if you would want to use them again.

  • To set your backup, click the Start button, then go to Settings-> Update & security-> Backup-> Add a drive-> and then select an external drive or network location for your backups. To change which files get backed up or how often backups are created, click More options.

When the backup is complete, proceed with these steps to reinstall Windows 10 operating system on your Dell Inspiron laptop:

  1. Go to the desktop or Home screen.
  2. Click the Search the web and Windows box.
  3. Type RESET.
  4. In the Reset this PC section, click Get Started.
  5. Select the option to Remove everything.
  6. Select Just remove my files.
  7. Follow the onscreen prompts to complete the OS reset process. Your computer will reboot once the reset if complete.

You may now proceed with the initial setup. Then try to put your laptop in sleep mode and wake up to see if it will wake up smoothly. If not, then try some other solutions and workarounds including the user-defined fixes outlined below.

User-defined fixes

Below is a rundown of all working solutions to an issue on a Dell Inspiron laptop that crashes after waking from sleep mode or hibernation. These methods have been proven effective in certain cases so if you think any of these is applicable in your case, give it a shot.

First suggestion: Remove all peripheral devices from your laptop.

Disconnect all external devices attached to your laptop like keyboards, mouse, external monitor, speakers, etc. See if that makes some changes.

Second suggestion: Restore power options to defaults.

Set your power options back to defaults. To do so, open the command prompt and type in powercfg -restoredefaultschemes.

Third suggestion: Uninstall then reinstall and update drivers.

Uninstall the video drivers and then reinstall them after the computer restarts. Here’s how it’s done:

  1. Press the Windows key on your keyboard and type in Device Manager.
  2. Next, go to Display Adapters.
  3. Then right-click on each adapter in the drop-down menu.
  4. Click on Uninstall.
  5. If prompted, click to Confirm Device Uninstall. You will then see a checkbox with a message that says, Delete the driver software for this device?
  6. Click the box to respond Yes then click OK.
  7. After that driver uninstalls, restart your laptop then head back to Device Manager-> Display Adapters, then click on Update Driver Software.

You must be logged in to your laptop as administrator in order get full permissions to make these changes. Doing so will update your drivers or software to the newest version.

Seek more help

If none of the above solutions worked, then you should probably start looking at the hardware problems rather than the software. You can take your laptop to service center and have it diagnosed by a computer technician. Otherwise, contact Dell Support and seek further assistance in performing more advanced troubleshooting procedures. Meanwhile if you suspect that the problem has something to do with your laptop’s operating system or Windows, contact Microsoft Support for more help. Consider the last option especially if your Dell Inspiron laptop started to crash from sleep mode after installing a new update to Windows. The update might have caused some conflicts that resulted to this problem.

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