[ltp] Can't hibernate (SMAPI BIOS error)

[Markus Alt]

Vivek wrote:
> 
[snip]
> 
> I think maybe phdisk's 'create partition' option does not work right, or
> something, because, well, here's what I did before:
> 
> *************************************************
> * This is an account of an attempt which failed *
> *************************************************
> 
>  Create FAT 16 partition, /dev/hda2 [primary, tried both hidden and not]
>  mkfs.msdos -F 16 /dev/hda2
>  shutdown -r now
>  <BOOT FROM PHDISK>
>  I have 2 options:
> 
>  1) Create Partition
>  2) Reboot
> 
>  1) Gives me a choice of partitions: I choose the one I know is /dev/hda2
>     [I've noted all the different addressing thingies cfdisk used to
>      describe the table, at least one of them is similar enough to phdisk's
>      method  that I can match them up]
> 
>  phdisk rumbles along for a while, writing to the disk, and then rolls
>  around to the first menu, with a partiotn creation message
> 
>  I reboot from option 2
> 
>  <BACK TO LINuX>
> 
>  Hmmm - the partition is no longer mountable as vfat, and I still a SMAPI
>  error when trying to hibernate.
> 
>  Lather, rinse, repeat....
> 
>  **********************************************************
> 
> Ok, I think what happened was, the partition was not marked as bootable,
> and  as a result, phdisk did not recognise it. The partition that phdisk
> created was then
> 
> a) Not valid or mountable, at least under linux
> b) Not something that phdisk recognised as a place where it could
>    put a hibernation file
> c) Not something the BIOS could use to hibernate.
> 
> And since I never saw a 'create file' option, I never realised that's
> what I needed to do. [I was under the impression that creating a
> partition from within phdisk was enough - I would have thought mangling
> a raw partiton was easier for a BIOS than reading/writing to a filesystem
> but evidently, this is not what happens]

Well, this appears to be a RTFM problem ... ;-) Here's an excerpt from
the stndalhd.txt file that comes with the diskette image:

Limitations:
  - Hibernation function does not work when OS/2 Boot Manager is
    installed.
  - Hibernation function does not work with NTFS/HPFS file systems.
  - Hibernaiton by hibernation partition is not supported.
    Do not select the item '1. Create partition' in this 
    diskette.

This is also noted on the web page where you can download the stuff.
Which leads me to another question: Edi, did you really use this 
"Hibernation Utility Diskette II for Standalone Boot"? There is another
one available on the IBM pages simply called "Hibernation Utility
Diskette" and I don't know if this one works together with Linux. The
file you should have downloaded is called "stndalhd.exe". Just another
thought ...

Markus

-- 
Markus Alt
IBM Lab Boeblingen, Germany
altmark@de.ibm.com

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