[TodesAngst]

I have had this recurring S3 problem with my HTPC (Vista64 Ultimate). What happens is that the HTPC will not go into S3 sleep and wakes instantly whenever I turn it off. This seems to always happen after a power outage. The problem disappeared when I updated my BIOS a few months back and didn't return, but last night the power went out during the storms (I'm in Melbourne) and when it finally came back on the HTPC will now no longer go into S3 sleep. It used to work perfectly and would sleep fine.

What I think is happening is the VMC services/tasks are getting corrupted when there is a power outage and upon rebooting the PC they are somehow not corrected and this problem returns. I did a quick test by resetting the BIOS using "Load fail safe defaults" last night and rebooting the PC. Upon reboot I set the guide to record the Arsenal v Liverpool champions league game at 5:30am on SBS and pressed the "Off" button on the remote. The HTPC shut down and went into S3 sleep. It was recording SBS when I woke at 7am so I don't know if it turned on again during the night but when I pressed the off button again when I left for work it again refused to go into S3 sleep and woke up instantly. When I turned it off last night it stayed off initially until I was at least in bed which makes me think this fixed it as usually it is only milliseconds before it wakes.

IS there some way to completely reset VMC without re-installing? or at least kill ALL VMC tasks so they reset to default??

This problem doesn't seem to be hardware related but related to the VMC tasks. Does anyone have an understanding on how VMC "works" and can provide some insight into what may be going on here and why a power-outage stuffs it up so badly?? any advice, theories, similar experiences would be most welcome.