Hmmm. That’s a tough one to figure out, but some of the behavior could be related to a driver problem. But frankly that’s just a guess.

Some general maintenance checks are probably in order. I’d likely start by checking for viruses, just as a precaution. If you are running a good + up to date anti-virus program, that should be a non-issue. The other “general maintenance” thing I’d check is for spyware- if you don’t have it, get something like AdAware or Windows Defender (from Microsoft) and run a scan. Once that’s done, I’d likely also check your system’s virtual memory settings (right click “My computer”, chose Properties, Advanced tab, click the button under Performance, Advanced tab again, and check Virtual Memory). Your Virtual memory should be about twice as large (rule of thumb) than your physical memory. One thing I do if I think there might be corruption is re-create the virtual memory file- set it to “zero”, reboot the computer, then come back to the above-noted menu and set it back to a reasonable number again. As a couple of final “basic maintenance” things, I’d suggest running a disk scan and a defragmentation of your drive.

None of these “maintenance” things are specific to your problem- and they may be things you are already doing. But they are things I usually do when I encounter a problem. Once that’s done, and all the basics are in order, I’d check for new drivers for your your video card.

Regarding going into / out of stand by: I’ve had numerous different problems with “standby” mode on various computers for years. It seems as if all of the drivers (video, disk, etc) have to be just “perfect” for standby to work. And the hardware manufacturers seem to have a devil of a time making “perfect” drivers 🙂 If it worked correctly at some point in the past, though, I’d be suspicious of something new that you had installed.

One thing to be aware of: Windows XP has a neat feature that allows you to turn back the clock after making a system change. System Restore (accessible under Start=> Help and Support=> “Undo changes with System Restore”) can be a life saver. However, it’s mostly useful if you notice a problem right after you make a change- if you have no idea what caused the problem, it’s less useful.