I have never felt hibernation on PCs was reliable, and so I don't recommend using it. It was designed for business travelers and commuters who needed to pause, change trains, resume, pause, get in taxi, resume, pause... yadda yadda. Simply saving an image of what's in memory, then pulling it up again when resuming is much less demanding on batteries than saving and closing all files, shutting down Windows just to pause while boarding a plane. Then drain more power when booting it all up again.
Since it seems to work pretty well and fairly consistently with notebooks, then it would seem to be an issue with how power management is handled with PC hardware. I suspect that is due in part because all PC motherboards are designed to be on 24/7/365, and/or attached to a network, modem, keyboard, or mouse. This is significant because all BTX and ATX computers (including microATX) , which is virtually 100% of the PCs made in the last 10 years
MUST conform to the ATX standard and maintain +5Vsb standby voltage across several points on the motherboard whenever the computer is simply plugged into the wall. This +5Vsb is necessary for the front power switch to work, as well Wake on LAN, Wake on Mouse, Wake on Modem, and other features associated with "fixed" computers and NOT "mobile" computers.
This standby voltage is why it is essential to also unplug the computer before doing any maintenance or cleaning in the interior of the case. Some power supplies may be equipped with an "optional" master power switch on the back. Setting this switch to off removes the +5Vsb as well - in theory. But since anything that plugs into the wall can kill, and since, sadly, there are many very poor-quality PSUs out there, I would not advise trusting a $.05 part in a $10 PSU made by some child in servitude in some despicable forced-labor factory in China, under the watchful eye of corrupt government leaders.
Also, since Windows is mobile computer aware, when programs are installed on notebooks, they behave differently than when installed on PCs. For example, anti-malware programs running in the background on a desktop may check for new signature/definition files, then do system scans when the computer is otherwise idle, perhaps at 3am. And certainly Windows itself is rarely idle when you are idle - with various housekeeping chores.
My advice is don't use hibernate on PCs. Either shut your system down at the end of the day, or keep it on 24/7 (just don't power up and down several times a day).
Computers standby mode problems have been around a long time, with no real definitive cause or solutions. Sometimes, after a reboot, all will appear to be fine and my screen saver will kick in properly. But 10 minutes later, the system will not go into standby as configured - that is, connected components, most notably the graphics card, are not signaled to go into standby mode. This, in turn, means the monitors are never signaled to go into standby mode, nor do drive motors shut down.
However, if I simply change the setting for "Turn off Monitor" to 11 minutes (or anything other than what it was) from 10, and Save, it will work perfectly for days and weeks, until I must reboot again. Then it might work fine from the start, or I might have to change it back to 10 this time, then it will work perfectly until the process starts over at next boot.
This is most likely a driver issue, just not one I (or the entire industry, apparently) can isolate.
Hibernate won't turn OFf? Driving me batty
