I have a computer in my room, and it is somewhat noisy. Naturally, before I go to bed, I want to put it on standby mode. The computer supports APM and ACPI, but there is no place to turn on standby mode.

I did some research, and found in a Microsoft KB article, this:
Does anyone know a hack/registry setting that can be made to enable standby mode on PC's? I could *really* use it.

Also, when Windows 98 was on this PC, standby mode worked fine.

What's the difference between standby and sleep/hibernate modes? What about just editing the power settings to turn off your hdd after X amount of time?

http://www.blueowltechnologies.com/pmWin2K.asp
http://is-it-true.org/nt/nt2000/utips/utips16.shtml

Sorry I can't be of much help with regard to your problem.

There is one major difference. When you go to standby mode, your computer's power stays on. When you go into hibernation, your power is off. When you bring the computer back from hibernation, you need to wait for the full BIOS screen, and restore time (about 15 seconds).

I just want to be able to move my mouse, and the screen to come on after about 5 seconds.

Why can't you just turn the hdd off after inactivity?

The fans are very loud. The HDD is very quiet.

Have you looked at Control Panel > Power Options > Power Schemes Tab? With Windows XP Home, I see a drop down menu for System Standby. Mine is set for "Never."