Computer system performing machine specific tasks before going to a low power state

The computer system of claim 4, wherein:

• said states of the host processor include a plurality of low power states of differing levels of power consumption.

In a computer system having a host processor under control of an operating system and a basic input/output system, the host processor having an operating state and at least one low power state, an input/output device providing input signals to the computer system, and a microcontroller on the input/output device, a method comprising:

• detecting a command to transition the host processor to a low power state;
• notifying the microcontroller of the transition command to the host processor;
• changing the power state of the microcontroller.

In a computer system having a host processor under control of an operating system and a basic input/output system, the host processor having an operating state and at least one low power state, an input/output device providing input signals to the computer system, and a microcontroller on the device, a memory device containing code causing the computer system to perform the following acts:

• detecting a command to transition the host processor to a low power state;
• notifying the microcontroller of the transition command to the host processor;
• changing the power state of the microcontroller.