Power Options and Sleep Mode Problems

Information

This will show you some steps to help you troubleshoot and find out what is causing your sleep mode problem. These are the usual reasons for sleep mode problems. For more information, see: Windows Help and How-to: Turn Off a Computer FAQs

Tip

When your computer is in hibernation, the only way to wake it is to tap the case power button. If this sleep mode problem just started recently, then you might consider doing a System Restore before or after trying the steps below if they do not help. For how, see: How to Do a System Restore in Vista

NOTE

Common Problems: Computer will wake up for no reason. Sleep mode does not work any more. Hibernate option is not available in Power Options, then you accidentally deleted the Hibernation file Cleaner in Disk Cleanup. See: How to Restore or Disable Hibernation in Vista Screen saver not working.

• How to Change Power Button Settings for the Start Menu and Case in Vista
• How to Disable or Enable Password Protection on Wakeup in Vista
• How to Create a Hibernate Shortcut in Vista
• How to Use and Change a Screen Saver in Vista
• How to Create a Power Options Shortcut in Vista
• How to Restore or Disable Hibernation in Vista
• How to Changed the Return to Sleep Timeout for a Unattended Wake Up in Vista

Tip

BEFORE STARTING: 1. Make sure you have the latest device drivers and BIOS installed for your motherboard. NOTE: A out-of-date video driver or other drivers are sometimes the source of sleep mode problems. It is best to keep these up to date to resolve issues found with them.

NOTE

A wireless mouse and keyboard can cause your computer to wake up for no apparent reason, and to not wake up from sleep mode when you press a key or move the mouse. This may also cause your screen saver to not work to. If the computer is using an optical mouse, changes in light can cause the computer to wake.

For a Wireless Mouse or Keyboard:
1. Unplug the receiver on the back of the computer and test.
2. If sleep or hibernation works now, then try:

A) Download new drivers for you wireless mouse and test again with the receiver plugged in.
NOTE: Always get your drivers from the source, never from Windows Updates. They do not work properly sometimes.

B) Disable the wireless mouse and/or keyboard wake up option in Step Five below. If you have to disable both of them, then you can wake the computer up by pressing the power button on the case.
C) Time to get a new mouse and/or keyboard that is compatible with Vista.

For a Optical Mouse:
1. Try not to have direct bright light shining on the sensor or moving around it.

NOTE

Power settings control the computer’s ability to go into and come out of sleep/standby mode.

1. Open Control Panel. (Classic View)
2. Click Power Options icon.
3. Click Change plan settings under your power plan. (See screenshot below)

Change1.jpg

4. Click Change advanced power settings. (See screenshot below)

Change2.jpg

5. Click on Change settings that are currently unavailable. (See screenshots below step 10)
NOTE: This will allow any Power Options that are grayed out to now work and not be grayed out.

6. Recommended Settings for Sleep -
NOTE: Sleep saves any open documents and programs to memory only, and then puts the computer into a low-power state.
WARNING: If you lose power to the computer, you will also lose what is in memory.

Main Setting	Sub Setting	Recommendation
Hard disk		Set to at least 1 minute before the computer (Sleep after setting below) is set to sleep.
Sleep	Sleep after	This is for the computer. Set to at least 1 minute after Hard disk and Display is set to turn off.
Sleep	Allow hybrid sleep	Set to Off.
Sleep	Hibernate after	Set to Never.
USB settings	USB selective suspend setting	Set to Disabled.
Power buttons and lid	Start menu power button	Set to Sleep.
PCI Express	Link State Power Management	Set to Off.
Display	Turn off display after	Set to at least 1 minute before the computer (Sleep after setting above) is set to sleep. Usually set this as the same as the Hard drive is set to turn off.
Multimedia settings	When sharing media	Set to Allow the computer to sleep.

7. Recommended Settings for Hybrid Sleep -
NOTE: Hybrid sleep saves your open documents and programs to memory and to the hard drive, and then puts the computer into a low-power state. After the Hibernate after time you set, it will then put the computer into hibernation.
WARNING: Use the same Recommended Settings for Sleep in step 6 above, except for these changes:

Main Setting	Sub Setting	Recommendation
Sleep	Allow hybrid sleep	Set to On.
Sleep	Hibernate after	Set to at least 1 minute after the computer (Sleep after setting above) is set to sleep.

8. Recommended Settings for Hibernation -
NOTE: Hibernation is a power-saving state that saves your open documents and programs to the hard drive and then turns off your computer. If Hibernate after is not listed, then make sure that you have the Hibernation File enabled or restored to. It is by default unless it was cleaned in Disk Cleanup, see: How to Restore the Hibernation File in Vista
WARNING: Use the same Recommended Settings for Sleep in step 6 above, except for these changes:

Main Setting	Sub Setting	Recommendation
Sleep	Sleep after	Set it to Never.
Sleep	Allow hybrid sleep	Set it to Never.
Sleep	Hibernate after	Set it to at least 1 minute after Hard disk and Display is set to turn off.
Power buttons and lid	Start menu power button	Set it to Hibernate.

9. Click OK to apply
10. Just exit out the other windows.

Power_Options.jpgOptions 1.jpg

11. Test sleep mode. If it is still not working correctly, then continue to the next step.

NOTE

Make sure you have the latest Video drivers and BIOS for your motherboard. Read your motherboard manual to see if you have any jumpers or settings that sets different sleep voltages for USB.

1. Open the Start Menu.
2. In white line (Start Search) area, type cmd and press Enter.
3. In command prompt, type powercfg -a and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: This will give you a report of the available sleep states for your computer and will attempt to report reasons why sleep states are unavailable. You will want to see S1 and/or S3 listed.

CMD_Sleep_States.jpg

4. Restart the computer into the BIOS settings, and go into the Power Management sectionin the BIOS.
NOTE: Usually you will press the F2 or Delete key as soon as your computer starts booting to enter the BIOS.

5. Make sure ACPI mode: S3 or S1 is enabled.
NOTE: S1 (Sleep) and S3 (Hybrid/ deeper sleep). If you are running an incompatible video card, some or all of these states below will be unavailable. If one of the settings causes your computer to not wake back up, then unplug the computer and plug it back in and start it back up into the BIOS and change the setting back.

BIOS_States.jpg

6. Make sure Wake on Ring and Wake on Lan are disabled.
NOTE: This will help with keep the computer from waking up on it's on.

7. Save the BIOS setting changes and exit to restart the computer.
8. Test sleep mode. If this does not help, then move on to the next step.

NOTE

If it's able to wake up your computer, it will be listed here to help you narrow down the device responsible.

1. Open the Start Menu.
2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type cmd and press Enter.
3. In the command prompt, copy and paste in bold: (See screenshot below)
powercfg -devicequery wake_armed and press Enter.

Device_List.jpg

4. Go through the list of devices to see if you have one you do not want to wake up your system.
EX: A Network Device (Modem, Ethernet, etc.) or Wireless Mouse

5. If you found a device that may be causing the problem, then move on to the next step to disable the wake up option for the device.

NOTE

Check your Network device. Network activity can cause the network hardware to wake the computer, especially when the network is always on (like cable and DSL connections). High Definition Audio, if listed in STEP FOUR, may also rarely cause the computer to wake from sleep mode. You can disable (only option available) it as a test in Device Manager to see before putting the computer to sleep. Just enable it again if it is not the problem.

1. Open Control Panel. (Classic View)
2. Click Device Manager icon.
NOTE: You need to be in a Administrator account.

3. Click Continue for UAC prompt.
4. Open the device's list that you want to change. (See screenshot below)
EX: Network Devices

5. Right click on device name and click Properties.
EX: Network Devices

Device.jpg

6. Click Power Management tab. (See screenshot below)
7. Uncheck Allow this device to wake the computer.
NOTE: To Enable it again, just check this instead. If you need to disable the wireless mouse and keyboard, then you can wake the computer by pressing the power button on the case.

8. If listed, check Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.
NOTE: This will turn the device off when the computer goes into sleep mode.

9. Click the Advanced tab.
NOTE: For your Network device.

Power_Management.jpg

10. Check the boxed in red Property: items below to see if they are set to Disabled in the Value: area. (See screenshot below table)
NOTE: This area may look a little different for your particular network device, but it should be similar. See table below for a description of each setting.

Common Settings	Description
Link Down Power Saving	Saves power by disabling the NIC when it has no link.
Link Speed/Duplex Mode	Auto negotiates the link speed (10base/100base/1000base full/half duplex). Duplexing is "talking" and "listening" at the same time. If your card is full-duplex, it can send and receive at the same time.
Network Address	Describes how you got your network addy (assigned/dhcp/etc)
Optimal Performance	This depends on the OS and the Card. Many times what this means is your card can adjust the size of the transfer window and MTU to improve performance on various lines of various states.
Receive Buffer Size	How much data your card can buffer before it has to process some or return a time-out.
Shutdown Wake-On-Lan	Allows the network card to wake up the computer for network use when the computer was shutdown from within Vista, not by the case power button or by unplugging it.
WakeUp on ARP/PING	Allows your card to wake up when it's hit with a ping (ICMP) or ARP request (something is looking for your machine).
WakeUp on Link Change	Allows your machine to wake up on link state changes (line goes up or down).
WakeUp using APM Mode	Advanced power management (APM) allows the machine to wake on a machine with APM settings (sleep after so many minutes/whatever).

Advanced_tab.jpg

11. Click OK to apply and close properties window.

NOTE

Some screen savers can interfere with the computer’s ability to go into and come out of sleep/standby mode. Disabling or changing the screen saver may resolve the problem.

1. In the Screen saver section, select an alternate screen saver or set it to None and then click OK.
NOTE: For how, see: How to Use and Change a Screen Saver in Vista

2. Test the sleep mode.

NOTE

Many software components start up automatically with Vista and run in the background. Some of these programs may not be necessary, and can interfere with the sleep/standby mode. For troubleshooting purposes, use the following steps to prevent programs from starting up with Vista to see if this is the issue. If you are having these problems, you can avoid from having to do this completely if you logoff and put the computer to sleep from within the logon screen.

1. Open the Start Menu.

2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type msconfig and press Enter.

A) Go to step 3.

OR

2. Click on All Programs, Administrative Tools, and System Configuration.

3. Click Continue for UAC prompt.
4. Under the General tab, dot Selective startup. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: When done with the test, dot Normal startup, to return to the default settings before the test, and click OK.

5. Uncheck Load startup items and click OK and restart the computer.
NOTE: You will get a notification that you made changes to the Startup programs in the bottom right Notification area. Just ignore it for now. It will go away when you put it back to Normal startup after you finish.

System_Configuration.jpg

6. Test sleep mode.
7. If unchecking (disabling) Load startup items fixed the sleep problem, then enable one startup item at a time and test to see if the problem occurs again. Continue enabling startup items, until you find the program that is causing the problem. Remove or update the problem program.
NOTE: See Method One or Two here: How to Check and Change the Startup Programs in Vista

A) When done, change the setting back to Normal startup (step 4).

8. If unchecking (disabling) Load startup items did not resolve the sleep problem, then set it back to Normal startup (Step 4) and go to the next step below.

NOTE

Sometimes a program will have something scheduled to run that will wake the computer up. Try turning them off temporarily to see if it resolves the problem.

1. Check in the suspected program settings to see if there is a feature that may wake the computer.
NOTE: Sometimes it can be the Auto-Update feature in the program.

2. Check Task Scheduler for items that are set to Wake-Up the computer to perform it's action.
NOTE: For how, see: How to Have a Task Wake up the Computer to Run in Vista Task Scheduler

A) Expand out the list in the left pane and click on the suspect item's folder. Double click on the task in the middle pane.
B) Click on the Conditions tab.
C) Uncheck the Wake the computer to run this task box.

3. Check Windows Automatic Updates settings.
NOTE: For how, see: How to Turn Windows Update Automatic Updating On or Off in Vista

NOTE

Sometimes a Windows Sidebar Gadget may cause the computer to not sleep on it's own.

1. Turn off Windows Sidebar as a test to see if your computer will enter sleep on it's own now.
NOTE: For how, see: How to Turn Windows Sidebar On or Off in Vista

2. If it does, then turn Windows Sidebar back on and turn off each Gadget one by one. Test sleep again after each one until you find the one causing the problem.

NOTE

If sleep/standby mode previously worked, attempt a system restore back to a time when it worked. If the problem has always existed, skip this step.

1. Save any open files and close all programs. Backup any important files.
2. See: How to Do a System Restore in Vista
NOTE: If System Restore resolves the problem, the problem is probably caused by software that was installed after the restore point date.