Vista - Task scheduler doesn't wake computer

Vista Home Premium x86...
I've set Task Scheduler to wake up my computer at a specified time, but
it fails to do so. I checked out the following kb article, and adhered
to it as well as possible;

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929463/en-us

The log reports state that it failed and timed out. It terminates the
task with an error code 329 (Timed out) when I wake the computer in the
morning. When I run the task manually by clicking the run option in task
scheduler it runs the task fine. It just won't wake the computer. Any
advice on how to trouble-shoot this?
--
Dave T.

I've learned that whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.

Hi Dave,

See if this tutorial can help you. Make sure that you have step 8 checked.

Task Scheduler - Wake Up Computer

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Brink wrote:Thanks for the reply Shawn.

As near as I can tell, I have the settings as your tutorial suggests and
I have studied suggestions from other sources but the problem remains.
Task scheduler just won't wake up the computer.

--
Dave T.

I've learned that whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.

Dave,

Under step 16 in that tutorial, you might see if checking "If the task fails, restart every" and setting how often and the number of attempts to try will help.

Brink wrote:Brink,

I had it set it to retry every minute for 20 minutes. Any other ideas?


--
Dave T.

I've learned that whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.

Dave,

I'm not sure why it is not waking up you computer with these settings set. What is the program or action that you are trying use in the task to wake up the computer?

Brink wrote:Brink,

I am trying to devise a work-around for my backup software. My software,
Retrospect HD, does not have an .exe that I can place in the task
scheduler to start a backup at night. Therefore, I am trying to schedule
a simple task to wake up the computer and display a simple message on
the desktop, and then use the internal scheduler in Retrospect to start
a backup while the computer is awake. I guess the point is that it
doesn't really matter what I want to do, it all has to start with waking
the computer, which isn't happening. Retrospect support says I should
upgrade my backup software to a version that can work with task
scheduler, but there is no point to that if task scheduler won't wake
the computer.

I should add that *ALL* of the hidden tasks that came pre-loaded in the
computer such as windows defender scans, etc., are all scheduled to run
at night, but none of them are set up to wake the computer. I'm thinking
that something about the HP OEM setup won't allow a wake-up. I hear some
things on the net about Nvidia drivers messing with sleep, but no
solutions. It shouldn't be this hard. Waking up from sleep through task
scheduler is supported by Vista. I guess my next step is to go to HP
with this, but my experience with them says that they are going to want
me to do something incredibly stupid with my machine.

The only other relevant piece of info that I can think of is that I am
using a wireless keyboard and mouse.

--
Dave T.

I've learned that whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.

Dave,

You might do a test by have Windows Defender set to wake the computer up to run, then have your back up program scheduled to run a minute after the time Windows Defender is sceduled to wake up the computer. This tutorial will show you how to for Windows Defender. I have a wireless mouse & keyboard to, and Windows Defender will wake the computer up for me.

Windows Defender - Automatic Scanning

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Brink wrote:Brink,

Actually I did this a little while ago. The only change I had to make
was to check the option to wake the computer in task scheduler. I will
report back tomorrow evening as to whether or not it worked.

Let me ask, I have been working from within my user log-on. Would all of
this be restricted to an elevated admin?

BTW, is there a typo in the tutorial? Step 1, paragraph 6, sub-paragraph
A), should that read "Check" instead of "Uncheck" to turn on automatic
scanning?

--
Dave T.

Dave,

Yes, you should be doing this from within an administrator account. The tasks also need to have the "Run with highest privileges" checked to.

LOL, yes that was a typo. Thank you for letting me know. It has been corrected.

Shawn