Windows 7: Windows 7 Sleep mode cuts power to USB. Driving me crazy!

I have searched this forum and others and found what appears to be the same answer to my problem in multiple places, but alas has not solved my problem. I recently upgraded my home desktop computer from a Gateway with Windows Media Center 2005 to a new Hewlett-Packard p6674y with Windows 7 x64 Home Premium. My wife uses her ipod shuffle a lot and charges it on the USB drive on the desktop, however with this new machine we cannot get the USB drives to stay powered when the machine enters sleep mode, thus she always has a dead ipod.


Things I have tried thus far are going to device manager and changing all of the USB root hubs to say that they cannot be powered down and also going to power settings and changing the USB power down setting to "disable". Any help to this issue is appreciated cause it's driving me crazy!

What power plan are you running (high, per balanced, power saving)? What video driver? Could also use you system specs.


Ken J

Not really sure of the video driver I am using. Windows found and installed a driver for the Dell monitor I am using. It even recognized the model number which I was impressed by.

I tried to update my system specs in my profile. The computer came from Best Buy. It is on HP's website here: HP Pavilion p6674y Desktop PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

I've been using the "Balanced" power scheme and made a few edits to it to no avail. I saw one post on technet to try a new power scheme if editing the "balanced" scheme disn't work and that didn't work either. As this is a home computer (and I'm at work right now) I will have a difficult time answering some questions accurately.

Overall I am pleased with the machine. Good performance and obviously a step up from Media Center '05, but letting this thing sleep without powering down the USB drive ports is agonizing. I spent a few hours on it last night and plan to again tonight. I have a couple other ipods and a blackberry to try plugging into it and see what happens with them.

Hi rwbryan and welcome to Windows 7 Forums

Why not buy a separate charger that plugs directly into the mains? There are plenty to choose from, and some can charge multiple devices at the same time.

Amazon.com: usb charger wall

Dwarf, that is a good idea and one that I have thought of. I will end up going that route very soon, if I can't get the computer's usb to do the dirty work (charging) for me!

I've got one with a single charging socket. I use it when I go away on holiday to charge my MP3 player and eBook. They also use less electricity than the computer would.

I have decided to purchase a usb power adapter and just plug the ipod into the wall for charging and will only plug it into the computer when I need to upload music to it.


After much trial and error I have found that the settings I was trying did work to keep the usb on the computer powered even during sleep. An external hard drive stayed lit up all night long via the usb and if I plugged the ipod into any usb computer port it was also charging for a few minutes at least and then it would stop after 20 minutes or so. Apple's support for charging ipods using windows 7 says that I have to change the power settings to "never allow sleep" which isn't really acceptable cause I don't need the computer awake 24-7. Thus, the purchase of the usb power adapter...


Thanks for the advice Dwarf, cause that appears to be the best solution.

You're welcome.