Keyboard Non-wake anomaly

Not Myself · 14 Jul 2015

Without going into the lengthy details, suffice it to say that this morning, after doing a test for SuperAntiSpyware, I found that I could not wake the computer using the keyboard. I normally use the mouse, but as I had removed the wireless mouse dongle in testing, I could not use it, so tried the keyboard, to no avail.

A quick press on the computer's power switch woke it up, and replacing the dongle re-energized the mouse. I then went into Device Manager, which lists two HID Keyboard Devices, although I have only one keyboard. One on-line article says that this is not unusual for Windows to list more than one. In Device Manager, I determined that both entries show that they are set to allow them to wake the machine. powercfg -devicequery wake_armed also indicates that both are properly set.

Why, other than that my computer is just trying to be unfair, can I not wake the computer with a keyboard that supposedly is set to allow it to do that?

(I forgot to mention that the keyboard is USB, not wireless.)

Mellon Head · 14 Jul 2015

Check in your BIOS and see if there is a wake setting involving the keyboard. Some BIOSes have a "Wake on Keyboard" parameter, or you can select a key to wake the PC up, such as the space bar.

Not Myself · 15 Jul 2015

Not only will my keyboard not wake the computer, now it won't save a message that, at least in theory, I posted in this thread yesterday. It was likely operator error, and my excuse is that i was quite tired, having been working all day on a yearly task, washing and waxing the floors of our house; the floors are scored concrete, to absorb the heat of the sun in a passive-solar domicile.

Anyway, what i thought I had posted was that I think it unlikely that I had never used the keyboard to wake the computer, which is over three years old, but despite that reservation, I shall check the bios and post my findings (or perhaps just try to post them...) when I have a chance to do the checking.

Not Myself · 15 Jul 2015

I checked the bios, where USB keyboard and mouse enabling are in a single setting, which is set to `enabled.' Given that a USB mouse wakes the computer, and that the keyboard is, within Windows, enabled to wake the computer, something else must be blocking the keyboard from waking the machine.

Mellon Head · 15 Jul 2015

Very odd. I checked mine to see as I always wake via the mouse, and my computer wakes by the space bar only. No other keys wake it up.

Strange behaviour.

Not Myself · 15 Jul 2015

Mellon Head said:

Very odd. I checked mine to see as I always wake via the mouse, and my computer wakes by the space bar only. No other keys wake it up.

Strange behaviour.

I agree, and wish I knew what the Medieval Chant is to fix this (academically, I am a medievalist.) I have tried every key on my keyboard, and none of them wake the computer, alas. I wish I knew if I had ever used the keyboard to wake the machine; if I knew that it had worked, at least I would know that something had happened since then--but ever if I knew, I have no idea how I could track down and fix the culprit.