Windows 7 - Problems with Sleep mode in Win 7 RC

I installed Windows 7RCa few weeks ago, and it's been working great. However, just in the last few days my Sleep mode started acting funny. Sometimes when I select it it works fine, but every 3 or 4 times it doesn't completely enter sleep mode. Activity stops and the monitor shuts down, but the Power LED stays lit up. Then when I try to re-start it wont, it just stays off with the power light on. The only way to start it again is to switch the PSU off and on again, then to restart, in which case it doesn't re-boot but comes out of sleep mode! Anyone else having a problem like this, or have any ideas for a fix? Thanks in advance for any tips.

Hello C E Jones & Welcome to the Forum,

Can you please fill out your system specs, you can use the link below. It will help us help you if we know what kind of hardware you have.

---
how does your system normally wake from sleep?

Thanks for the quick reply and sorry for not filling out the specs info, which I just filled out.

The way I usually wake from sleep is my just clicking the mouse. Sometimes I also use the power button on the font of the case. But neither of those methods work when the computer doesn't properly go into sleep

Check your network adapter power management settings and make sure theres NO check mark next to "allow this device to wake". Make sure theres a check mark for "allow the computer to turn this device off to save power". Many sleep issues have been because of this.

Open Network Sharing Center, In the left click change adapter settings, then right click on your adapter and choose properties, then click configure. Check the Power Management tab & in Advanced settings for all adapters. You don't want anything set to wake.

Check all your power management settings for proper sequence. Another words, monitor off in 10min, suspend in 30min, hibernate in 4 hours (or never). What I mean is you don't want it set to hibernate before its set to sleep. The times are just examples, its the order in which things are triggered that I'm suggesting.

Lastly,
Have you flashed to the latest bios? Looking at your mob its current version is "F4" released on 4/16/09. Doesn't look like any of the changes will relate, but it might be worth a try if yours is older.

I think you're right about the wireless adapter being the cause of the problem. Actually I just bought and installed the adapter about a week ago, which is exactly when the problem with sleep mode started, but I didn't make the connection!

However, the settings for the adapter are as you say they should be. "Allow to wake" is not checked and "allow computer to turn device off" is checked. I still think it's the adapter though, because I disabled it and then tried going into sleep. I went into sleep and woke about 10 times without any problems. Usually it had been happening about every 3 or 4 times I try to go into sleep, so I think I'll be alright as long as the adapter is disabled when I go into sleep. It's not that much of a hassle, as the computer is an HTPC and I don't use it for a lot of internet stuff (just occasional streaming video from Netflix).

I never installed the driver for the adapter, which is the D-Link WDA-2320. I've been using the Microsoft driver because some of the reviews on Newegg reported problems with the D-Link driver. Maybe installing it would fix this issue though. But as long as disabling wireless keeps working I'm happy to stick with that.

Thanks so much, I've been racking my brains for days and you figured it out right away!

Disabling it is one option if your not using it, but if you'd like to fix it, you can try this:

In device manager, is there a driver installed for the wireless adapter?

If your using microsofts driver, are you set to allow all windows updates? Check windows update for an available update and/or in your update history.

In the adapter "configure" window under the "advanced" tab, you might see something like magic packet, which allows the card to listen for special packets to wake the computer over the network. There might be other names like wake on lan.

Lastly, try the driver from D-Link. Before driver install, windows usually creates a restore point, so if it gives you trouble, just use system restore. (If system restore fails from within windows, run it from the windows 7 install disk, repair option).

Dlink drivers page: click the resources tab, then drivers:
D-Link RangeBooster G Desktop Adapter

Good Luck

I'm running the Microsoft driver. I clicked "update driver" under the "configure" tab and it said it was the most recent one (the date is 3/11/2009). I didn't see the "magic packets" thing and I actually disabled "wake to LAN" in my BIOS awhile ago because my computer was randomly waking up from sleep on its own--so I know that's disabled.

Like I said, leaving the wireless disabled except when I need it is a workable solution, but if I get sick of it I'll try installing the D-Link driver. I'll let you know if I run into any further problems, and thanks again for you help!

I have this exact same problem with a Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P motherboard. I asked about this problem on the TechNet forums, and it was suggested that it's a problem with Gigabyte boards.

There is some good news. I installed 7229 and sleep works correctly, so the final release of Windows 7 should sleep correctly also. Unfortunately, 7229 caused some other problems for me, and I went back to 7100.

most of my sleep issues or lack there of were due to Nvidia's video driver. I see you use ATI but I have seen it happen there too. The most finicky of all are NIC and Video, with Video being #1. Nvidia's latest driver 186.18 for 64bit will not wake properly, but the beta right before it 186.08 will. My machine would wake 25% of the time, the other 75% it would act like it was running, but no video or network. I did 2 rebuilds and played with all of my bios setting before realizing that the only thing different was the Nvidia drivers. So I ended up rolling back to the one that worked. Funny how a beta worked better than a WHQL cert. one.

I use sleep (S3) and hibernate on all 4 of my machines for over a year now and it works flawlessly, even waking up for Windows Home Server Backups or waking up to record TV shows. The only time I ever have issues is if Nvidia releases a new driver and messes up the power settings.

If you hadn't changed anything, but did a video driver update lately, uninstall, and the reinstall the previous one you were using.

I would blame a video driver before a build of windows 7. All of my builds sleep (s3) and hibernate flawlessly, and I have used 7100, 7127, 7229, 7260, and now 7264. It was only when I changed a video driver did it stop working as expected.

I have a slightly different Sleep problem. Mine doesn't wake properly. It goes to sleep just fine, but then when I try to turn it on, nothing. It turns the lights and all back on, but I just get a black screen. And the mouse doesn't turn on either. Weird. I don't know if Hibernate does this. I will try that now. I also will try turning off Allow to Shut Off.

Will let you know what happens. Any one have this problem? Any one know how to fix it?

~Lordbob