Notebook going to sleep and waking up on it's own

Ashma · 23 Dec 2009

Last night I put my Sony Notebook to sleep as I do almost every night. My notebook is housed in glossy metallic black and I’ve noticed some days it’s covered in sand like dust, depending on where I leave it so I often cover it with a cloth. Well I woke today to find that my notebook was on and the entire notebook was VERY hot. The vents are in the back and were covered by the cloth which I’m sure caused things to really heat up. What in the world could have caused it to wake up? Even though I have 70+ programs installed, I’ve never had this problem before. As far as I know, I don’t have anything set to run at a specific time. Perhaps Tune-Up Utilities 2010? The power did go out last night during a storm but it was plugged into a surge protector……..

And along the same lines, I’ve noticed that when I leave my notebook alone for about an hour, I’ll come back to find it asleep even though I have my power settings set to not go to sleep when plugged in. This started about a week ago and I can’t seem to figure out why this keeps happening.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Ash
Sony Vaio AR790U/B upgraded to Win7 Pro 64-bit

richc46 · 23 Dec 2009

Ashma said:

Last night I put my Sony Notebook to sleep as I do almost every night. My notebook is housed in glossy metallic black and I’ve noticed some days it’s covered in sand like dust, depending on where I leave it so I often cover it with a cloth. Well I woke today to find that my notebook was on and the entire notebook was VERY hot. The vents are in the back and were covered by the cloth which I’m sure caused things to really heat up. What in the world could have caused it to wake up? Even though I have 70+ programs installed, I’ve never had this problem before. As far as I know, I don’t have anything set to run at a specific time. Perhaps Tune-Up Utilities 2010? The power did go out last night during a storm but it was plugged into a surge protector……..

And along the same lines, I’ve noticed that when I leave my notebook alone for about an hour, I’ll come back to find it asleep even though I have my power settings set to not go to sleep when plugged in. This started about a week ago and I can’t seem to figure out why this keeps happening.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Ash
Sony Vaio AR790U/B upgraded to Win7 Pro 64-bit

It is very difficult to determine the cause of your problem from your brief description. If it happens again and you have an idea of the time, use the event viewer to determine a possible cause. Some process was at work to wake the computer. Is there any chance of a virus? Make a virus scan.

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Johnathan Lyman · 23 Dec 2009

Ashma, try two things:

First, Check the BIOS of your Sony laptop to see if WAKE ON LAN [sometimes described slightly different] is turned on. If so, turn it off.

Second, a surge wouldn't be the culprit because laptops aren't "typically" designed to turn on when power is given back to them. Again, check your BIOS.

I know the BIOS might seem like a longshot based on your story so far, but sometimes we forget to look in obvious places. Give that a shot and see how it goes.

And in regards to your "dust", if it is in a room that is occupied a lot, I would say it's just dust. You know, the whole dustmite thing. Dead skin cells, the works.

mitchell64 · 24 Dec 2009

Hello Ashma, You may also find this tutorial is well worth a look at
Power Options and Sleep Mode Problems - Vista Forums
I found it very benificial, hope it is of help to you

Ashma · 24 Dec 2009

Thank you guys but I still can't seem to figure out what caused it to wakeup and it hasn't yet happened again but I am worried that it will happen again as I do put my PC to sleep often rather than powering it off.

richc46 · 24 Dec 2009

Ashma said:

Thank you guys but I still can't seem to figure out what caused it to wakeup and it hasn't yet happened again but I am worried that it will happen again as I do put my PC to sleep often rather than powering it off.

Even though you said that you have nothing scheduled,By default there are many tasks that are scheduled to take place at various times, virus scans, backups etc. Your computer will wake to perform those tasks. It may have happened before, but the computer went back to sleep before you noticed.

Have any pets that may have caused it to wake, vibrations (heavy traffic etc), are you sure you put it to sleep? I think that last one is a likely suspect. Dont just say yes. We all take care of our computers, but we have other lives too. A bad day at school or work etc.

I guess the only way to be sure is to check the task scheduler and see what is scheduled.

I am a "Monk" when it comes to my computer, but even though, if it happend to me once,I would forget about it enjoy the Holiday and just chekc the event viewer if it happens again.

Merry Chrismas, and enjoy

Ashma · 25 Dec 2009

Merry Christmas to you Rich!

I looked into the task scheduler as you mentioned (first time seeing it), didn't see anything coming or within the last 7 days. So I'll just let it go for now.......hope not to see it again.......