Windows 7: Variable SLEEP behavior.

Running Win 7 Home Premium on a custom desktop, all updates applied. Regardless of what happens to be running at the time, when I issue the SLEEP command at night, the HD stops spinning, the monitor goes dark, and the power light starts blinking. Then the following morning:
1) 5% of the time, power light will be blinking, one press of the power-on button will start the HD, I'll hear the ext speaker crackle, and the monitor will come on with last night's screens, ALL within 10-15 sec.
2) 15% of the time, the power light will be solid, the HD spinning, and moving the mouse will display the screen, just like it never went to sleep at all!
3) 80% of the time, the power light will be blinking, I'll press the power-on button, and WAIT 90 sec for the monitor to come on with last night's screen? I can boot in less time than that!
I can't relate the behavior to anything I'm doing at this end.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.

Hello Bilvihur,

What power plan are you currently using? If you don't know that, you can check it by following steps 1 to 3 shown below; please report this back.
And in the Power Plan settings, what is the "turn off hard disk" feature set to? You can check this by following steps 1 to 6 shown below.

To change that feature, please follow these steps and see if the problem persists;

Hard Drive - Turn Off Hard Disk After Idle or Never

1. Click on the .
2. In the Search programs and files bar, type "Power plan", and click on Choose a power plan.
3. Click on Change plan settings from whichever power plan you are using.
4. In the menu, click on Change advanced power settings.
5. In the menu that will open, please double click on ➢Hard disk.
6. Click on ➢Turn off hard disk after.
7. You can change this setting to Never so that your hard disk will not turn off again when your computer goes to sleep.
8. After changing the option, click on Apply, and then click on OK.
9. Please reboot your machine after this.

Good luck and keep us posted,
Nommy

Just to add, different drivers and devices support different power states.

Remember this is a desktop, not running on a battery. The power plan is set to balanced. By definition: When a PC enters sleep mode, it saves electricity by shutting down most of its components. But it uses some power to keep Windows, running programs, and data in RAM, allowing it to wake up almost instantly. I want the HD to power down when the sleep cmd is executed. I just want the machine to wake up quickly.
How can I determine whether device drivers may be causing the problem? SLEEP behavior is variable even though I haven't changed any of them.

You can make the HDD power down further, but you can't choose which hardware components go to sleep, and which one's don't.

You could try Hybrid Sleep, it should be enabled by default for desktops, and uses the S4 and S3 power states, the processor will be turned off and a hibernation file will be created, but it will wake up much faster than a standard hibernation.

My Power Options - Sleep don't include Hybrid Sleep options.

They should, did select the Advanced Power Options?

1. Start
2. Control Panel
3. Power Options (Small Icons view)
4. Change Plan Settings
5. Change Advanced Power Settings

Nope. All I see is Sleep After, and Allow Wake Timers.

Do you have hibernate enabled?

Hibernate - Enable or Disable

No, it wasn't. But I think we're getting away from the original problem, which is "Why doesn't the SLEEP command perform in a consistent manner?" That is, storing data in RAM, and allowing wake-up quickly.