Solved Uncommanded wake from sleep yet no wake devices or wake timers exist

[Sedm]

W7 PC wakes up from sleep every few minutes. It didn't use to. I am the builder / owner / sole user. Investigation done so far at the DOS prompt to establish the cause:

powercfg -devicequery wake_armed
(no results returned)

powercfg -waketimers
There are no active wake timers in the system

powercfg -lastwake

Wake History Count - 1
Wake History [0]
Wake Source Count - 0​

Other ideas to try and establish the cause with please?

Many thanks.

 

[cyclops]

Check your settings for Windows Updates. Update can wake a computer even if no wake timers are set.

 

[DavidE]

From an elevated command prompt enter this command and see if you have any Requests:
powercfg -requests

If you do have any requests, try overriding them using the POWERCFG -REQUESTSOVERRIDE command

 

[Sedm]

Thanks, Both.

The Windows Update service is scheduled to run at 03:00am every day (confirmed) so I don't think this is the cause.

Running powercfg -requests gives the following outcome:

DISPLAY:
None.

SYSTEM:
None.

AWAYMODE:
None.​

I'll do some more digging but further ideas are welcome too, please.

 

[DavidE]

See if these tutorials can help solve the problem:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/179257-wake-source-read-event-viewer-log.html
Power Options and Sleep Mode Problems

 

[Sedm]

Thank you DavidE. I read those two tutorials and several others yesterday but am still no closer to finding the source. What is odd is how it has recently started happening despite having worked properly since PC build a couple of years ago and despite no new application software being installed.

I believe that either a software update has changed the behaviour or the PC is infected with something despite all AV products I have tried - including a root kit tool - giving a complete clean bill of health.

 

[DavidE]

Do you have some way to restore to a time before the problem started ?
I create periodic System Image backups using Macrium Reflect free.
Some people only use and depend on Windows Restore Points.
Do you have anything you can restore to before the problem started ?

If it MIGHT be a virus or malware, best to ask for help in the SF Security forum here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/

 

[Sedm]

Yes, DavidE, I do - with ease.

I have one physical disk with the OS and program files and all data on five other physical disks. This allows me to take System Images - which I do every second week - and to restore without overwriting any data* (which is near-real time backed up in triplicate anyway).

I have resisted restoring to a system image though for two reasons:

1) I will not be beaten
2) There is no guarantee that the problem won't come back

I may end up swallowing my pride but for now will continue trying to solve it!

*Before I it gets pointed out I use "data" to mean documents, photos and so on rather than in its strict sense

 

[DavidE]

I understand.
I'm stubborn, and also like to know what caused a problem, and solve it.
You do have a backup/restore plan in place, so you always have that option.

 

[Sedm]

Thanks for understanding!

After a pause for reflection I decided to swallow my pride and use the Windows System Image from two weeks ago. The problem appears to be solved though it is a shame that I don't know what the cause was. Let's see if it stays solved after Windows and other software have done their updates over the next couple of days after which I will return either to mark the thread as solved or to share more insight if not!

Thanks for the help along the way, DavidE and cyclops too.

 

[DavidE]

If you have a bunch of updates to re-apply after restoring, you could install them one at a time, and try to find what causes the problem, if it happens again.
I would do the Windows Updates first, then update other programs you updated since the restore was created.
It's time consuming and tedious, but you might find what caused the problem.

 

[Sedm]

Once again my thanks for the help, especially DavidE's. All software now updated since reverting to a system image of two weeks or so ago and the issue has not returned. The downside is that I don't know what caused it but the upside is that all is good.