Windows 7 will not goto sleep automatically - sometimes!

[Ken429]

For some reason one oif my W7 systems will (sometimes) not go to sleep automatically (after the set delay time). It seems if I go in and change something it will work for awhile and then stop working for no apparent reason. The main issue is using WHS 2011 which wakes all the computers on the network in the middle of the night and does it's thing and then then the computers go back to sleep after the set delay untill needed in the morning.

Every time I find this computer not sleeping I run powercfg -requests and every time there is a request - see attached screen capture. On the other hand every time is is working properly there are no open requests. I think this is the issue but I need help trying to figure out who has the request and what to do about it.

 

[Ken429]

After trying almost every solution posted on the various forums that solve the W7 no-auto sleep issue (with zero success) I finally took a closer look at the power settings in the one W7 machine that had no problems going back to sleep after the set delay period. The one thing that I noticed was the "Turn off hard disk after" was set to "Never". I changed the machine that was having all the auto sleep issues to "Never" and it now behaves like it should! Maybe this is just another solution for my particular machine and will not solve other people's auto sleep problems but it works for me! Since this thread seems to be inactive I probably won't get any feedback but I am curious to see if this works for anybody else.

 

[kado897]

Thanks for posting that. It will help others.

 

[Katsumoto]

Hello Ken,

And thanks for the self-Solved!

I think I may have done this on my machine during the Christmas break, when downloading purchases from Steam, as I wanted my computer to run all night for the full downloads. But for the life of me I cannot remember what else I changed apart from the normal Control Panel -> Power Management config. Where is the Hard Sleep option you mentioned located? Still in CP or in BIOS?

Thanks in advance... my memory's like a sieve and I cannot remember which other options I had tinkered with.

 

[lehnerus2000]

"Screenshots are your friends."

Thanks in advance... my memory's like a sieve and I cannot remember which other options I had tinkered with.

I know what you mean.

My solution:
"Screenshots are your friends."
I have a "How to" folder and I put screenshots (and txt files for "Command Prompt" fixes) in it.

 

[Katsumoto]

Thanks in advance... my memory's like a sieve and I cannot remember which other options I had tinkered with.

I know what you mean.

My solution:
"Screenshots are your friends."
I have a "How to" folder and I put screenshots (and txt files for "Command Prompt" fixes) in it.

haha, you're a champion! I've been mucking around with computers (mainly games) since the C64 and then Amigas, and then with PC's - I've NEVER thought of doing that, or even writing things down!

But what happens with BIOS settings? Mobile phone camera?

I know it's just the one setting that needs changing, but I just cannot remember which one it is!

 

[lehnerus2000]

I learnt that the hard way

Thanks in advance... my memory's like a sieve and I cannot remember which other options I had tinkered with.

I know what you mean.

My solution:
"Screenshots are your friends."
I have a "How to" folder and I put screenshots (and txt files for "Command Prompt" fixes) in it.

haha, you're a champion! I've been mucking around with computers (mainly games) since the C64 and then Amigas, and then with PC's - I've NEVER thought of doing that, or even writing things down!

Me too (~1984).

I learnt that the hard way.
"What were those network settings again?"

When I was asked to do "Intro to PCs" training, I started taking screenshots to give to my students (including them in handouts I created).
I thought, "This could work for me too. I'll screenshot settings and problem solutions, so that I don't have to search the Internet for answers."

But what happens with BIOS settings? Mobile phone camera?

I know it's just the one setting that needs changing, but I just cannot remember which one it is!

That's probably the only way, other than writing it down on a piece of paper and storing it with your Windows (and other software) discs.

I don't have a mobile phone (or digital camera) so I'm screwed (it's paper for me).

The "Rule of Thumb" when making changes to systems; "only change one thing at a time and observe the results."
If something goes wrong (or doesn't work) you only have to undo that operation.

 

[kado897]

The "Rule of Thumb" when making changes to systems; "only change one thing at a time and observe the results."
If something goes wrong (or doesn't work) you only have to undo that operation.

Good advice. I wish I could stick with it.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Me too

The "Rule of Thumb" when making changes to systems; "only change one thing at a time and observe the results."
If something goes wrong (or doesn't work) you only have to undo that operation.

Good advice. I wish I could stick with it.

Me too.

"Do as I say, not as I do."

 

[Ken429]

I don't know what MB you have but the two vendors I use are Gigabyte and ASUS and both of them have default BIOS settings of "S3". That is the mode that shuts everything down but keeps memory energized for want of a better word. I don't know why you would want anything other than S3 since S1 mode leaves almost everything running and does little to reduce power consumption. The only change I made to make S3 work properly on my P8Z68-V Pro MB was the Power setting. See attached.

 

[Katsumoto]

Hello Ken,

And thank you for your reply.

This is very odd (my computer, I mean). I have my BIOS set to S3, and the control panel settings are the same as yours. Oh well, I'll keep on investigating. Thanks for your trouble by posting the screenie of your CP power setting.


Hi Lehnerus,

haha, not only are you a compatriot, we also got into the whole thing at approx 1984! I only bought a mobile phone early last year, and only because of my job's circumstances. And the phone HAD to resemble a computer, so I got an Android-based phone. A pure phone for me, just would not do. Just not cricket.

Seriously, though, yours is top advice. There have been times where I've had to google for the same thing two or three times. Had I kept a record, it would have been just the one google. Come Ivy Bridge, I'm going to implement this practice.

 

[Ken429]

You might try running "powercfg -requests" from the Prompt Command window when the system should be in the S3 State. That is what gave me a hint of what was keeping my problem system from occasionally not entering the automatic sleep state.

 

[Katsumoto]

Oh cool, thanks! I'll check it out in a short while. (PS. I've got a Gigabyte board - I didn't make that clear in my previous post). I'm sure I've done something very simple and I just keep overlooking it.

 

[GenoPass]

Thanks Ken, your tip on using powercfg -requests was what helped me find out the problem. My wife tried to print something from her computer 10 days ago, right when the not going to sleep problem started and there was an error within the printer driver.

Before I could use powercfg -requests I had to search around to get Administrator access to my normal command prompt. I don't have a 'run as admin' on my shortcut menus, and I run UAC at one level lower than standard. Nothing was working, after trying for about 2 hours I guessed you turn UAC off in win7 by just lowering the slider all the way down, but they don't really say that. Then you need to reboot.

Finally my normal command prompt worked and gave me the info I needed.

I had been suspecting some new DirecTv stuff I loaded about 2 weeks ago also, so I was removing that, running the computer without network access, getting rid of MS Media Center, trying to eliminate things that might be causing access.

Then with the powercfg -requests I spotted it immediatly. So all in all about 2 days on this issue. I had wondered at the time what happened to my wife's print jobs, as all else seemed to be working fine, including the occasional printing I do.

thanks for the tip.

Gene