Sending to sleep

[mtav]

Two questions.

 

One, I unplugged the two USB cables and put the computer to sleep last night, but this morning iI find it is awake again. What's going on?

 

Two, is there a way to permit the printer (and possibly the scanner also) to retain their USB connections but somehow be prevented from waking the computer up?

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Can I just ask Mtav why you don't simply shut the pc down in the normal manner after a session?

[DirtyPolo]

Two questions.

 

One, I unplugged the two USB cables and put the computer to sleep last night, but this morning iI find it is awake again. What's going on?

 

Two, is there a way to permit the printer (and possibly the scanner also) to retain their USB connections but somehow be prevented from waking the computer up?

 

When you put the PC to sleep, did you turn off the keyboard and mouse?

 

try taking the batteries out of them next time and see if it still wakes up before morning.

 

If so then we may have to investiagte further into what may wake up your PC.

 

Wolfey's's questions is valid also, is there any reason you need it to sleep or is it just to give you shorter time to wait when you resume form sleep in the morning instead of booting up again? :D.

 

 

I am grateful to hear about your planned contribution and as for our persistance and speed, that is what we are here for :)

 

Hope we can get this problem sorted for you soon :)

 

Also in response to your other question about the printer, can you please open up Device Manager, by following these steps.

 

1. Click on Start button.

2. Type in "Device Manager" and press enter

3. When the window appears, look for the heading "Universal Serial Bus Controllers" and expand it by clicking on the "+" sign.

4. Take a screen shot of what is displayed and post it in a reply :)

 

Thanks.

Edited February 25, 2009 by DirtyPolo

[mtav]

Can I just ask Mtav why you don't simply shut the pc down in the normal manner after a session?

 

Is sleeping abnormal?

 

Sending to sleep should be much faster than a full shutdown and waking up instantaneous. Also waking from sleep should bring all open applications, documents and windows back to exactly the state they were in before so that you can carry on working from where you left off.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Well it's up to you of course but consider the opinions here.

 

http://extremetechsupport.com/forum/fpch-polls/5426-sleep-shut-down.html

[mtav]

I didn't take the batteries out. I will experiment both ways but it may take some time to get a definitive result.

 

See my answer to Wolfey.

 

Also see the attachment.

[BeeCeeBee]

I admit to not having studied this entire thread so this may have been dismissed early on. However, it seems to me that you have a very sensitive mouse (possibly the keyboard as well) and that any little vibration is taking your machine out of sleep mode.

[DirtyPolo]

Nice idea Barry, but indeed it has been addressed by putting the PC to sleep whilst the batteries were removed from the keyboard and mouse.

 

And thankyou for the screenshot mtav, I will reply in according to this later on when I have more time on my hands as I am currently busy :)

[mtav]

I looked at the views in your link.

 

David Pogue in "Windows Vista - The Missing Manual" says:

 

The Sleep button is the trigger for one of Vista's most useful new features. Millions of people shut their PCs off every day, but they shouldn't; it's a huge, colossal waste of time on both ends. When you shut down you have to wait for all your programs to close -- and then the next morning, you have to reopen everything, reposition your windows, and get everything back the way you had it.

 

He then describes XP's Standby, and goes on to say In Windows Vista, Microsoft has fixed Standby. It's now called Sleep and doesn't present those problems. First. drivers and applications are no longer allowed to interrupt the Sleep process.

Oh, yes?

And then: So here's the bottom line -- when you're done working for the moment, or for the day, put your computer to Sleep instead of shutting it down. You save power, you save time, and you risk no data loss.

 

One man's view, of course, but his arguments are persuasive.Also, you are not quite right in saying Hibernate isn't available in Vista. If you go to Power Options in the Control Panel and click on 'Change plan settings' for your selected plan, and click on 'Change advanced power settings' you can then open 'Sleep' and open 'Allow hybrid sleep' and change On to Off. You will find you then have both Sleep and Hibernate available friom the Start button instead of just Sleep. (Hibernate isn't available as standard in the 'Balanced' plan but it may be in the 'Power saver' plan or the 'High performance' plan.)

 

The 'Sleep' is now a pure Sleep mode, ie the computer goes indefinitely into a low-power condition from which it can quickly be restored (with all data held in memory). Whereas in the standard state (with hybrid sleep allowed) 'Sleep' is really Hybrid Sleep, with all data stored on the hard disc as well as in memory. This means that if power fails while sleeping your saved settings still come back as usual, and also that if you leave the computer asleep for a long time (typically more than 18 hours) it will automatically hibernate and go from a low-power state to a no-power state - particularly valuable for laptops on battery.

 

E&OE

[mtav]

Possible, but unlikely. I live in a very quiet area and no-one came near the computer before I found it had come back to life this morning. But I will do as DirtyPolo suggests and see if removing the batteries makes any difference. Keyboard and mouse use a common USB connection so unplugging it would be easier and would probably have the same effect.

[BeeCeeBee]

Ok now I have read through all this from the perspective of a non vista user.

 

Accepting everything that you say, Vista has incorporated an improved sleep mode as part of its normal setup. Knowing that, It just seems unusual that the problems that were solved by disconnecting certain peripherals should have happened in the first place. I am sure that Vista does not suggest that you detach every usb device for sleep mode to function.

 

Dirty Polo has gone through most, if not all, of the obscure settings that may have been involved in your issue without success. I agree that disconnecting would have the same effect as removing the batteries but if it works, it may still be more than just the mouse,, etc.

 

Something odd is going on with your usb ports and it may well be hardware related.

[DirtyPolo]

Okay so a quick recap.

 

So far nothing we tried worked, until you unplugged your Printer? which allowed your PC to sleep just fine.

 

But after that, you put the PC to sleep one night, (with the printer unplugged?), and woke up to find it already awake.

 

We have checked to see what devices are allowed to wake up your PC, and have isolated each one to no avail.

 

the next step I would like you to try is the following.

 

For each of the items listeed under the Universal Serial Bus Controllers, on the screenshot you posted last,

- Right click the name, and select Properties.

- In the box that opens up, click on the Power Management tab,

- Make sure the box that states "Allow this device to wake up the computer" is unticked, some may be greyed out but check they are still unticked.

 

Next can I please have a screenshot of the whole Device Manager window with Network Adapters expanded..

 

From the little review I wrote at the top, it seems that you found the cause of the problem, and solved it but then another one appeared, as we have disabled the audio controller and no change, the only other option is that another USB device is waking up your PC. By disabling this on each USB port should solve this problem.

[mtav]

Your recap is accurate, though the 'second problem' didn't just arise 'one night', it was very shortly after tracking the first problem down to the printer, and the first time I left the computer asleep for more than a minute or two.

 

The first four USB controllers have no Power Management tab. The last two (both USB root hubs) do, with 'allow the computer to turn off the device' unchecked, and 'allow the device to wake the computer' greyed out - see first screenprint.

 

See second screenprint for Device Manager content.

[DirtyPolo]

Okay, I think you misread my last post, I asked for a screenshot of the Device Manager window with the Network Adapters heading expanded.

 

But thanks for the info on the second problem :)

[mtav]

Sorry. How about this?

[mtav]

The computer has spent four hours asleep this evening without waking up.

 

And another point. I'm still learning about use of Sleep on my newish Vista computer, of course, as it hasn't worked until now. But it is clear that use of mouse or keyboard doesn't cause waking up. It is (normally) necessary to press the computer's ON button to do that.

[mtav]

My computer is now consistent in its behaviour. As long as the printer's USB cable is disconnected it can be left asleep all the time without waking up, EXCEPT that it wakes at precisely midnight every night.

 

So, two questions remain.

 

1 How can I find out what causes the midnight call?

 

2 Is there anything I can do to avoid having to unplug the printer before putting the computer to sleep? By the way, the USB cable is a long one.

 

Mike

[DirtyPolo]

The midnight sympton could be due to Automatic updates or another scheduled program update/scan.

 

To check if it is Automatic updates do the following:

 

- Open control panel

- Click on Security

- Then click on "Turn automatic updating on or off"

 

The next screen should show the following:

 

[ATTACH]204.vB5-legacyid=424[/ATTACH]

 

Check the time that is set.

 

As for your second question, does it still wakeup even if you turn the printer off? as I don't know but expect your print has a power cable too, that plugs into a socket, try making sure it's turned off at the mains and see if it still wakes it up.

 

If thats not possible or it turns on still then we'll have to look for another way around it for you

[mtav]

The only option for automatic updates seems to be on or off - see screenprint. I will try turning it off.

 

The printer does have a power cable, and I will try switching it off, but as the only connection between the printer and the computer is the USB cable it is hard to see that it could make a difference.

 

Mike

[mtav]

DirtyPolo

 

Correction to message just sent. In trying to turn automatic updates off I found the window with the update time. It is set for 3 a.m. (see screenprint) not midnight.

 

Do you have any other suggestion?

 

Mike

[DirtyPolo]

Okay,

 

- Can you open the start menu and type in "task scheduler" and press enter

- The browse to the folders on the left as shown in my screenshot below, by expanding the following:

* Task Scheduler Library

*Microsoft

*Windows

- Then click on each of the following folders, and see what details appear in the window.

 

[ATTACH]210.vB5-legacyid=430[/ATTACH]

 

I am guessing the only ones with a scheduled time of 12AM or "00:00AM"

Will be System Restore and/or Windows Defrag or Defender.

 

Can you confirm these are the only ones or are there others too?

 

In the above screenshot I am selected on System Restore to give an example of what details you need to be looking for, i.e. the time.

[mtav]

I gave a silly answer to your suggestion of switching the printer off. Actually, switching the printer itself off makes no difference, but unplugging the mains cable or switching off at the mains, surprisingly (to me, anyway), does -- with the USB cable plugged in and the printer unplugged the computer CAN be put to sleep.

 

I will respond to your suggestion re the Task Scheduler shortly. Thanks for your continuing help.

 

Mike

[mtav]

DirtyPolo

 

Task Scheduler looks a useful facility - I hadn't seen it before.

 

The only task which is specifically triggered at midnight daily is System Restore which is set to run "whether the user is logged on or not". It last ran at 0017 this morning (when the computer was in use) and is set to run next at midnight tonight. See screenprint.

 

Defrag is set to run at 0100 every Wednesday (whether the user is logged on or not). It last ran at 0100 yesterday (Thursday, yes!) and is not set to run again until 0100 next Wednesday.

 

There is no task for Defender.

 

 

If a task is set to run "whether the user is logged on or not" is it prevented from running if the computer is asleep? - unless (presumably) "Wake the computer for this task" is checked.

 

Several of the tasks which are set to run "whether the user is logged on or not" have no trigger. But a couple which do have triggers are:

1 Customer Experience Improvement Program is supposed (says the Trigger tab) to trigger at 1700 daily, but the History tab shows it actually runs at variable times eg 24 Feb 1009 and 1019, 25 Feb 0000, 1930 and 1940. It doesn't wake the sleeping computer.

2 Media Center is supposed to trigger at 0023 daily but in practice runs at variable times eg at 0019 and 1228 on 4 Mar. It doesn't wake the sleeping computer.

 

 

On the Conditions tab of each task there is a checkbox for "Wake the computer for this task". The only task for which it is checked is Windows | MobilePC | TMM. Would it be sensible to uncheck it?

 

 

Generally, as I said, my computer is not woken up (except by me) at any time except midnight (daily), but today, after being put to sleep after 0100, it was awake again when I next saw it at 0900. The only tasks which are shown as having run between these hours are:

1 Google Update which is triggered "when the computer is idle" and ran at 0321

2 CertificateServicesClient which is triggered "at system startup and, after being triggered, repeats at 0800 daily", and ran at 0800 today.

3 Shell which is "triggered when idle" (whether the user is logged on or not) and ran at 0411 today.

Would any of these have caused the computer to wake up? (The quoted times were read at about 1000 today from the Last Run Time column in the upper part of the Task Scheduler window.)

 

Mike

[DirtyPolo]

Okay, lets try this step again, now that we have sorted out the USB Printer problem.

 

Can you please follow these instructions and post a screenshot of the results.

 

- Click "Start"

- Type in "CMD" and press Enter.

- In the box that opens type in "powercfg lastwake" and press Enter.

 

Below is my example of what you should see and what I would like you to reply with:

 

http://extremetechsupport.com/forum/attachments/windows-vista/396d1235404780t-sending-sleep-cmd_lastwake.jpg

 

NOTE: Notice that I had USB\ROOT\HUB listed. For me, this would be the USB wireless mouse. Your list results will vary of course

[mtav]

It doesn't show as much as yours: