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Precision T7400 won't fully enter sleep mode - fans remain on
About a week ago, my T7400 workstation stopped going into Sleep mode properly - it starts the process, but after the screen blanks, the fans remain on and it just seems to stall out. Hitting Enter or moving the mouse wakes up the screen and the system takes 15 seconds or so to fully come back alive and respond to mouse movements as if it were coming out of Sleep.
Needless to say, I don't want to leave it "sleeping" if the fans and other components are still powered up.
I've gone into Control Panel and tried changing Power Save settings to see if that might goose it back into normalcy, with no success.
I'm running Windows 7-64bit Ultimate and have made absolutely no driver or software changes for quite some time; this one has me stumped.
I assume I might need to reinstall drivers or change a config setting, but don't know where to start. I'm comfortable with opening and changing Registry settings if that's what it takes.
Thanks for any leads someone might have!
JimInPT
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October 8th, 2019 11:00
Hi Alan (and Brad),
Sorry I've been away for quite some time but I wanted to follow up since you've made a solid effort to help.
The reason I changed the CMOS battery was an onscreen message warning me the battery was finally pooping out - the machine is 11 years old now, so that's not terribly surprising! So I changed the battery and all was well except for this insomnia problem.
I tried looking at and tweaking various remote-on and other BIOS settings to no avail. The really weird thing is that even until today, sometimes it works! If I leave it be to time out per Power settings in Windows, it will go to sleep properly about half the time, but it's random and I can't predict when it'll work. Very odd, very time-consuming to futz with.
The upshot: this was the straw that broke the camel's back. After slowing down over the years under increasing software and computational burdens, I decided to make the leap to an all-new platform. So the reason I was away was to build a new system myself, from the tabletop up, for the first time in 31 years. Yes, my last build needed to have individual memory chips pushed into individual sockets and it was a steam-powered system. Peripherals driven by wide leather belts on brass pulleys. Older technology.
I built the new one using industry-standard parts around an i7-8700K processor, 64GB DDR4 memory, 4TB of NVMe motherboard storage (man, that stuff is fast!), a midrange GPU since I use it for stock trading and general computing, not games and Win10 Pro. Threw in an LG 43" 4k monitor to treat myself to more real estate.
This is my first non-Dell system since the late '90s and I have to say I'm pleased with my creation. With no moving parts except slow-turning fans, it's silent ...... and it goes to sleep every time!
My much-used, much-loved T7400 will go into semi-retirement soon as a backup system but I'm typing this message on the old gal while I do the dreaded 2-week software install and config tedium.
Thanks again for taking the time to step in and help, guys; it's appreciated!
bradthetechnut
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September 9th, 2019 17:00
I think it's the software and it might be time for a reload. The way your T7400 is going to "sleep" is the same way Win98 would put PC's on standby. Much of it would still be active. I would put the mouse upside down so it wouldn't trigger coming off of standby.
First, if it's been some years, I'd replace the CMOS battery. Hard to go wrong there.
I'm sure you remember Microsoft support ends for Win7 as of Jan. 2020. Win10 has many similar features and is easy to get used to.
If you do reload your OS, I suggest putting it on an SSD if not already. Besides faster boot times, it makes a PC faster and more responsive. You'd be surprised. Mght be the perfect time to switch to Win10. Be sure to format an SSD while your Win7 is still running.
JimInPT
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September 10th, 2019 06:00
Thanks for the reply! It was very helpful, although indirectly. Reloading Windows or changing to Win10 (which I'm avoiding as long as possible, I make my living on a Win7 platform, love it and despise all the tiles and other nonsense in Win10 that have to be ripped out to approach an efficient UI) seems a bit drastic for now at least. Plus, I remember Vista, Win8, 'Bob' and other botched "upgrades".
But your mention of the CMOS battery reminded me that I changed mine a few weeks ago; this problem arose since then. I had to reset clock and other settings in the BIOS, so your post prompted me to go in and check those settings.
I found that "Remote WakeUp" (or similar) was turned on and that't not the default nor did I remember turning it on. On a hunch, I switched it off, thinking the NIC might be preventing sleep. When I rebooted last night after switching it off, Sleep worked properly!
I tested it several times before powering down for the night. This morning, the Sleep problem is back; it won't complete the process again. So I'm going to do a reboot today when I have some downtime to do it and will check settings again.
Do any of these symptoms prompt something else I could check? Weird that it works but after a cold start this morning it doesn't, once again. The fact that it was fixed for a little while immediately after making that BIOS setting change tells me I'm on the right track, but something else is resetting the problem.
Thanks for your help jumping in here!
bradthetechnut
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September 10th, 2019 11:00
I won't mind if somebody else chimes in here, but I still think it's the OS; may be it got a bug that's simply a pest. Does your OS have a Recovery Partition? Is all of your data and/or files backed up? Might be time to use the Recovery Partition. I almost for forgot all about that as I didn't male a Recovery Partition for my Win10.
First though, as for BIOS, did you check the rest of the Power Management settings?
I can't picture a hardware issue that would cause the sleep problem. If it were the PSU, you'd have warning lights and the PC wouldn't boot.
Dell-Alan D
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September 11th, 2019 03:00
@JimInPT that's strange that the system worked once after reseating the CMOS before returning to it's previous behaviour. Additionally, you have noted that this behaviour only happened after changing the CMOS. I'm wondering if the issue is being caused by the CMOS itself or the CMOS slot on the motherboard.
What caused you to change the CMOS to begin with?
Do you have another identical CMOS battery that you could swap into the system?
Failing that, logic would suggest OS or settings. Brad has made some excellent suggestion so far, in addition to those I would recommend working through our troubleshooting article for sleep mode issues. It applies to all recent versions of Windows - https://www.dell.com/support/article/gh/en/ghbsdt1/sln122264/steps-for-fixing-computers-that-do-not-wake-up-or-resume-from-suspend-hibernate-mode-but-power-on?lang=en
Alan
bradthetechnut
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September 11th, 2019 17:00
Hi @Dell-Alan D,
Thanks for the compliment.
Hi again @JimInPT,
Within the link that Alan gave is "Bios and Power Options Settings." It suggests turning on USB wake support. I believe in this case you'll want it off. That particular article seems to be geared for if a PC doesn't come back from sleep, but it has many good tips as that link also does.
Dell-Alan D
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October 9th, 2019 01:00
@JimInPT thanks for the update.
I hope the system enjoys it's retirement after a good solid 11 years of work, it deserves it! May I suggest a nice warm area and treat it to a clean install every few years....;-)
Enjoy your new custom built creation, I hope it lasts you another 11 years.
Alan
JimInPT
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October 9th, 2019 13:00
Alan, I'll introduce her to the 5 or 6 other Dells in the closet; maybe they can play shuffleboard or golf together in retirement.
The bronze-colored Precision M6500 laptop soldiers on, though. Still a lot of gravity inside that one compared to the whippersnappers, but a solid system worth lugging about.