Insomniac computer

Question

HELP.  My computer, XPS600, has insomnia.  It won't stay in standby or hibernation for longer than a few hours.  Does anyone know how to determine WHAT is causing a computer in either standby or hibernation to wake up?  I've tried turning everything off so that the computer isn't being woken up by the network or other hardware.  I've gone through the device manager and turned every option concerning waking up that I can find OFF.  Still no joy.  I'm open to any suggestions.  Thanks.

ravik521 · Answer

What about software? That could be the problem. Try to Close all programs before entering hibernation and standby. Let's see what happens.

Aeterno · Answer

Check that media center isn't trying to wake it up to record something, it can do that. Also try going into the BIOS and disable LAN wake-up if that doesn't work, that may be it too.

erich505 · Answer

The same thing, insomnia, happens without any programs running.  I've even disabled all of the optional system tray/background applications.  I was hoping that there was a program utility out there that would expose the culprit that is waking my computer up; something akin to a logging program of what actions a computer is taking from the time it starts until....  With such a log, I can find the nasty bugger and kill it.  :)  Now that I ask for that, it sounds like such a program would be a prime candidate for hackers.  That is not my intent.  I just want stby/hibernate to work.  If I have to shut down all my applications before going into stby, that sort of negates the purpose.  Thanks for the suggestions.

Legaleze50 · Answer

Go to page 135 of your Dell Owner's Manual.  At the top it explains that there may be an auto power 'on' and and auto power 'off' feature.  It would appear that you can set the computer to go on and off on various days and times.  I've not found it (I have the 600) and not every computer has every feature.  But this may be the cause of your problem.  It's a part of System set-up.

zbestwun2001 · Answer

Just don't give that computer an Ambien. :)

DELL-Chris M · Answer

erich505,

Did you disconnect the cable/DSL modem? Try doing this and see if it stays asleep. If not, run HijackThis and post the results on the HijackThis board.

* HijackThis instructions

* Post the HijackThis log here

Bug Chaser · Answer

erich505 -- have you managed to find a cure to your computer's insomnia?   I am having the exact same problem with my system :smileysad:

erich505 · Answer

I'm not sure.  I'm still testing to see if there are any more wake ups (I've been away for a few days) This is one of those problems where you try to recreate the issue and wait for a day to see what happens.  I have found another source of information in the last issue of PCWorld.  Using the Event Viewer from the Administrative Tools menu, you can see what's going on with your computer with time stamps.  I'm still trying to determine which program is the culprit.  I 'think' it's my backup program (Acronis True Image).  However, it's not supposed to wake the computer up to backup.  At least that's what the documentation claims.  And we all know that there are never any errors in the documentation.  ;)

Bug Chaser · Answer

I went to Device Manager and disabled 'Allow this device to bring the computer out of standby' for all devices that support Power Management, except for my network adapter.  It did help somewhat as I am getting fewer spontaneous wakeups now, but it has not resolved the issue completely. I also found out that Media Center 2005 routinely brings the system online from hibernation to download the update to the television listings guide, but I haven't yet figured out if this feature can be disabled. Media Center actually writes the date and time of the next listings update in the Application Log! Yes indeed it takes time to observe the effect from configuration changes... I'll continue looking into it.

erich505 · Answer

I too have disabled all device options to bring the computer out of stby in Device Manager.

Looking back at the Event Log, I do see the Media Center as a potential cluprit. The computer 'woke up' this morning and the first entry is associated with the Media Center downloading updates.

Thanks for the head's up. I can't find a way to prevent the waking up and still have the downloads. If anyone finds a way to prevent this Wake up by Media Center, I hope it gets posted here.

Bug Chaser · Answer

erich505,

It turns out Media Center wake-ups can be controlled! The article below describes how to change the date and time of the next guide listings download:

http://www.thegreenbutton.com/community/shwmessage.aspx?forumid=42&messageid=80831

I think the wake-ups can be effectively disabled by setting the date of the next listings download to, say, 1/1/2020, but then obviously you will lose the automatic guide listings update functionality. It would be fantastic to put the computer back to sleep again once the listings update download is complete. I wonder if there is a lullaby that will do it?

Locked Topics – Desktops General

Insomniac computer

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