No sleep mode in Vista?

Cyos

Cyos

New Member
Hello again, everyone.

This is a problem I've been having for several months. It's never really been that bad, and I just naturally assumed that when SP1 came out, it would fix it. Well, I got SP1, and the problem remains.

The issue is this: whenever I try to enter sleep mode, either via the button on my keyboard or through the start menu, the screen goes dark for a few seconds, and then my desktop comes back up. I can shut down and restart just fine, but sleep mode seems impossible. Even during the few seconds my monitor goes dark, my fans and leds stay on - no sleep mode is occurring.

I've also done some searching, and it seems other people are having this problem. No one has ever been able to solve it though. I called Microsoft tech support, but hung up after half an hour on hold. This forum has always been the best tech support around. Thanks to all who assist!
 
I can't update my BIOS because I don't have a floppy drive. Is there any other way to do it?
 
Yes...order a new, updated BIOS chip from your manufacturer, get a new motherboard, or, hope that your BIOS mfr. has the update on CD or DVD as well. It should be now that the floppy drive is now not available on PCs. Besides, BIOSes are getting more complex w/ more features, so a floppy disk won't cut the mustard.

I feel that I should really explain HOW IMPORTANT it is to not interrupt power during a BIOS change: one too many a PC has become useless because of this. DO NOT interrupt the power in any way or do this if your power might be interrupted (storms, hi winds...). I would just go to your friendly local hospital and ask if you can use their reliable power (hospitals have to have reliable power) for a while. They might put you in the psych ward:), but, your computer is a vital asset.
 
All you have to do is download the update and install just like an app. I got mine off of hp as I am still using my stock mobo.
 
Well, I really can't afford to take any risks, so no BIOS update. If the method g25racer suggested, installing it from within the OS, like an app, is safer, then I'll do that. My mobo is an Asus P5N-E SLI. Sadly, I can't find my way around the Asus site to save my life (or my PC, apparently). If someone can give me small, easy steps on how to get such an update, and confirm that it is in fact safe, I'll try it.

But I really don't see how this could be a BIOS problem. I don't want to do anything at all risky, and tinkering in the BIOS seems like a recipe for disaster according to Murphy's Law. So what other cures are there for an insomniac computer?
 
Sorry to bring this back from the metaphorical dead, but could I please get some help?

I've updated my BIOS - I'm now using the latest for my board (P5N-E SLI), version 903 - but no dice! The system still refuses to sleep. My local tech support (the shop that put the system together for me) is stumped. Microsoft tech support told me it was ASUS's problem, and ASUS told me my problem was "not previously encountered" and offered me a 10% discount on a new motherboard.

So you guys are all I have. Please, help me put my PC to sleep!
 
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May as well give this one more try...

Please, if you have any ideas, take the time to help me out.
 
I can't get my 32-bit Windows Vista Service Pack 1 to hibernate, but sleep mode works for me. I am using the system in my signature.
 
g25racer: I'm not at home this weekend, so I'll try unplugging my mouse and keyboard when I get back on Sunday. Thank you very much for your response, though - I honestly thought I was out of luck.

2048Megabytes: I tried using hibernate, but got the same results as with sleep. At this point, I've tinkered with pretty much every setting there is, I think. Asus tech support even had me working in the registry, of all places. Do your results occur in both Vista and openSuse Linux? Just curious as to whether this is a hardware of software problem.

Thanks for the ideas!
 
I'm using the very latest 32-bit Vista drivers for everything - graphics card, chipset, mouse and keyboard (assuming you consider Logitech Setpoint a driver), and printer. Like I said, I even took the risk of updating my BIOS. I'll be back at my home PC in a few hours - I'm going to try unplugging everything USB, and attempting sleep mode using a PS/2 mouse and/or keyboard. If that works, I'll start plugging things back in until I know what the culprit is - at which point, I'll know exactly who to send my complaints to.
 
If everything is installed and works fine, then it should fall off to sleep with no problem.

Have you tried hibernate?
 
Yes, I did try hibernate. No luck.

Anyway, I'm back home, and I tried a few things. What I'm going to type here will probably appear bizarre and even farfetched, but I swear to you that every word of it is true. I think I'm on the right track now. Also, sorry for the wall of text; I wanted to be a thorough as I could. So here we go.

First off, let me start with what all is connected to my PC. The four USB slots on my motherboard hold my wireless mouse dongle, connection to the base for my wireless keyboard, USB wireless dongle, and Sandisk Sansa mp3 player cable. My firewire port connects to a Maxtor external hard drive; I don't leave it on though, I only turn it on when I need to do a backup. I also have an expansion card with two other USB ports. One connects to my printer, the other to my four-way USB splitter.

So I unplug all of these, every last one (except the monitor and power cords, of course). Just as I'm about to yank the connection to my keyboard, I hit the sleep button. A few seconds later, for the first time in months, my computer was sleeping.

Naturally I was ecstatic. I wake it back up reconnecting everything. My plan was to start by yanking the things I didn't need - the splitter, printer cable, and firewire cord (mouse, keyboard, wi-fi, and Sansa cable still plugged in, for those who don't want to keep track :) ). Again, miraculously, it slept. Splitter and printer plugged back in, now only firewire cable detached. It still sleeps! Plug the firewire cable back in... still sleeps! Now I'm scratching my head. My computer is in the same configuration that, in 8 months, has only allowed it to sleep four or five times, total. I try it three more times, sleeping and waking flawlessly. I'm speechless, but hey, I was sure not going to complain.

Before I posted of my great victory over any logic I could think of, I decided to restart. Nothing unplugged, I just wanted to see if it would still work, or if I would have to do this every time. I log back in, hit sleep. The lights blink out... and then come back on. Uh oh. The monitor doesn't. Five or so seconds of panic later, a BSOD greets me. The error message was thus: "Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed".

What. The. Fudgecake. I just proved that the "display driver" had nothing to do with this! After I finished tearing my hair out while waiting for Vista to start back up, I unplugged the firewire again. Apparently, I'm back to square one; the lights go dark for a split second, and then everything starts back up. There's one subtle difference now - the monitor takes longer than usual to start up, just like it did before the BSOD. I don't actually get a BSOD, and everything does, in good time, come back. But really... what the devil is going on here? I'm a pretty good problem solver, but frankly this doesn't make sense.

Anyway, thanks a ton for reading, and a ton more for any help you can give. Me, I'm going to try different USB / firewire combinations. I will get this working... logic or no logic. ;)



UPDATE: Okay, through the process of elimination, I have narrowed it down to my keyboard. It's an old wireless Logitech thing... I love it, and it's served me well for a year and a half... I'll hunt down the model number later. Still, though, I think I see a new keyboard in my future.
 
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Okay, quick progress update.

g25racer, you are awesome. It was my keyboard - for some reason, Vista doesn't seem to like it when I use it with USB; I just used a USB-to-PS/2 adapter, and boom, works just fine. To think, all that time, a USB keyboard was the problem!

Anyway, I now have a new problem. If my make my computer sleep for more than fifteen or twenty minutes, when I wake it back up, it BSODs with the complaint "Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed". Vista's so called solution was for me to update my drivers. Been there, done that, about five times.

So it seems I've solved my computer's insomnia... only to give it nightmares. ;)

Any ideas?
 
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