Computer Wakes at 3:14 AM to Sync Hardware Clock

I am tired of having a computer in my bedroom waking up sometimes multiple times in the morning hours--like approximately 3 or 4 A.M. Support people have tried to stop this operation but to no avail. It still is doing it although less frequently now. This morning at 3:14 A.M., it woke up automatically and then shut down a few minutes later.

In Event Viewer it said at 3:14 A.M.: The system time has changed to ‎2013‎-‎10‎-‎06T10:14:28.500000000Z from ‎2013‎-‎10‎-‎06T06:11:17.671868600Z. Change Reason: System time synchronized with the hardware clock. I attached a screen shot of the info in Event Viewer, for your reference.

Why does the computer have to do this at 3:14 A.M.? Can't this occur some other time like during the day when the computer is running? I would appreciate someone's help in resolving this problem that has been occurring for months.

Thanks.

I think this may do it:

Go to Control Panel, Hardware and Sound, Power Options
On the selected power plan, click "change plan settings"
On the plan page click "Change Advanced Power Settings"
In the resulting window, click "Sleep" to see it's options, expand "allow wake Timers", and set both to disabled.

I have not experienced your problem, this is just a guess...

Time Synchronization

You should be able to reschedule Internet Time Syncing.

1. Open the Task Scheduler
2. Go to "Time Synchronization" (Task Scheduler > Microsoft > Windows > Time Synchronization)
3. Right click on the Task (in the top pane) and choose "Properties"
4. Go to the "Triggers" tab
5. Edit the Task run time settings

Note:
This is a Windows 7 screenshot.

W8 Task Scheduler - Task Settings

W8 Task Scheduler\Time Sync'\settings

I don't have an answer; I do have a sense of the general direction of a solution.
Here are some things I do know:
> W8 includes Automatic Maintenance of several Tasks. As such, all the tasks that run in AM are interrelated in time.
> (I do not yet have a list of the tasks included by default in W8 Automatic Maintenance. (should U-find-1, I would like to know)
> if you have W8 on a stand-alone PC, you may find the Time Sync tasks and task "settings" are different than what one might find in W7. for example, you may find that the W8 Task Sync Folder includes two tasks, not one. In W8, some settings are hard wired.
> IF, Time Sync is a 'Automatic Maintenance' task, it becomes more important that all the various Time Sync Task 'settings' be properly set to avoid conflict.
> The MSDN section of MS Support has been most helpful to me.
> Here is a link that may help you with W8 Task Scheduler and Automatic Maintenance:

About the Task Scheduler (Windows)

I will answer several who have responded.

1. The wake timers were already disabled.

2. Went to the area that lehnerus2000 suggested and found that the task was set to run at 3:00 p.m. everyday. So why does the computer wake up at 3:14 a.m. to sync the clock?

3. I will check on the info at the link BigFat Boy sent.

There should be an easy way to resolve this problem.

Thanks.

Perhaps try setting that to 6:00am and see if it starts later as a first step , my 6am maint run usually kicks in at 6:15-6:20am

FatBoy Response #2

obviously something is waking up your PC.

• In Power Options\Sleep\Hibernate=NEVER ?. Unless you like Hibernation, select Never as your data entry.
• How do you put your PC in Sleep at the end of your day? Do you use a Power Button on your case, W8 Charms\Settings\Power\Sleep . You PC might be entering something other than SLEEP state.
• W8 Automatic Maintenance is set to start at 3:00 am. IF Time Synchronization is included in W8 AutoMaint Tasks you could change the time for AutoMain to run. Be mindful that AutMaint. tasks have conditions to meet in order to operate. Most if not all of the AutoMain tasks as set to run during "Idle Conditions".
• IF Time Synchronization is the only task that wakes your PC from Sleep, you could temporarily Disable any and all task in the Control Panel\Admn. Tasks\Task Scheduler\Task Scheduler Library\Microsoft\Windows\Task Scheduler\Time Synchronization\ folder.

It sounds like changing your AUTO Maintenance from 3:00AM to 'something else' and disabling any tasks in the Time Synchronization\ folder would remove your problems long enough to allow you to get some sleep.

You can sync you PC system time clock to an Atomic Time clock manually.

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"I am tired of having a computer in my bedroom waking up sometimes multiple times in the morning hours--like approximately 3 or 4 A.M. Support people have tried to stop this operation but to no avail. It still is doing it although less frequently now. This morning at 3:14 A.M., it woke up automatically and then shut down a few minutes later.

In Event Viewer it said at 3:14 A.M.: The system time has changed to ‎2013‎-‎10‎-‎06T10:14:28.500000000Z from ‎2013‎-‎10‎-‎06T06:11:17.671868600Z. Change Reason: System time synchronized with the hardware clock. I attached a screen shot of the info in Event Viewer, for your reference.

Why does the computer have to do this at 3:14 A.M.? Can't this occur some other time like during the day when the computer is running? I would appreciate someone's help in resolving this problem that has been occurring for months."

WCarp said:

2. Went to the area that lehnerus2000 suggested and found that the task was set to run at 3:00 p.m. everyday. So why does the computer wake up at 3:14 a.m. to sync the clock?

Click to expand...

That is a good question.

Your screenshot shows 2 Tasks.
If you turn your PC off (or Log Off) regularly, you could disable the daily sync Task (as a workaround).

If your PC still wakes up at 3:14 AM, you will know that some other process is responsible.

Any chance you have an RTC Alarm set to that specific time in your BIOS?



[DEL]In any event, you might also like to try disabling the "fast startup" option in Windows 8. Believe it or not, many wake functions are tied into that option being enabled (somehow) so give that a shot if/when you run out of logical suggestions.[/DEL]

Actually, I had it reversed. See my next post.

As pereviously stated, the fast startup option does have a tie-in with many RTC Alarm and wake functions but I had it reversed in my previous post. So here is the correction:

BIOS RTC Alarm set to wake at a specific time - This generally does not work if fast startup is enabled in Windows 8 because the BIOS cannot handle the hybrid state created by fast startup enabled. This may (or may not) apply to other wake functions that are inherent to the BIOS and/or Windows 8. Anyway, you can always power down your rig completely to get a good night's sleep (like I'm going to do right now) so goodnight all!

If you are a Media Center user, the mcupdate_scheduled task is notorious for waking the computer in the middle of the night. The solution is to uncheck "Wake the computer to run this task" in Task Manager. You can check it out in Task Manager under Microsoft/Windows/Media Center.

Ok. I looked at my Auto Maintenance thing and it was set to 2:00 p.m. Fast Boot is turned off and in the motherboard BIOS all three Power on items were disabled including Power on by RTC.--but the computer still has something waking it up at times around 3 or 4 a.m. (I turn off the Internet service at night so it can not wake the computer.) This would seem to be a Microsoft related problem, so they should make it easy to change the time the computer wakes up.

Thanks.

WCarp said:

Ok. I looked at my Auto Maintenance thing and it was set to 2:00 p.m. Fast Boot is turned off and in the motherboard BIOS all three Power on items were disabled including Power on by RTC.--but the computer still has something waking it up at times around 3 or 4 a.m. (I turn off the Internet service at night so it can not wake the computer.) This would seem to be a Microsoft related problem, so they should make it easy to change the time the computer wakes up.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

OK, thanks for checking. BTW, are you using a hardware router in the mix or are you using a direct connect to the ISP modem? The reason I'm asking is because it appears that the stimulus is coming from an external source if you disabled your internet and all is OK. However, If you use a router, then I am a bit perplexed as to how that "wake on" is getting through that router unless some specific port has been opened to accommodate the request. It might be interesting to test and see if you have any vulnerable ports. Go here if you would like to run a test:

https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

Here are my results for comparison:



Note that all inbound queries/probes are blocked and nothing can get into my PC without invitation.

My Internet connection is disabled at night so it is not causing the problem. I have had a 2nd level Microsoft Support person try to figure out what is causing this problem and so far he hasn't found the problem after trying the two times he has called.

Thanks.

First you state:

I turn off the Internet service at night so it can not wake the computer.

Click to expand...

So the computer does not wake when the internet is turned off.


Then you say:

My Internet connection is disabled at night so it is not causing the problem.

Click to expand...

So your internet is turned off and you still have the problem.


In any event, it sounds like good old MS will get you through this just fine. Good luck.

I have had many bad experiences with MS Support so I'm not sure how this will work out.

Thanks.

This new 8.1 option might be able to mask your issue if you decide to upgrade and it can't be found by MS:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/32486-quiet-hours-enable-disable-windows-8-1-a.html

Good luck.

Why you just don't "kill" Windows Time service ?

WCarp,

ms t/s and c/s run hot and cold, 50-50. some are good; some are not.
there are so many things inter-related in any OS incl. W8, it is often hard to say unless one has already encountered the issue.
your current issue seems unique in that regard.

like it or not, one has to be systematic (to a degree) in one's own process to find the cause of a problem.
whenever I get stuck, I try to: 1) accept it may take some time; 2) find a way to live with it until I prevail, and; 3) don't let it drive me crazy.

an IT tech at work once told me; "just walk away from it (the PC in my case); it will come to you."

\Microsoft\Windows\SettingSync\NetworkStateChangeTask found one more task that power on PC from sleep at win10