Windows 8.1 refuses to sleep

[kenJ]

Folks, I have tried two or three times to reload Win8.1 by either formatting the previous install or on a new drive. It has never fixed my sleep issue. Be aware that you may still be destined to fail.

I was able to get mine to sleep after a new, clean install using the 8.1 ISO.

However, I do want to report that Lenovo did issue new 8.1 drivers for my K430's LAN and wireless Realtek PCIe GBE and RTL8166 adapters. FWIW, I think I did try them with my 8 to 8.1 to my 8.1.1 upgrades but installing them didn't solve my problem.

Hopefully, others will report if new installs work. Also, maybe others will be able to get new 8.1 drivers.

UPDATE: Maybe this might help others....

After 16 days of sleeping OK, my machine stopped sleeping. However, I made an image each day and noted the changes that I made. I went back to an image I made 2 days before the problem date. It worked about a day and then stopped sleeping but would sleep when I removed the network cable.

OK... now let me think..
I know I didn't have a task problem because I completely killed the task scheduler from running.
Not Metro sync, as I had turned that off to see if that caused any problems.
I believe the computer might be trying to phone home to send out some alien message. So what to do?

Well, I looked at the event log and found it thru an event error "APPCRASH UMonit64.exe StackHash_5861" earlier that night when it stopped sleeping. What I didn't remember was that I played some music with media player for the first time after doing a clean install. I rebooted and it slept again until the next day when I played music and it stopped sleeping. But then, I was monitoring my every move. Trying what I did the day before, watching for errors and watching for no sleep. At that point --- no sleep --- "event error" logged.

Well, I had remembered to "Turn off customer experience reporting to MS" but I had left it in "automatically check for errors". I then changed it to "ask me if I want to report errors". I rebooted and hit media player but this time when I had an APP crash it alerted me and I told it "DON'T PHONE HOME". Once I did that, it continued to sleep.

Well, I then created a custom event view that just displayed critical warning for only the past 24 hours and I started fixing several problems. I fixed my APP crash by uninstalling Genesys USB Mass storage Device via the control panel. I removed it and my Media Player works without an error now.

Bottom line is (1) don't let it phone home without your approval and (2) fix any critical warnings in your event log.

Maybe when it is phoning home with 8.1, nobody's there and it keeps calling.. and calling.... Or maybe a crash stops the internal sleep timer from running. It never times out, so it never sleeps???

I am monitoring to make sure this is the fix for me. I hope as I went 16 days without any problems and don't look forward to more troubleshooting.

 

[f00k00f]

So for me deleting all instances of "settingsynchost" solved the problem.
I had multiple reboot restarts, whatvers and no problems since I deleted the process.

Simply closing it didn't help and disabling one drive sync, didn't help either only after having deleted it, it worked.

I still hate Win8.1 for the pain it had caused me and will get a macbook pro on the next refresh though...

 

[Spikedog]

Well, I thought I had the problem beaten and everything went well for a day but then insomnia returned.

I take the point about scientific method but in my time resolving problems like this I have found that understanding the cause is useful but if that's too hard just solve the problem.

Now I have listed all tasks running on my computer and use powercfg -requestsoverride to override ALL of them. I am selectively reintroducing tasks as I find issues. For example VLC and Chrome must be enabled to avoid the computer shutting down while watching video. These are minor inconveniences compared to the computer refusing to sleep.

This behaviour may have been introduced by design. It seems that when W8 was released and went to sleep many people found it more friendly and easier to use so just never bothered to wake it up.

 

[johnpombrio]

my computer sleeps fine ,on both 8,1 enterprise and 8.1pro both using the same Microsoft acct,who want's to buy it , lol

4 out of my 5 computers at home running Win8.1 sleep fine. Just my main build with the only Haswell still at home is the one that I need a third party program running to have it sleep properly.

 

[linw]

John, you could swap your crook one with Caperjack's good one!!

All was quiet here for a few days. Thought you'd all given up or had the problem fixed!

Mine is sleeping really reliably, now, and has been like this for over a fortnight. No idea what has changed to improve it, though (really helpful).

 

[caperjack]

I setup a homegroup 2 days ago and it stopped sleeping ,disable homegroup and it fell fast asleep

 

[Tepid]

If you need to figure out potential Sleep Issues,, try the following software

Process Explorer

Process Monitor

You can try setting the Priority and Affinity for offending processes.
I would be careful though.

However, I need to state that I do not have any sleep issues with any of my Systems.

 

[johnpombrio]

I setup a homegroup 2 days ago and it stopped sleeping ,disable homegroup and it fell fast asleep

Yeah, IPV6 and Homegroup are interrelated. If you turn off IPV6, your computer will probably sleep but you cannot have a Homegroup. It sucks as I use Homegroup a LOT. I am still using Standby Helper to sleep reliably.

Lin, I am laying remote internet curse on your machine using chicken entrails (well actually chicken livers is all that is available in the grocery store) to turn your spell of fortune into misery and pain. ZOOK (enter).

 

[orbitalfenestra]

You got a face now John!

 

[Wynona]

You got a face now John!

Yeah, I saw that; if it's his'n, it's a nice one.

 

[johnpombrio]

You got a face now John!

I decided a few years ago to tempt fate by using my real name and photo whenever I could on a website. This way, I am more honest in my posts and take personal responsibility for them. I just noticed that I did not do that here and figured out how to change my avatar. Folks always say never use your real name but I have yet to regret the decision. Someone did manage to find my high school senior photo tho!

 

[caperjack]

You got a face now John!

I decided a few years ago to tempt fate by using my real name and photo whenever I could on a website. This way, I am more honest in my posts and take personal responsibility for them. I just noticed that I did not do that here and figured out how to change my avatar. Folks always say never use your real name but I have yet to regret the decision. Someone did manage to find my high school senior photo tho!

nice pic,I use a picture of myself ,but from a safer distance

 

[bru]

I thought I'd update.

One week of using a local account and my machine sleeps pretty reliably. Still a couple of times where it has not though so not 100% resolved.

But still I wonder why a local account allows it to sleep and an MS account does not?

 

[Wynona]

I thought I'd update.

One week of using a local account and my machine sleeps pretty reliably. Still a couple of times where it has not though so not 100% resolved.

But still I wonder why a local account allows it to sleep and an MS account does not?

Also, a local account didn't work for me when mine wasn't sleeping pre the December update.

 

[orbitalfenestra]

I thought I'd update.

One week of using a local account and my machine sleeps pretty reliably. Still a couple of times where it has not though so not 100% resolved.

But still I wonder why a local account allows it to sleep and an MS account does not?

Also, a local account didn't work for me when mine wasn't sleeping pre the December update.

It's unfortunate MS did the update through the store and didn't want to give us the ISO il a legit way. That created many problems.


All those who made the update that way have a broken restore / refresh feature in PC settings and it's impossible to get a clean install. It really sucks. Selling a broken Windows is not fair, they stole our money!


Anyway....

 

[Wynona]

It's unfortunate MS did the update through the store and didn't want to give us the ISO il a legit way. That created many problems.

All those who made the update that way have a broken restore / refresh feature in PC settings and it's impossible to get a clean install. It really sucks. Selling a broken Windows is not fair, they stole our money!


Anyway....

Yes, more and more, Microsoft has sought to protect us from ourselves. What chaps my buns is that those who need protection from themselves are far fewer than those of us who know what we're doing!

I'm beginning to wonder if HP took up the slack for Microsoft when my PC crashed and burned when I was trying to take it back to OEM status.

 

[caperjack]

I have legit iso file of all versions of windows 8 from msdn ,anyone wont one ,just pay the shipping and a $1.00 for the dvd and I'll send you one ,no key of course

 

[bru]

Apparently I jinxed myself. Local account worked well for a week and now its back to not sleeping. srvnet is the culprit.

 

[Wynona]

Apparently I jinxed myself. Local account worked well for a week and now its back to not sleeping. srvnet is the culprit.

I'm so sorry, Bru! I think it must have been me, since I told you a local account didn't work for me. <sniff>

 

[Wynona]

I have legit iso file of all versions of windows 8 from msdn ,anyone wont one ,just pay the shipping and a $1.00 for the dvd and I'll send you one ,no key of course

Caper, if I'm not mistaken (and I hope I am), when we signed up for MSDN/Technet, we agreed not to pass out any of the software we received. Since my account on Technet is now kaput, I don't have access to the terms, so can't check it.

I have long wanted to pass out (without a key) DVDs for those who wanted to do a clean install, but have been afraid to because of what I believe my agreement with Microsoft entails.

I would hate to see our helpful natures get any one of us into trouble; thus, I've kept my mouth shut (or is that my keyboard?).

I have Windows 8.0 and 8.1 Pro from Technet that I have used for a clean install on my laptop, but am forced to go to "The Store" for updates to Windows 8/8.1 Core on this desktop.