Windows 8.1 refuses to sleep

[NCguy]

Here is how to download and use Standby helper.

Nice little tute and that may all be well and fine, but what happens if and when the sleep issue gets solved and fixed with code? Now there's a 3rd party program in the way.

I wouldn't worry too much about that. If it gets fixed it won't be long before it gets re-broken again. Also, do you foresee a fix that actually solves sleep for all of the different situations at one time? I thought yesterday was april fools?

 

[HippsieGypsie]

Here is how to download and use Standby helper.

Nice little tute and that may all be well and fine, but what happens if and when the sleep issue gets solved and fixed with code? Now there's a 3rd party program in the way.

I wouldn't worry too much about that. If it gets fixed it won't be long before it gets re-broken again. Also, do you foresee a fix that actually solves sleep for all of the different situations at one time? I thought yesterday was april fools?

An optimistic “guy” I see. Yes, it was April Fools Day. I see you survived as well. Never claimed to be the savviest around here. Just a novice really. Probably have the worst post count-to-points record ever. However, I do know enough to confer with those that know a heck of a lot more than me. A few IT Pro friends here with degrees and one that doesn’t belong to this forum all say you’re all chasing up the wrong tree. Odds would have it that it’s not wrong coding at all, for it was fixed with a specific update. An update that fixed the sleep problem for a vast majority. There are other things wrong for the few remaining systems the update could not fix because of some other issues.

Therefore, my post answering John's tutorial. Of course those that want to live with a third-party fix and really not fix their systems properly have that right. Really no skin off anyone's nose whatsoever.

BTW, April Fools is a proper name and should be capitalized. Is your Spellcheck broke as well?

 

[Wynona]

Here is how to download and use Standby helper.

Nice little tute and that may all be well and fine, but what happens if and when the sleep issue gets solved and fixed with code? Now there's a 3rd party program in the way.

Couldn't you uninstall it? Looks to me like you'd have to (at least disable it) in order to see if the sleep issue were resolved in the latest batch of updates. But then, what do I know?

 

[mrguylh]

This program doesn't get in the way of the Window's sleep timer at all. Both can be enabled at the same time and you can tell which is actually putting the pc to sleep by checking the system event log. If the event log shows reason for sleep as "idle" then it was Windows that put the computer to sleep. If it shows the reason as "application API" then it was Standby Helper that put the pc to sleep.

 

[caperjack]

boot to win 8 dvd ,for the hdd and start over .

backup data first of course

 

[NCguy]

BTW, April Fools is a proper name and should be capitalized. Is your Spellcheck broke as well?

Geez. Please don't go back and proof the rest of my posts. I would hate to see the final grade

 

[johnpombrio]

EDIT 2014-04-14 Deleted this part of this post that was inappropriate against other posters.


I think Standby Helper is terrific, has little overhead, and can be easily disabled to see if sleep is working, and works 100%. Thank you Mrguy.

 

[chrisa]

I had this issue a couple days ago with the computer not staying in sleep mode. In my case it was the network card waking the computer. The way you solve(at least in Windows 7, not sure where the functionality is mapped to Windows 8) is:

1) Run Device Manager from the Control Panel.
2) Click Network Adaptors.
3) Select your Network Adaptor. Right-Click Properties.
4) Select Power Management Tab.
5) Click off 'Allow this device to wake the computer'.

Haven't had a problem since.

 

[johnpombrio]

I had this issue a couple days ago with the computer not staying in sleep mode. In my case it was the network card waking the computer. The way you solve(at least in Windows 7, not sure where the functionality is mapped to Windows 8) is:

1) Run Device Manager from the Control Panel.
2) Click Network Adaptors.
3) Select your Network Adaptor. Right-Click Properties.
4) Select Power Management Tab.
5) Click off 'Allow this device to wake the computer'.

Haven't had a problem since.

Christa, somewhere in all these posts (around number 168 if I recall) is a list I made of the most common reasons why sleep does not occur. Yours is number 3 on the list:

http://www.eightforums.com/general-support/28226-windows-8-1-refuses-sleep-17.html

Thanks tho...

 

[HippsieGypsie]

This program doesn't get in the way of the Window's sleep timer at all. Both can be enabled at the same time and you can tell which is actually putting the pc to sleep by checking the system event log. If the event log shows reason for sleep as "idle" then it was Windows that put the computer to sleep. If it shows the reason as "application API" then it was Standby Helper that put the pc to sleep.

Thank you for answering one of my concerns and adding more information about the utility. As others may think differently I do appreciate you posting a work around, just as long as everyone knows it just that and not the true fix to the sleep problem. That is not mentioned in the recently posted tutorial in post #1018 of this thread nor any other post. This is quite a popular forum site which not only has a lot of members, but also a thousands of visitors that seek answers to their computer problems. We wouldn’t want to see people get misled.

My only other concern is how to uninstall it. I see no uninstall.exe, a .reg file, nor any other file to do so. I see no documentation on the site, nothing on it in the Readme file included in the download, in the tutorial recently posted, nor did I want to install it to find out. Perhaps I overlooked it. How does one accomplish an uninstall?

 

[bouldernerd]

John,
I followed your directions and it doesn't work for me. It's in my notification tray and running in my processes. Any ideas?

My machine is a chronic insomniac.

Here is how to download and use Standby helper.

1. Download from here:
StandbyHelper - 1.0.0.5 - andy vt's tools & blog

2. Create a folder and unzip the contents.

3. Run the program and change these four settings. change the idle minutes to the time you want the computer to sleep but first check it using one minute to see if the program allows your computer to sleep. I set mine to a time AFTER my 30 minute sleep timer on the power setting, making Standby helper a backup to my Windows sleep timer:

View attachment 40688

3. Create a shortcut for the .exe file:

View attachment 40675

Finally, add a copy of the shortcut to the
C:\Users\John (whatever your User Name is)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

View attachment 40676

You should see the icon in your Notification area on startup. It starts minimized!:

View attachment 40677

So that is now my backup sleep mode. The computer does not falls asleep while I am watching a movie or video. It still takes a minute or two to go to sleep, like Windows sleep does. Nice find!

 

[HippsieGypsie]

@ Johnny

There was no need to remove your “caustic” post. It didn’t bother or affect me whatsoever. However, I can surely tell when I’m not wanted nor appreciated. So what I’m going to do as soon as I post this is go to the top of the page, push Thread Tools, push “Unsubscribe to this thread”, and leave you to what seems to have become “your thread”.

My biggest mistake was not unsubscribing when I read this good advice: http://www.eightforums.com/general-support/28226-windows-8-1-refuses-sleep-23.html#post356538

Have a great day and good luck to all.

 

[AlexB]

I have also been having sleep issues and tried just about everything including installing the Spring Update. Nothing so far has provided a reliable fix but I have found a satisfactory work around for me. I'm using a program called Standby Helper and so far has worked flawlessly even when the built in window's timer fails. The tool has its own built in timer and parameters. I'm not sure what all of the parameters do and I did have to change a parameter called idle count from 10 to 1 to get it to work. I also had to create a shortcut to the program and place it in the window's start up folder to get it to auto run. During testing, I was able to confirm in the event viewer that it was working even when the window's timer failed.

Works like a dream for me. For the first time in months, my desktop system is auto-sleeping properly.

Many thanks for finding and publicising Standby Helper.

AlexB

 

[NCguy]

I really would like to know how to do uninstall. Is there a way short of hacking it out or nuke and pave?

 

[AlexB]

I really would like to know how to do uninstall. Is there a way short of hacking it out or nuke and pave?

1. Remove Standby Helper from your Windows Startup folder and reboot.
2. You may also wish to delete the folder into which you unzipped the downloaded Standby Helper file.

AlexB

 

[NCguy]

I really would like to know how to do uninstall. Is there a way short of hacking it out or nuke and pave?

1. Remove Standby Helper from your Windows Startup folder and reboot.
2. You may also wish to delete the folder into which you unzipped the downloaded Standby Helper file.

AlexB

Thanks

 

[bru]

Too bad I have to shut down my pretty much new out of the box Windows 8, updated to 8.1 to get Sleep to function. Until it doesn't and I have to shut down and start it again. Love the damage I'm doing to it by spinning the drive.

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/shut-down-or-sleep-how-should-you-leave-your-windows-81582089896.html

 

[caperjack]

Too bad I have to shut down my pretty much new out of the box Windows 8, updated to 8.1 to get Sleep to function. Until it doesn't and I have to shut down and start it again. Love the damage I'm doing to it by spinning the drive.

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/shut-down-or-sleep-how-should-you-leave-your-windows-81582089896.html

I have to say I drought you are doing any damage to it ,I have never used sleep function on my computers ,and have never had a harddrive fail on me .and I have owned a computer since 1996 .
you need to figure out what device or a bios function or some other function is causing it to not sleep .
for a test I have been using sleep for the past few weeks and have no issues with it not sleeping for me .I am running win8.1.1 enterprise

 

[bru]

you need to figure out what device or a bios function or some other function is causing it to not sleep .
for a test I have been using sleep for the past few weeks and have no issues with it not sleeping for me .I am running win8.1.1 enterprise

I don't have the expertise nor the desire to mess around with the BIOS to find out why something that should be functioning, is not. Like I said its a new computer. Three programs added and it won't sleep reliably.

Never had an issue with my XP or Win 7 computers and their sleep functions. Based on this thread and other searches I am not alone in having a Win 8 or 8.1 computer with sleep issues. If I hadn't gotten this computer for a song I never would have willingly bought a Win 8 computer. This issue just adds to the annoyance with the OS.

edit: As an example of my frustration and somewhat related to Sleep, yesterday after I had manually put the computer to sleep when I woke it up it was on the lock screen and I had to enter my password to resume. I had disabled that function. Went round and round to try to figure out why this was now happening. Turned out the computer somehow switched its Power Plan from Balanced to Power Saver which did not have "require a password on wakeup" disabled. The computer changed the Power Plan on its own. Ridiculous.

 

[caperjack]

you need to figure out what device or a bios function or some other function is causing it to not sleep .
for a test I have been using sleep for the past few weeks and have no issues with it not sleeping for me .I am running win8.1.1 enterprise

I don't have the expertise nor the desire to mess around with the BIOS to find out why something that should be functioning, is not. Like I said its a new computer. Three programs added and it won't sleep reliably.

Never had an issue with my XP or Win 7 computers and their sleep functions. Based on this thread and other searches I am not alone in having a Win 8 or 8.1 computer with sleep issues. If I hadn't gotten this computer for a song I never would have willingly bought a Win 8 computer. This issue just adds to the annoyance with the OS.

take it back , I thinks it a 3rd party win8 driver or device issue not win8