Windows 8.1 refuses to sleep

[videodj]

I have also had this issue since I installed windows 8.1. I don't use the homegroup as I have a WHS, so it is disabled on my desktop. I tried disabling IPv6 but still it would not sleep automatically. I have just found windows 8.1 LAN driver on Asus website and installed. On my first sleep test it went to sleep but woke up straight away, so I checked the settings and the intel properties menu is very different from previous versions. I noticed a Wake on Pattern Match option, by default it was checked, I unchecked and my PC stayed asleep. I can still also wake it using lights out from my server.

As you can see these wake patterns are determind by the OS, I wonder if this is something new added to Windows 8.1, may this is causing the issue.

I will keep testing to see if the updated drivers have fixed the issue and will report back.

 

[Steve06]

videodj , thanks for joining in. I have similar option in my Ethernet adapter's properties and tried disabling WOL and ipv6 in a variety of ways, but none helped.

In the meantime, I also looked for software as the possible culprit, and uninstalled Apple icloud and Dropbox, all in vain unfortunately. I'm slowly getting used to the situation. Microsoft does not seem to have recognized the problem yet. At least they take their with a patch.

 

[videodj]

For the moment at least the problem seems to have disappeared, last night my pc woke for it's backup and went back to sleep afterwards as planned. I have IPv6 enabled at the moment, but I'm going to try enabling the homegroup today and see what happens. I'm just glad I haven't upgrade my wifes computer yet or I'd be getting moaned at!

 

[bouldernerd]

After following this thread and others, it looks like I have this solved this problem, for me anyway. I have a Dell XPS 8500 and have tried everything suggested here and elsewhere. The problem was my Ethernet adapter, a Realtek PCIe gigabit. I determined for sure that the Ethernet adapter was the culprit by disconnecting the Ethernet cable. With the cable disconnected, sleep worked reliably. I have tried disabling advanced properties as described above, etc, to no avail until yesterday when I found a recently released driver on the Realtek site, NOT the DELL drivers support page but the Realtek site, for Win 8.1. After installing that driver and disabling the properties shown above by Stipa, automatic sleep has returned. Thank you!

 

[prism]

After following this thread and others, it looks like I have this solved this problem, for me anyway. I have a Dell XPS 8500 and have tried everything suggested here and elsewhere. The problem was my Ethernet adapter, a Realtek PCIe gigabit. I determined for sure that the Ethernet adapter was the culprit by disconnecting the Ethernet cable. With the cable disconnected, sleep worked reliably. I have tried disabling advanced properties as described above, etc, to no avail until yesterday when I found a recently released driver on the Realtek site, NOT the DELL drivers support page but the Realtek site, for Win 8.1. After installing that driver and disabling the properties shown above by Stipa, automatic sleep has returned. Thank you!

Could you please provide me the link to the drivers because I have the exact same setup as you, i.e. Dell 8500 with Windows 8.1.
TIA.

 

[Rickkins]

I've been trying to get my computer to hibernate. After reading the last couple threads, I have disabled pattern match & magic packet. Guess I'll soon see...

 

[bouldernerd]

After following this thread and others, it looks like I have this solved this problem, for me anyway. I have a Dell XPS 8500 and have tried everything suggested here and elsewhere. The problem was my Ethernet adapter, a Realtek PCIe gigabit. I determined for sure that the Ethernet adapter was the culprit by disconnecting the Ethernet cable. With the cable disconnected, sleep worked reliably. I have tried disabling advanced properties as described above, etc, to no avail until yesterday when I found a recently released driver on the Realtek site, NOT the DELL drivers support page but the Realtek site, for Win 8.1. After installing that driver and disabling the properties shown above by Stipa, automatic sleep has returned. Thank you!

Could you please provide me the link to the drivers because I have the exact same setup as you, i.e. Dell 8500 with Windows 8.1.
TIA.

Realtek

 

[linw]

I also have the dreaded 8.1 sleep problem. Guys, I think we are all running around in ever diminishing circles, here. I really think it is Microsoft's job to fix this as there is definitely something different in this ver. My win 7 and 8 setups had flawless sleep behaviour.

The fact that it doesn't shutdown in seconds is telling. If mine shuts down at all it is after 2-5 min or so. That is just NOT how sleep mode should work.

The keyboard sleep button causes an instant sleep but now this darn thing is instantly waking up again!

Another observation is that after the screen goes black (sleep time trigger), the HDD activity steps up and just keeps going. What the hell is it doing?? (hibernate is not on, just sleep).

I seriously don't think it is a driver problem. Or a homegroup problem ( I don't have a homegroup).

I have booted in minimum mode and that fixes it. I'm thinking it may be some change in the 'metro' stuff. Someone suggested live tiles but I have tried disabling the ones I could see to no avail.

Good luck all. Pity we can't get anything out of Microsoft as they have clearly created this situation.

 

[prism]

After following this thread and others, it looks like I have this solved this problem, for me anyway. I have a Dell XPS 8500 and have tried everything suggested here and elsewhere. The problem was my Ethernet adapter, a Realtek PCIe gigabit. I determined for sure that the Ethernet adapter was the culprit by disconnecting the Ethernet cable. With the cable disconnected, sleep worked reliably. I have tried disabling advanced properties as described above, etc, to no avail until yesterday when I found a recently released driver on the Realtek site, NOT the DELL drivers support page but the Realtek site, for Win 8.1. After installing that driver and disabling the properties shown above by Stipa, automatic sleep has returned. Thank you!

Could you please provide me the link to the drivers because I have the exact same setup as you, i.e. Dell 8500 with Windows 8.1.
TIA.

Realtek

Thanks, I thought it was that. I noticed, however, that they are older than what is available on the Dell website. I uninstalled the Dell driver and replaced them with this. Crossing my fingers but I am not too optimistic because in my case, I do not use an ethernet cable to connect to the internet!

 

[Rudy Mas]

The strangest thing is, every solution mentioned here, work sometimes or doesn't work at all.

If it works, it works for a day or two and then the sleep mode stop working again.


I'm giving up on this problem for now. Maybe in a few months, I will do a reinstall of Windows 8.1 from a clean ISO file or Disc and then I'll see what happens.

I even had mentioned it on Microsoft's Facebook page, and the only solution they give, is that some old driver is keeping my PC awake. Well, that's a real help.

That's why I don't like installing a new OS as an upgrade, but without an official ISO file or disc, I'm not going to do a fresh install. Not to mention all the programs I use that I have to reinstall then as well. So, it probably will need to wait until I have a lot of time.

Luckily, I can still put it to sleep manually.

 

[Rickkins]

Disabling those two things just made it worse.

 

[Rockhound]

The strangest thing is, every solution mentioned here, work sometimes or doesn't work at all.

If it works, it works for a day or two and then the sleep mode stop working again.


I'm giving up on this problem for now. Maybe in a few months, I will do a reinstall of Windows 8.1 from a clean ISO file or Disc and then I'll see what happens.

I even had mentioned it on Microsoft's Facebook page, and the only solution they give, is that some old driver is keeping my PC awake. Well, that's a real help.

That's why I don't like installing a new OS as an upgrade, but without an official ISO file or disc, I'm not going to do a fresh install. Not to mention all the programs I use that I have to reinstall then as well. So, it probably will need to wait until I have a lot of time.

Luckily, I can still put it to sleep manually.

I'm not so convinced that the problem is isolated to those that upgraded from Win8 to 8.1. I have three systems. On one system, I performed a clean install using the ISO from Technet. The other two systems were an upgrade, but not through the Windows store. I did the upgrades using the ISO disc. On all three systems, I experienced this issue, which is that they are all on the same homegroup and only two will sleep. The last one to be awake, stays awake.

I've been experiencing other issues as well (e.g. Most Metro Apps crash immediatel​y at launch, and a new one where my website login credentials are not retained when closing IE). So, last week I decided I had had enough of the troubleshooting and decided to reformat and reinstall. I am finished with two of the systems, but I have not yet started with the third. The third is my wife's computer and she may not let me touch it until she is out for the winter break in late December, as she is a teacher. I may try to convince her that I can do it over a weekend.

I was thinking that I may still experiment with this using the other two computers that have fresh installs. One thing that I can confirm is that the problem with Most Metro Apps crash immediatel​y at launch no longer persists and I've been using both systems for 4 to 6 days now. Oh, and IE retains all my website login credentials now. [DEL]Also, with Homegroup disabled[/DEL] A Homegroup was automatically created on the first computer during the new install of the OS. I went into my user account and stopped sharing EVERY folder, then I left the Homegroup. I did the exact same procedure on the second computer after installing the OS on it. At this time, sleep works absolutely perfectly on both systems. However, I have not [DEL]setup[/DEL] created a new Homegroup yet, but that will be my next test. Could it be that all of these issues are somehow related, especially with all of the tinkering we've done???


As a sidenote, my wife and I went to the local Microsoft store this weekend. She wants a Surface Pro 2, so we decided to check them out. I tested the sleep function on several demo units, and they all worked perfectly, down to sleeping at exactly one minute. Granted, none of these units were on a Homegroup. In fact, it looked like network discovery was turned off. I didn't want to screw with their units too much, so I didn't make any big changes, but it was still an interesting observation. From this, I can only conclude that the OS is a stable OS under certain circumstances. Maybe what we are experiencing is something that Microsoft hasn't yet found.

 

[johnpombrio]

Microsoft made a lot of changes under the hood in Win8.1. Unable to go to sleep not be a class issue with 8.1 as the Technet forums have forum posts about since Win7 (and Win8 and Win8.1). So far, my computers have been working fine since I actually read the warning on the Homegroup page that all computers are turned on and running while I make changes to Homegroup on any of the computers. Homegroup is not an on/not on, it is ALWAYS THERE and is automatically created during installation:
From MS Homegroup page:
"When you set up a PC with Windows 8, Windows RT, or Windows 7, a homegroup is created automatically. If a homegroup already exists on your home network, you can join it."
As for removing it, no chance:
"You can't delete a homegroup, but if everyone leaves the homegroup it will be gone. You can then set up a new homegroup if you'd like."

Do not dismiss homegroup if you have not set it up, you may still need to stop sharing EVERY Folder starting with the User account and all folders under that parent folder. Then you can leave the Homegroup (which was set up during installation)

EDIT:NO FIX. I completely disabled Homegroup later on but it fixed the sleep problem only for a couple of days.

EDIT 2013-12-28 This did not fix the problem. For me, a MS update on Dec 11th fixed it.

 

[prism]

Could you please provide me the link to the drivers because I have the exact same setup as you, i.e. Dell 8500 with Windows 8.1.
TIA.

Realtek

Thanks, I thought it was that. I noticed, however, that they are older than what is available on the Dell website. I uninstalled the Dell driver and replaced them with this. Crossing my fingers but I am not too optimistic because in my case, I do not use an ethernet cable to connect to the internet!

Ok Bouldernerd, thanks to you I just might have stumbled onto the holy grail of sleep on windows 8.1. For the first time in ages my PC went to sleep right after using a torrent. This happened after I installed the realtek driver from the link you provided. I had come across a thread mentioning realtek but it never crossed my mind that this would be the culprit considering that my internet connection is through wifi rather than ethernet!
I'm keeping my fingers crossed, will be testing for a couple of more days and hopefully bury this horrible experience once and for all.

 

[Rockhound]

Microsoft made a lot of changes under the hood in Win8.1. Unable to go to sleep not be a class issue with 8.1 as the Technet forums have forum posts about since Win7 (and Win8 and Win8.1). So far, my computers have been working fine since I actually read the warning on the Homegroup page that all computers are turned on and running while I make changes to Homegroup on any of the computers. Homegroup is not an on/not on, it is ALWAYS THERE and is automatically created during installation:
From MS Homegroup page:
"When you set up a PC with Windows 8, Windows RT, or Windows 7, a homegroup is created automatically. If a homegroup already exists on your home network, you can join it."
As for removing it, no chance:
"You can't delete a homegroup, but if everyone leaves the homegroup it will be gone. You can then set up a new homegroup if you'd like."

Do not dismiss homegroup if you have not set it up, you may still need to stop sharing EVERY Folder starting with the User account and all folders under that parent folder. Then you can leave the Homegroup (which was set up during installation)

Thanks for that clarification John. I suppose that's what I meant to say. You're correct, immediately upon installing the OS, a homegroup will be created. If a Homegroup has already been created, then any new computers added to the network will be given the option to join. I edited my post above to clarify that point.

What I did was exactly as you described. I stopped sharing EVERY folder under the user accounts on each computer first. Then, I left the Homegroup on each of them. I wanted to verify that sleep under "normal" conditions was working properly first. Perhaps I will create a new Homegroup on one computer tonight and join on the other one and see how that works. Fingers crossed!

 

[Steve06]

After a couple of days of absence from the topic I wanted to touch base with you guys.

I can say that for me sleep still works well right after rebooting or relogging, but that after a while it does not do it automatically anymore, unless I disable Ethernet. I recorded Wireshark network logs when it sleeps and when it doesn't and tried to compare them, but could not find any meaningful pattern. I uninstalled common software like Dropbox, Apple icloud, but it all did not help. I've check my Ethernet manufacturer's website for new drivers regularly (it's a Broadcom chip), however, there's nothing new out there yet. Together with the fact that MS has still not cared to issue any patch, it's really a shame how all these companies leave us in the rain.

After all, 8.1 was supposed to be a minor upgrade, in replacement of a service pack, not a major version change like Windows 9. How can they allow such basic things to break? As a customer, I do not really care if it's MS' or the chip manufacturer's faults, I use up-to-date hardware and software and expect basic functionality to just work reliably so that I can concentrate on my work. That's what I expect to get when I'm paying hundreds and thousands of dollars. It should not be up to us to act as beta testers/guinea pigs for buggy software and then spend hours and days trying to come up with a solution, especially given that MS staff with all the information they have could fix the issue much more efficiently than we can.

Anyway, I also posted a topic with my fruitless attempts over in a Microsoft forum and got few replies that basically confirm our viewpoint that it's a general problem that MS needs to fix. [DEL]http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/7ffaf46a-:cd20-482f-b7c9-0f1f8b9406a1/windows-81-does-not-go-to-sleep-reliably-anymore?forum=w8itprogeneral

[/DEL] Corrected link (thanks to John for pointing out): Windows 8.1 does not go to sleep reliably anymore

Some people here updated their Realtek drivers and I'd like to hear feedback on whether this resolved the problem?

 

[johnpombrio]

Steve broken link. Here is the proper one:

Windows 8.1 does not go to sleep reliably anymore

While you are on the Technet forums, try searching for "Windows will not sleep" in the forums. I had 6,300 hits! This is a problem going back a long, long way. Several of us have found solutions that were not strictly MS related and a vast majority of folks have no issue at all.

 

[Steve06]

Yes, there have always been people complaining about all sorts of Windows problems, including sleep, and many of these problems may have been the users' fault, but given that we are all smart, experienced, savvy computer users and many of us (except you) can still not get it working reliably, I would argue that Win 8.1 has introduced the most persistent, annoying, hard-to-fix (if possible at all) occurrence of the problem ever.

 

[bouldernerd]

Realtek

Thanks, I thought it was that. I noticed, however, that they are older than what is available on the Dell website. I uninstalled the Dell driver and replaced them with this. Crossing my fingers but I am not too optimistic because in my case, I do not use an ethernet cable to connect to the internet!

Ok Bouldernerd, thanks to you I just might have stumbled onto the holy grail of sleep on windows 8.1. For the first time in ages my PC went to sleep right after using a torrent. This happened after I installed the realtek driver from the link you provided. I had come across a thread mentioning realtek but it never crossed my mind that this would be the culprit considering that my internet connection is through wifi rather than ethernet!
I'm keeping my fingers crossed, will be testing for a couple of more days and hopefully bury this horrible experience once and for all.

After using the new Realtek drivers for a few days, this solution is an improvement but is no longer reliable. It worked well for a day but now sleep works intermittently. There must be something in the OS that is overriding sleep. Until Microsoft fixes this I am beginning to doubt that we will find a work around.

 

[johnpombrio]

k, just added a SSD to my son's computer and loaded in Win 8.1 pro. Would not sleep, heh. I did the Homegroup fine but still would not sleep. Forgot about the Advanced power setting and changed them but that STILL would not let it sleep. I disabled fast boot in Advanced power settings, disabled hibernate in the registry, and finally turned on all my Homegroup computers. Rebooted the errant machine and it slept! Slept one of the other computers and it still slept. Now all computers sleep normally.

NOTE: there seems to be a discrepancy between the normal sleep changing mode and the sleep changing timer on advanced settings. If you change the main one THEN change the advanced one, you can end up with two different sleep times. Example:



To even them out, change the main one to something else, save changes, THEN change it back to what you want to set it for. The advanced sleep setting will now match the main one.