Windows 10 Sleep Mode Issues
Putting your PC to sleep is a great way to save energy while still making sure you can resume without wasting power. But what can you do if your PC keeps waking up or goes to sleep automatically? With so many factors coming into play, it can be a difficult problem to diagnose.
Check Your Sleep Mode Settings
When your computer doesn’t go to sleep, check all your settings and factors that prevent a sleep state. The hardware, power options, and configuration can affect the way power and sleep buttons work. If your PC has updates installed or there’s an installed app that requires a restart, then your PC may not sleep at all.
If you’re working on a shared computer or a PC that doesn’t belong to you, there’s a chance that someone else might have tweaked the power options. To access these settings, navigate to Control Panel > Power Options and click Choose when to turn off the display.
Disable Fast Startup for Old Machines
Windows 10 Fast Startup feature is a setting that helps your PC start up faster after shutdown. It does this by saving an image of the kernel and loaded drivers to the C:\hiberfil.sys upon shutdown. When you shut down and restart your PC, Windows loads the hibernation file into the memory to resume your PC.
If you have an old device and notice that your PC is not going to sleep, you can disable Fast Startup. Open Control Panel > Power Options and click Choose what the power buttons do.
Click Change settings that are currently unavailable and uncheck Turn on Fast Startup to disable this feature.
Your PC Won’t Go to Sleep
Sleep mode can save your monitor from burn-in and prevent your PC from wasting its battery life. When your PC doesn’t go to sleep, it can cause general instability, reduced power efficiency, frequent kernel hangs, and crashes.
Check Your Drivers
Check the version number and last modified date: Download the DriverView utility from Nirsoft. Check the version number, installation date, created or modified date, and the digital signature of the drivers.
Update Your Drivers: Windows will automatically update your drivers via Windows Update. It’s an entirely safe and reliable method because Microsoft verifies the drivers for your system and updates them when necessary.
Check the Manufacturer Website: Most PC’s will include a DVD and a support website that list all the compatible drivers with their version number. Bookmark the site and check for any driver updates periodically.
Run the Power Troubleshooter
There are chances that you might tweak and customize your power plan settings for multiple tasks. It can result in various sleep-related problems.
Power troubleshooter fixes these problems by resetting the settings and suggests how to avoid them in the future.
Go to Settings > Update & Security and click Troubleshoot. Scroll down and click Power to launch Power troubleshooter.
Once the procedure is complete, you can view the detailed information on all potential issues and their solutions.
Check the Compatibility of Attached Devices
It might also happen that some device connected to your PC isn’t compatible with the latest version of Windows 10. Some manufacturers take time to release updates before they’re compatible with the newer version of Windows. It can include printers, scanners, gaming consoles, webcam, and more.
Go to the manufacturer's website and check for any compatibility issues. If there aren’t any, unplug the device and check to see if the sleep problem persists.
Restart Your PC in Safe Mode
Sleep mode problems are often caused by a complication between the hardware and software during startup. To check whether this is the case, restart your PC in Windows 10 Safe Mode and see whether it can go to sleep. If it can, you’ll need to perform a clean boot to narrow down the fault.
Press Win + S to launch Windows search. Type in System Configuration to open the app. Click the Services tab, check Hide all Microsoft services and select Disable all. This will ensure that only essential services will run.
In the next step, open Task Manager and disable every app that’s set to launch at startup. Quit both System Configuration and Task Manager. Restart your PC. If your PC can enter the sleep mode, that means an app or process is causing the problem.
Your PC Goes to Sleep Without Permission
If your PC goes to sleep after a brief period of inactivity, you run the risk of losing your work in the middle of the task. This type of problem can be even more infuriating than a PC showing signs of insomnia. But it is easy to fix.
Confirm Whether Your PC Sleeps
When your PC goes to sleep randomly, ensure that the machine has entered sleep mode. Sometimes the cause of random hibernation/shutdown is overheating.
Restore Plan Defaults
If you have just upgraded your PC to Windows 10 or did a major update from Windows 10 1803 to 1809, specific power-related settings might get corrupt. To fix this problem, open Settings > System and under Power & sleep settings click Additional power settings.
From here, select Choose when to turn off the display. Select Restore default settings for this plan.
If this option is not available or doesn’t work, click Change advanced power settings. From the new window that appears, click Restore plan defaults. Repeat this step for every custom power plan.
Remove the Battery
If all the above methods fail, and you’re working with your laptop, your battery might be the culprit. Shut down your PC and remove the battery. Wait for a few moments and re-insert it.
