Vista going in and out of sleep mode (1 Viewer)

[mylan]

I have a six month old Dell XPS with Vista Home Premium that has begun, as of yesterday, to not want to stay in sleep mode. It will initially but it seems like something "wakes it up".
I have not messed with anything other than I did a manual virius scan yesterday for the first time with Norton. It does it automatically every night but I did a manual scan, come to think about it, I did the scan because I noticed this problem and thought I might have a virius running in the background but everything checked out.
I usually just leave the computer running and it puts itself to sleep, now I feel like I have to turn it off for the night, anybody have a clue?

 

[Ken Chan]

Try unplugging everything except the power cord, one at a time, to see if the problem goes away: network cable, external devices like drives, the mouse, and the keyboard.

 

[mylan]

Interesting, I'll try the mouse first because when I touched it yesterday it went into sleep mode, weird I know, I was expecting the opposite effect.
The mouse is older than the system because it was better than what came with it, Dell optical vs. Logitech laser (no contest) and It may move slightly on the mouse pad due to the cord being almost at its limit.
It will be awhile before I can experiment because I am still at work.

Also and possibly important: I have had Charter telephone (v.o.i.p.) for about two months now, no problems up till now though.

 

[Bryan X]

Perhaps LAN activity is causing it to wake up at seemingly random times. To see if Wake On LAN is turned on:

go to START and RIGHT click on Network and choose PROPERTIES
Click on Manage Network Connections
RIGHT click on Local Area Connection and choose PROPERTIES
Click on Configure
Click on the Power Management Tab
You should see a Wake On LAN section
Make sure all the boxes are UNCHECKED
Click OK

 

[mylan]

Tried the mouse and keyboard, no dice. I sat and watched it hum to life after about three minutes in sleep mode with the keyboard unplugged, i'll try network cable next.

Bryan, when I right click on properties I see no "configure" listed only a "network and sharing center" so I'm stumped there, random clicks got me nowhere near power manangement.

 

[Bryan X]

If you are in the "Network and Sharing Center" you're close. When you are in the "Network and Sharing Center" you should see Manage Network Connections listed on the left side. Left click on that then a new window will open and:

RIGHT click on Local Area Connection and choose PROPERTIES
Click on Configure
Click on the Power Management Tab
You should see a Wake On LAN section
Make sure all the boxes are UNCHECKED
Click OK


Otherwise, just make sure you are stepping through the instructions right. I double checked them and if you follow them they'll get you where you need to be.

 

[mylan]

OK, thanks. I did just disconnect the network cable and it slept for ten minutes and I reconnected it and bam, within two minutes it came to life.
I will recheck power management now.

 

[mylan]

Ok, that cleared it up. All boxes were checked so I unchecked them and i'll hit sleep again. Thanks, this seems as if it might work.

 

[mylan]

Ten minutes later and still in sleep mode, Houston I think we've corrected the problem, I am much appreciative to both of you for your help!
Now sleep mode for the two of us, 5:00 A.M. comes much to early!

 

[Bryan X]

Glad that fixed it!

 

[mylan]

I checked this morning and it was still in sleep mode so it looks like the problem has been resolved.
Unplugging the network cable told me it was network related due to the fact that it awoke when it was reconnected and your power management fix confirmed it.
LAN settings have been like that since I bought it, I think only now since I have VOIP that it has become an issue but I have had it for over a month with nary a glitch until now, as Johnny Carson would say, "that is some wild wild stuff".
Thanks again, you guys are much better than the Geek Squad (and cheaper too!).

 

[Ken Chan]

That's why I mentioned the network cable first. It was an easier diagnostic step, and I couldn't tell you what to click on in Vista from here anway.