Help me stop my computer from dozing off.

October 28, 2011 11:34 AM

How can I stop my computer from going into sleep mode? The control panel options and Lenovo power manager have both failed me.

I consider myself fairly technologically saavy, but I've been unable to stop my computer from going into sleep mode while doing things like watching netflix movies, playing a psx emulator, etc. The only way to stop it is to move the mouse periodically.

I have the power plan set to maximum performance, and 'turn the display off' and 'put the computer to sleep' both set to "never."

Can MeFi think of anything I can do?

posted by matkline to Computers & Internet (15 answers total)

Response by poster: And yes, I've gone into the advanced settings as well.
posted by matkline at 11:36 AM on October 28, 2011

Is it possibly going into a screen saver? Shut your screen saver off.
posted by xingcat at 11:38 AM on October 28, 2011

(Meaning, no screen saver is chosen, but it's set to go into screen saver mode after 5 minutes or something.)
posted by xingcat at 11:39 AM on October 28, 2011

I've just opened up my Lenovo Power Manager. Here are my settings:

SYSTEM SETTINGS
CPU Deeper Sleep -- Disabled under AC; Enabled under Battery

IDLE TIMERS*
Turn off display -- 20 minutes under AC; 20 minutes under Battery
Enter system standby -- Never under AC; 120 minutes under Battery
Enter system hibernation -- Never under AC; 180 minutes under Battery
*these are the settings you may wish to check and set for a much longer timer

ADVANCED SETTINGS
Allow hybrid sleep -- off under AC; off under battery
Multimedia Settings when playing video -- optimize video quality under AC; optimize power savings under battery

I don't know if that's any different from what you've set, but it seems to work for me. I can't recall the screen going blank while streaming or viewing video, but I don't have Netflix, so I don't know if that makes a difference.
posted by sardonyx at 11:43 AM on October 28, 2011

Response by poster: No screensaveer, xingcat, but that was a good thought.

Here are my Lenovo Power Manager settings:

CPU Deeper Sleep: Disabled under AC & Battery
All Idle Times set to NEVER under AC & Battery

Hybrid sleep Off under AC
posted by matkline at 11:52 AM on October 28, 2011

You could also try something like Mouse Jiggler if all else fails.
posted by bcwinters at 11:53 AM on October 28, 2011

There was a question about this previously and someone mentioned a fantastic little trick, which is to put your mouse on top of an analogue watch with a moving second hand. It's a poor man's Mouse Jiggler and it works!
posted by Dragonness at 11:56 AM on October 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

If this is xp going into every account that is an admin of the computer and turn off the sleep settings. i have seen another admins account controlling when the whole machine sleeps in xp.
posted by majortom1981 at 11:57 AM on October 28, 2011

Instead of disabling your screen saver, try setting it to run only after an extremely long period of inactivity.
posted by Lorin at 12:04 PM on October 28, 2011

Response by poster: I'm on Vista actually.
posted by matkline at 12:07 PM on October 28, 2011

Sometimes the BIOS has it's own APM settings.
posted by rhizome at 1:04 PM on October 28, 2011

Best answer: On the Mac I use an app called Caffeine. There appears to be a Caffeine for Windows alternative.
posted by backwards guitar at 1:07 PM on October 28, 2011

Hibernate is hidden somewhere in the advanced menu. I'd check that too. Disabling sleep doesn't affect hibernate.
posted by damn dirty ape at 2:35 PM on October 28, 2011

My poor solution is to turn down the volume and loop an mp3 file in Media Player.
posted by imjustsaying at 4:29 PM on October 28, 2011

Verify that it's really on AC. On many laptops, the power port can get wonky, and you may have it plugged in, but it may not actually be getting power and is actually using the battery, or is on intermittently. On some laptops, closing the lid and/or docking it puts it directly to sleep. Also, laptop batteries are a consumable; they lose charging capacity over time.
posted by theora55 at 8:46 AM on October 29, 2011