Why can't this laptop sleep?

July 4, 2009 12:15 PM

Hi. I try setting this Vista Dell laptop for sleep after 1 hour. It drops off...only to come right back on -- to restart. Insomniac computer!

It also got to restarting at odd hours months ago (waking me up at night) so I finally placed it on Never sleep, cuz I hated losing all I had open. Firefox is so EZ to restore all that, so now I just wanna try to let the machine sleep. But it refuses to do that OR to even hibernate when I set the buttons for that. Meanwhile, sometimes the fans just go and go with short breaks, and other times the machine is blessedly noise-free...yet I notice it's keeping warm to the touch, like maybe the fans NEED to come on but aren't? Variations of the sleep/restart Vista problem are around the Net but not quite here to happily answer this, so I present it to you. Thanks.

posted by noelpratt2nd to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Best answer: This is tricky to ascertain without some experimentation. First off, make sure you have hibernate and hybrid sleep set to Never in the advanced power settings for the power plan you are using so we're sure it is a sleep problem. Then see if a greatly reduced time before sleep has the same effect.


It also got to restarting at odd hours months ago (waking me up at night)

This can happen with automatic windows updates that might require a restart

Meanwhile, sometimes the fans just go and go with short breaks, and other times the machine is blessedly noise-free...yet I notice it's keeping warm to the touch, like maybe the fans NEED to come on but aren't?

A free utility such as speedfan will let you track cpu/gpu temps and fan activity. That should help you identify any major inconsistencies.
posted by Sparx at 9:46 PM on July 4, 2009

Identical problems with my dell laptop. I could have written the post myself. I'm sorry I don't have any help for you, but it's interesting to know I'm not the only one. I wonder how prevalent this problem is.

(Except I no longer have the option to hibernate; That option disappeared about 3 months after my purchase.)
posted by Lullen at 10:00 PM on July 4, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks, people. Just today Dell chatted me into a BIOS revision, A16 upgrade. The fans seems quieter right now, but I've got my fingers crossed.
posted by noelpratt2nd at 11:37 AM on July 8, 2009

Response by poster: Also, I did "My Custom Plan 1" in the power options (don't forget to hit Next and complete the process): I have 30 minutes for display off, 2 hours for sleep -- and it now goes to sleep and doesn't restart! I opted for Shut Down by way of the Power button. The crescent moon Fn+F1 Sleep combo still doesn't prevent immediate restart, but as long as I can have it sleep after a set time ACCORDING TO MY PLAN, I'm good. And I can shut down at the touch of the power button.
posted by noelpratt2nd at 12:08 PM on July 8, 2009

Thank you for updating. I guess I'll look into a BIOS revision. Was it very complicated? I'm not familiar with tprocess, but I've had several recent errors saying I need some kind of BIOS update... Guess I'm supposed to read those, huh? Thank you for the follow-up!
posted by Lullen at 5:26 PM on July 15, 2009