up vote 2 down vote favorite
share [g+] share [fb]

I've searched here and on Google, however most of the advice is "check your BIOS and Drivers and make sure they're all up to date"

However, is there a systematic way to debug/diagnose sleep problems on Windows computers? An event log that can tell you what happened to cause your PC to wake or sleep and when?

I'm specifically looking for tools that can help diagnose/debug sleep issues in general.

link|improve this question
What sleep problem(s) are you having? Won't Sleep? Won't wake up? Sleeps but wakes right back up? – techie007 May 12 '11 at 16:04
My specific problem is that my computer won't go to sleep. When I put it to sleep manually it will at some point in the night wake up but I don't know when. It does not happen immediately, or possibly for hours but at some point it wakes up. My question here though is about generic ways of debugging sleep issues regardless of what the specific issue is. I think I should add I'm specifically looking for tools. – Jim May 12 '11 at 16:08
feedback

4 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

I'm sure you will find the MCE Standby Tool useful for diagnosing problems. Forget the name, as it works with any version of Windows. MCE Standby Tool

link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 4 down vote

One good tool in Windows 7 - from a command prompt, do powercfg -energy. (This may require running the command prompt with administrative privileges.)

-ENERGY
Analyze the system for common energy-efficiency and battery life problems.

This generates a report that, among other things, can possibly point out some common sleep problems. (This isn't its primary purpose, but it is a potentially useful and very easy tool.)

link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 3 down vote

Disconnect all external devices (USB, etc.) including the keyboard and mouse and let it sit overnight, if it doesn't wake up then it's probably a device waking it up.

From there start adding devices back on and wait again. Start with the basics (keyboard and mouse). Eventually you will figure out which device is waking it up (I had an Guitar Hero 3 controller that liked to keep my computer awake).

Also ensure there's no tasks scheduled to wake the computer before running.

link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

You can test some on/off transictions like boot / rebbot / shutdown / resume / sleep with Windows Performance Toolkit; take a look at this document.

This paper explains the Windows on/off transitions in detail, highlights performance vulnerabilities within each transition, and shows how to identify and analyze these issues by using the Windows Performance Toolkit (WPT). The guidance in this paper can help significantly reduce on/off transition times.

This paper is intended to help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), independent software vendors (ISVs), independent hardware vendors (IHVs), and systems analysts improve system response times.

This information applies to the following operating systems:

  • Windows 7
  • Windows Vista
link|improve this answer
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.