Win7 x64 computer wakes up on its own

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First i had a problem with getting the machine to wake up, now i ccan’t get it to stay asleep !!

what happens is, sometime overnight it wakes itself up. it may sleep for hours, but not for 8 hours …

i have set the settings in the video processor in Device Manager to Not Wake On LAN, but SOMETHING’S waking it up. i am using on-board graphics which is a Radeon ATI 4290 chip in an Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 mobo.

is this the right forum for this question ?
does anyone have any suggestions? all help is greatly appreciated …

and thank you
Michael

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I’m not clear why the video processor would have a Wake-on-LAN setting. WOL is a function of of the network card. If its an integrated NIC, there will be a setting in the BIOS to enable/disable this. Something on your home network is sending what’s called a “magic packet” to initiate the start up. I’m normally not a fan of Wikipedia, but here’s a pretty decent article on WOL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-on-LAN

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thanks Doc !!

“I’m not clear why the video processor would have a Wake-on-LAN setting. ”
i mis-spoke, made a mistake. in device manager under Network Adapters is where i found a realtek PCIe Family Controller – that’s where i found and disabled the WOL setting. but obviously i need to adjust something else, sounds like i’ll need to look into BIOS settings on this Asus board and see what i find …

appreciate your time.

Michael

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Whilst in device manager, did you click on the power management settings tab?

In there, you can stop the device completely from waking the PC or only allow it to wake the PC on receipt of a ‘magic packet’ rather than any other traffic.

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You want to check the mouse, keyboard and all the USB controllers for their power settings.
Is there a possibility that another machine on your LAN could be doing a WOL broadcast?

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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I had the same problem and fouind it was my mouse and keyboard that was waking the computer. I disabled them in Device Manager and all was fine after that.

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glad to have all of your support on this – terrific. thank you all very much …

first, i did look into the BIOS and could not find a setting to disable WOL or anything like it … (it’s an Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 mobo)

Browni, i don’t have a ‘magic packet’ setting in Power Management … mine is under Advanced, and it’s set for magic packets to NOT wake the machine. i’m shutting off anything i can find that might wake the machine (since i don’t know what’s causing it to wake), except the power button.

BATcher, i just set th emouse and keyboard to not wake the computer. i don’t know how they would in the middle of the night, but, there ya go – if i knew i wouldn’t be asking for help. so that’s set. no, no other machine is waking this one. (there’s only one and it’s off, most of the time, and definitely at night.)

Banyarola, thanks for your input too. it doesn’t make sense to me that the mouse or keyboard could wake the machine without being touched or moved, but there ya go – they’re off.

now we’ll see what happens overnight …

thanks a million, folks,
Michael

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Well, it may not make sense but I believe the mouse or keyboard may send a signal…You don’t have to move it..

Just try setting them to not wake the computer and see what happens.

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that’s exactly what i did, Banyarola !!! thanks for sticking with this thread … now i’ll see how it does overnight !

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Post back with the results..

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Good luck for tonight!

I found this article which may come in useful if the PC is still waking up (steps 4 & 5 seem particularly relevant)

Power Options and Sleep Mode Problems

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i’m looking through the article, Browni, thx.

installed new driver for the keboard and mouse yesterday, then didn’t change the settings to not wake from sleep, so no surprise, the computer was awake before me again today.

now they’re set correctly, and tonight’s test run should tell the tale whether it’s the keyboard/mouse or something else waking the computer up …

Michael

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The suspense is killing me…

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ha ha ha ha ha !!!!!!!!!!

well, Banyarola and all, the change in the power on option for the keyboard and the mouse … … … … … … DID NOT work !
the computer was wide awake when i got up this am.

wonder what ELSE it might be. i’ll review Browni’s article a little more and see if it suggests any answers … i also have a utility called MCE Standby Tool that MS downloaded for me that has some settings that can be managed that i can have a closer look at.

could there be background processes running that might wake the computer? does that even make sense ? should i post running processes? what’s the best way to do that ?

aslo, under Power Settings in COntrol Panel i just found, under Advanced Settings, something under Sleep for Allow Awake Timers, which was set to Enable. it is now set to Disable. that seems promising …

last, under cmd -> powercfg -lastwake, i found something about “media center update (mcupdate) scheduled task that requested waking the computer”. i will look at media center and at task scheduler and see if i can find this. in the meantime, perhaps the Disable function under advanced power settings will take care of it.

the thrill is in the chase ! AND THX FOR YOUR HELP …

Michael

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Here’s where I found the solution…http://www.thewindowsclub.com/fix-windows-7-computer-wakes-from-sleep-automatically

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thanks for your help and for your investifation. i can certainly try that, but first let me tell you this …

after i went into cmd -> powercfg -lastwake and got tipped off about a program waking the machine in the wee hours, i went into task scheduler and i was most surprised to find that one program was scheduled to update at 4:28 am and had rights to wake the computer to do so. so that may have been the culprit. after revising task scheduler’s various demands, i think i’ll try those adjusted settings tonight and see what happens. i can try the auto-fix you found if that doesn’t work.

THANK YOU for hanging out here with me and helping – i hugely appreciate it. (we geeks gotta stick together !! ). i’ll check in tomorrow on what happens …

Michael

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it WORKED – i woke this morning to a sleeping machine !!!! which woke on cue just like it’s supposed to. and as it turns out, i didn’t have to use the one-click fix you offered me. but it would have been prefect because as that article suggests,

Many a times, the Windows Media Center automatic update function is found to be the culprit.

Source: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/fix-windows-7-computer-wakes-from-sleep-automatically#ixzz1P4VWCjAf

the solution was to identify the problem by finding out exactly what was waking up the machine, which WAS WMC updater, and then using task scheduler to shut it down (or re-schedule it.)

Browni’s post above had a link to a site that used cmd -> powercfg -a . from there i just checked what options there are for running powercfg in the command window, and discovered the perfect one : powercfg -lastwake. that showed me the last time the computer woke up, the program that was waking up the computer, and that it was a scheduled task. from there it was easy to tell task scheduler to run it at a different time …

case closed. thanks to Barnyarola for following this thread and offering a one click fix that was right on target, and to Browni for his tip that led to the self-guided solution.

and best regards, all
Michael

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Good…I knew it was something scheduled to wake during the night. It just takes time to track down…

I have autographed pics of myself that you can stick on your fridge as a reminder of this special occasion if you would like one…

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takes time to track it down – right, that was KEY !

auto pix, – HA HA HA HA HA HA. i THINK the fridge is too crowded with comics and funnies and words to live by, like a 4×4 piece of paer that simply says, “WOMEN ARE DIFFERENT”. and that’s it, no elaboration, just that simple observation.
but sure, SEND your autographed picture , i’ll find room for it !!!!!!

thx again for being steady with this, and remember the powercfg -lastwake tool … i know i will.

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Glad you got there in the end!

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yes, good to get there, and thx, Browni

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