Power management - sometimes works, sometimes doesn't...

The title pretty much says it all.

I don't use a screen saver, however I have the power management applet set
to turn off my monitors after 15 minutes (and nothing else). Most of the
time it works fine, but at others (without any discernable pattern for a
reason) I'll be gone for hours and when I come back the system's still
sitting there showing the desktop. The problem might be easier to diagnose
if there was any consistency to it, but right now it just may or may not
work correctly. BIOS/ACPI/driver/monitor settings are NOT getting changed
or anything of that nature... It's a crapshoot, really...

This is an Athlon64 4800 sitting on an ASUS A8N-E motherboard, running XP
64-bit. I have 3 LCD panels hooked up to it, so it would be nice if they
shut off as they should... Thoughts, suggestions?

 

I have a program which doesn't show anything on the screen, but records
streams in the background, that causes the same condition.

 

Yes, I agree, it is the strangest things, apparently, that registers as an
'activity' to the ACPI(?) subsystem. I do run a screensaver and even after
activating it manually before leaving, the desktop may well be sitting there
in full splendour when I return. Not frequently - also, not rare!


Tony. . .

 

I have never figured out why my wife's Compaq Presarion 4025US sometimes
will keept the screen awake for hours and sometimes goes to sleep as
expected.

 

I have resorted to turning off the monitor when I will be gone for hours and
the background recording program is scheduled to activate.

 

Well, here at this end I've nailed it down to one game - can only run in
full screen mode, if I leave the machine with the game active, the saver
never kicks in. If I [Alt + Tab] this game to minimize, Display properties
shows the screensaver to be disabled - closing the game again enables the
screensaver. I enjoy i-net radio and have a custom desktop player that I am
beginning to suspect. It seems to be a bit 'buggy', it is probably a sort of
flash thing or something.

These are not solely responsible, there are other things as well, some may
even be standard Windows stuff, probably network related.


Tony. . .

 

Yea - me too! If I remember not to trust the spine.


Tony. . .

 

I always turn off the monitor when I'm sure that I'll be far from the PC for
a couple of hours.
Carlos

 

Hello,
A couple of things to look at.
1) look in the event logs. Sometimes we log the reason why we do not go
into hibernation or stand-by. If you see any such event report them back.
This can be an application, a driver or a filter driver for example. The
event only shows the topmost reason, so you may have to drill down some.
2) When it happens, open a CMD prompt and run powercfg /a >power.txt.
Open power.txt in notepad see what options are listed for not
enabling\disabling hibernation or stand-by ( This is only Windows Server
2003 and x64 edtions of Windows. This option is not on 32-bit versions of
Windows XP)
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
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<From: "Homer J. Simpson" <[email protected]>
<Subject: Power management - sometimes works, sometimes doesn't...
<Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2006 10:12:45 -0400
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<The title pretty much says it all.
<
<I don't use a screen saver, however I have the power management applet set
<to turn off my monitors after 15 minutes (and nothing else). Most of the
<time it works fine, but at others (without any discernable pattern for a
<reason) I'll be gone for hours and when I come back the system's still
<sitting there showing the desktop. The problem might be easier to
diagnose
<if there was any consistency to it, but right now it just may or may not
<work correctly. BIOS/ACPI/driver/monitor settings are NOT getting changed
<or anything of that nature... It's a crapshoot, really...
<
<This is an Athlon64 4800 sitting on an ASUS A8N-E motherboard, running XP
<64-bit. I have 3 LCD panels hooked up to it, so it would be nice if they
<shut off as they should... Thoughts, suggestions?
<
<
<