So I have a Dell Alienware and it just recently updated to 2004. I don’t seek, I just let it do it’s thing when it wants to.
I have noticed that it no longer sleeps, the monitor will shut off like I have instructed. I know enough about computers to be dangerous so I was able to run the Cmd prompt and this is what I got:
With Googling it seems like this is the Windows updater that is doing something and waking it up? Any ideas on how to make it not do this so the computer will sleep.
I use Leo’s advice of not shutting it down every night but now with it staying up and ready I am thinking maybe I should?
2004 isn’t the newest update 20H2 is so maybe it is trying to install the newest update or maybe it just got stuck when trying to install. I would run the updater and make sure it has updated.
It’s also possible that something could have been broken when it updated and getting it fully updated could fix the issue.
These issues are always hard to diagnose from a distance but I would suggest updating the rest of the way and googling the issue with your model to get suggestions from others if they have had similar issues.
Thanks. I have checked my update status and it doesn’t tell me that I need anything or that anything is pending. I know it is not the latest but this Dell always seems behind my husband’s HP. I am guessing because of drivers so I don’t seek as I mentioned I just let it update when it wants to. I’d rather not force it to the next level if there cold be driver issues.
Most likely any driver issues should have been worked out by now, the newest update has been out for a while. I do know that some systems were having issues finding the newest update and people would have to go download the update assistant software to get it to update correctly. My thought again is if Windows update actually downloaded the update or is in the process of downloading the update and then got stuck it would continually be looking for that information causing the issue that you are seeing where it will not go to sleep because it is “stuck” in the process of getting you updated and would consider that critical.
But if you want to look into updating it further to see if that will fix the issue just search for update assistant and you should find what you need to download to get it updated.
Otherwise I wouldn’t worry to much, I’m still in the habit of turning off sleep on my PC’s from the old days when sleep would cause hardware to freeze up and force you to restart the system and mine run 24 hours a day 7 days a week like that with no issue.
Thanks again. My update history doesn’t show that it is trying to DL or anything failed. I will not worry too much about it then. Good to know it won’t hurt to be on all the time.
I have a machine that stopped sleeping, and the reason…? I plugged in a Sony PS4 controller to play video games. As long as that controller is connected, Windows avoids sleeping because (I gather) it thinks I must still be gaming. That’s probably not your situation, but do you have any devices or docks connected? Perhaps force the machine to power off, unplug anything/everything, then power it on, let it settle a minute and realize everything is gone. Then reconnect things one at a time until they get recognized. It may not do anything (probably won’t in in fact) but then again, you just never know.
Thanks. Nothing plugged in. Appreciate the input. I have left an external drive connected and it didn’t but it is disconnected now and still won’t sleep.
Because Windows 10 is built on top of older versions of Windows, there are hidden settings for things like Sleep and Hibernate, and my experience has been sometimes these high level settings get changed during updates.
Click on Start, type “sleep”
Click on “Power and Sleep settings”
Click on “Additional power settings”
Click on “change when the computer sleeps” on left side
Click on “ change advanced power settings”
Opens old Windows settings
Expand Sleep and check and change settings as needed.
Click OK
Good luck
Typical Windows. Trying to write up and test steps above. Computer went to sleep and would not wake. Forced it to shut down and reboot. And, guess what, “Please wait, updating”.
Where to find things changes too. It’s annoying. Thanks for the info. I think I went that far but I will check the settings for sure. Sorry for your issues while testing it. Very typical unfortunately. Thanks again