Computer stays on when set to sleep?

[BlackPseudicide]

Occasionally when I put my computer to sleep it stays active indefinitely. Video gets cut, but the computer wakes up normally when peripherals are disturbed and lights,fans,etc stay on.

 

[Danbuscus25]

well, it is supposed to do that in sleep mode. if you want it turned off, then put it in hibernate mode or just turn it off.

 

[BlackPseudicide]

well, it is supposed to do that in sleep mode. if you want it turned off, then put it in hibernate mode or just turn it off.

Except usually it powers all the way down.

 

[Danbuscus25]

it usually powers all the way down while in sleep mode? well, then that is caused by it being in sleep mode for so long it reaches the set amount of inactive time for it to turn off.

 

[BlackPseudicide]

it usually powers all the way down while in sleep mode? well, then that is caused by it being in sleep mode for so long it reaches the set amount of inactive time for it to turn off.

If I go to the start button and select sleep, it powers down immediately, within a split second.

 

[Danbuscus25]

that is weird. i wouldnt recommend doing that. i would just power it down or put it in hibernate mode.

 

[MidnightDistort]

What do you mean it powers all the way down? Do you mean it shuts off and you have to reboot your PC? If you select sleep it should power off, but should be able to wake it regardless.

Is this a desktop PC or laptop? The only reasons a PC would fully power down (as if you were shutting it down) in sleep mode would be a bad PSU or the outlet/surge protector you have it hooked up to is faulty or your power tends to go out. I don't about any settings that would turn off the PC if you have it in sleep for a certain amount of time, should stay in sleep mode until you wake it up.

 

[Danbuscus25]

sleep is not supposed to turn it off but resume later. that is hibernate mode. sleep mode is a low power state that does not turn off the computer. and a psu cant just do that by being bad. if the pc boots, the psu should be fine.

 

[MidnightDistort]

I think the OP is confused here or not being descriptive enough. (no offense) Because sleep mode does not shut the PC down and hibernate i believe writes some sort of info that allows the computer to resume where you left off at but he's implying that selecting sleep mode shuts down the PC instead. There's no reason why you can't use either feature provided that you don't have any adverse effects from it in which case you should shut of any programs or restart the PC before you go into either mode.

 

[BlackPseudicide]

I think the OP is confused here or not being descriptive enough. (no offense) Because sleep mode does not shut the PC down and hibernate i believe writes some sort of info that allows the computer to resume where you left off at but he's implying that selecting sleep mode shuts down the PC instead. There's no reason why you can't use either feature provided that you don't have any adverse effects from it in which case you should shut of any programs or restart the PC before you go into either mode.

I'm definitely not confused, I'm just telling you what is happening. I've been programming and building computers for years, so I'm not necessarily new to computers. To clarify: the computer does not turn off, it goes into a state where everything is "off" as described in the first post. When i press the power button or press the keyboard it wakes up instantly. My best guess is that it is using some kind of sleep/hibernate hybrid. Yet my inital question was why would its behavior change? Usually it "powers down", but on some occasions my monitors will lose connection but the lights and fans will stay on.

 

[MidnightDistort]

Ok, sorry.. it seemed weird. When you do set it to sleep, it goes to sleep. It might be possible when you are setting it to sleep something is preventing it to properly sleep. Usually it's something in the background that is causing your system to stay on while the monitor cuts off the sleep mode is telling the PC to cut the monitor's power/display but software is running in the background which is most likely preventing your PC to sleep properly. I'd check to see what is running in the background on task manager & see if you can locate the problem by closing a process (make sure your not closing any important ones that require your desktop to run properly).