Question PC turns off after hours in Sleep mode. Software/hardware issue?

Jan 25, 2023
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Hello,

For the past 3 weeks, and for the first time since I've had my PC since 7 years ago, I've been having an issue with the device and I'm not sure about the source of it so that I can fix it.

It's a Dell Optiplex 7010, and it comes with a motherboard model 0WR7PY. The OS is Wndows 10, 64-bit, version 22H2 (10.0.19045).

The issue is that when I put the computer in Sleep Mode for a long period of time, it completely shuts down by itself. I tried to keep it in sleep mode for 1 hour and it didn't shut down, but apparently after some more hours, which I didn't measure, it does so The weird thing is that after it happens and I push the front power button to turn on the PC, it doesn't turn on. I found out that I've to press the PSU's test button first and then I can power it up by pressing the front power button. This doesn't happen when I intentionally shut down the PC and then press the front power button to turn it on again.

The PSU's test LED doesn't indicate an issue in the power supply (when I press the PSU's test button, the LED stays solid and the fan runs normally), so this removes any suspicion about the health of the PSU as far as Dell's Guidelines for self-testing the PSU unit are concerned.

The Sleep and Hibernate settings, including the advanced settings, are all set to NEVER. I also updated the drivers and the BIOS using Dell's SupportAssist software, but the issue persists.

I am really lost and I don't know if this is simply a software setting, maybe a box that I need to check/uncheck, or a hardware issue inside the desktop tower. Please note that during operation, there's absolutely no issue. The PC runs normally, no noise, the fan is OK and doesn't overwork, no heat issue and I can keep it on all day without any problem.

I'd appreciate your help and suggestions.

Thanks
 
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First, try disabling hibernation. Normal sleep will still function normally but it will avoid the problems often encountered by extremely deep sleep states (hibernation, and just because you have it set to never doesn't mean it isn't going there when you manually choose to sleep the system) in Windows 8.1, 10 and 11.

To disable Hibernation:

The first step is to run the command prompt as administrator. In Windows 10, you can do this by right clicking on the start menu and clicking "Command Prompt (Admin)"
Type in "powercfg.exe /h off" without the quotes and press enter. If you typed it in correctly, the cursor will simply start at a new line asking for new input
Now just exit out of command prompt, restart the system and test to see if the issue is resolved.
 
Jan 25, 2023
3
0
10
First, try disabling hibernation. Normal sleep will still function normally but it will avoid the problems often encountered by extremely deep sleep states (hibernation, and just because you have it set to never doesn't mean it isn't going there when you manually choose to sleep the system) in Windows 8.1, 10 and 11.

To disable Hibernation:

The first step is to run the command prompt as administrator. In Windows 10, you can do this by right clicking on the start menu and clicking "Command Prompt (Admin)"
Type in "powercfg.exe /h off" without the quotes and press enter. If you typed it in correctly, the cursor will simply start at a new line asking for new input
Now just exit out of command prompt, restart the system and test to see if the issue is resolved.

I did what you asked, but it hasn't solved it.
 
Ok, that's ok. It was worth a try because quite often hibernation causes problems.

Is there any chance this problem began shortly after a Windows or driver update?

You might want to run the Windows power troubleshooting and see if anything stands out there.

https://www.minitool.com/news/windows-11-10-power-troubleshooter.html


However, given the age of the machine the chances are very good that this is simply a motherboard or power supply problem. One step at a time though.
 
Jan 25, 2023
3
0
10
Ok, that's ok. It was worth a try because quite often hibernation causes problems.

Is there any chance this problem began shortly after a Windows or driver update?

You might want to run the Windows power troubleshooting and see if anything stands out there.

https://www.minitool.com/news/windows-11-10-power-troubleshooter.html


However, given the age of the machine the chances are very good that this is simply a motherboard or power supply problem. One step at a time though.

I tried the windows troubleshooting and it wasn't useful. I think that I've tried every possible software fix in the box, so it seems that it's hardware related.

Maybe the PSU is OK during normal operation, but it could be malfunctioning during low-power Sleep mode. I'm not sure if the built-in self-test account for that. I've a background in Electronics Engineering and this can happen in power supply circuits, that is, they give expected voltage output when they're loaded, but with small to no loads, they malfunction. I will check it next.
 
I'd also try disabling the C6 and C7 low power states in the BIOS. If the PSU has gotten weak or is malfunctioning while in those states, it may be triggering protections which simply shut the PSU off. Given the probable age of the PSU and the fact that Dell is well known for using both fairly decent and fairly poor quality power supplies in their systems (And you almost never knew which you were going to get at any given time) it wouldn't be surprising to find that this was a group regulated unit that doesn't support those lower power states above C5 well and with age might well be having problems with it.

If disabling C6 and C7 stops the problem, then it's likely time to replace the PSU, or perhaps even consider that it may be time to simply upgrade the whole system.
 
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