# Help me with Windows Standby mode

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-windows-standby-mode/276967>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 28, 2004, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-windows-standby-mode/276967 "2004-11-28T06:28:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2004, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-windows-standby-mode/276967/1 "2004-11-28T06:28:02Z")

</div>

I’d like for Standby mode to just “work”, but it’s always been a crapshoot for me. Sometimes, it will enter Standby, but most of the time, the computer reawakens immediately after entering Standby. (much to my chagrin)

How can I make Windows 2000 stay in Standby reliably? This has always been a problem for me and a clean Windows install didn’t solve anything.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-windows-standby-mode/276967/2 "2004-12-02T00:05:35Z")

</div>

Well, I looked into this some more. None of my BIOS settings have “wake on …” turned on. Also, I checked the motherboard and both “wake on ring” (modem) and “wake on lan” (ethernet) are disconnected.

This is really annoying, because it takes a long time for a failed standby attempt to allow me to attempt another standby. And sometimes the 2nd standby will take.

Anybody experienced this?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-windows-standby-mode/276967/3 "2004-12-02T00:29:56Z")

</div>

It’s always worked for me (also running W2K).

This may be a bit silly but have you checked that nothing physical is waking up your PC? Something shaking the table, vibrating the mouse, depressing a key, etc. could all wake it up immediately. You can eliminate a flaky contact in the mouse or keyboard by unplugging one of those devices and then going into Standby using the other. If it magically starts working then clean the offending device.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-windows-standby-mode/276967/4 "2004-12-02T03:33:30Z")

</div>

I don’t think it’s the mouse or keyboard because once I can get it asleep (in those cases it doesn’t reawaken immediately), it stays asleep faithfully for days until I wake it up.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-windows-standby-mode/276967/5 "2004-12-02T04:07:29Z")

</div>

Do you use any old hardware that uses Window NT drivers instead of Windows 2000 drivers?