# How does a computer "go to sleep?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 13, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-computer-go-to-sleep/492987 "2009-04-13T21:17:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-computer-go-to-sleep/492987/1 "2009-04-13T21:17:02Z")
My computer is “waking up” all by itself, with no jiggle of the mouse. I set the times to short increments so I could watch it go to screen saver, then go to “sleep.” Then it just “wakes up.” The weird thing is, this happened on another machine, too. We thought maybe it was the mouse being vibrated by the CPU, which is on the desk. We tested this out by moving the (wireless) mouse to another room. It still “woke up.” We just bought a new CPU, and it’s doing the same thing! Boggles the mind, it does. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-computer-go-to-sleep/492987/2 "2009-04-13T21:29:57Z")
First and foremost: Please _always_ provide machine and OS info! It is impossible to provide significant help without this. I would start with networking: Are any network using programs running in the background? This can include anti-virus programs and many, many others which might periodically auto-update. It can also be a symptom of “wake on lan” when an outside network connection wakes up the machine. And then a lot of other things… ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-computer-go-to-sleep/492987/3 "2009-04-13T22:06:46Z")
There’s a BIOS setting for disabling stand-by interrupts from USB port signals, which is usually the issue when the computer will only hibernate intermittently. Some device will send a signal to let Windows know it’s still connected, and Windows will turn itself on in response. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-computer-go-to-sleep/492987/4 "2009-04-13T23:23:02Z")
You also might want to check if the network can wake the computer up. [http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/netpm.mspx](http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/netpm.mspx) Look for Enabling/Disabling Wake-on-LAN. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-computer-go-to-sleep/492987/5 "2009-04-14T02:45:56Z")
Ok - sorry. I didn’t know the protocol. HP Pavilion PC a6720y AMD Phenom X4 9550 Quad 4 Processor 6GB Memory 640GB Hard Drive Wireless LAN NVIDIA GeForce 9100 Vista Home Premium 64-bit Kaspersky Anti-virus 2009 - set to run at 1:00 am for updates Windows Updates are also set to run at 1:00 am We are seeing this during the day. Is that enough info? Sorry - I am not very “geeky.”