# New computer won't wake from sleep **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 23, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-wont-wake-from-sleep/769488 "2016-10-23T16:12:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-wont-wake-from-sleep/769488/1 "2016-10-23T16:12:55Z")
Little help here, please. I just bought a new desktop running Windows 10 Home. It’s an i5 with 8GB of RAM, fresh Windows activation, etc. All works fine except for the fact that once it goes to sleep (either through inactivity or through me telling it to sleep), I can’t get it to wake back up. Clicking on the mouse or keyboard does nothing. If I hit the power button on the tower, the tower itself comes to life, but there doesn’t seem to be any hard drive activity, the keyboard does not light up, and the monitors don’t come on. I thought it might have just been an issue with the video card not being powered up, but that wouldn’t explain the lack of hard drive activity or keyboard power. Thoughts/suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-wont-wake-from-sleep/769488/2 "2016-10-23T16:29:16Z")
this isn’t going to help except to know that you aren’t the only one experiencing strangeness and distress with your native install of winten. Mrs. Guest’s laptop woke up a few days ago displaying a message on an otherwise blank screen “install operating system”. Have you tried powering down to fully off and restarting? (I’m sure you have, basic windows 101 right?) ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-wont-wake-from-sleep/769488/3 "2016-10-23T16:47:01Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > I just bought a new desktop running Windows 10 Home. Is it a generic ‘white-box’ PC or a major brand? ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-wont-wake-from-sleep/769488/4 "2016-10-23T16:54:04Z")
> [@guestchaz](#): > > Have you tried powering down to fully off and restarting? (I’m sure you have, basic windows 101 right?) Not just basic, but powering it down and restarting is the ONLY way I can get it up and running again. > [@Quartz](#): > > Is it a generic ‘white-box’ PC or a major brand? CyberPower, so somewhat in between the two. A brand sold in a number of places, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-wont-wake-from-sleep/769488/5 "2016-10-23T17:36:24Z")
On further thought, what you are describing, in the past and in my experience, has always been indicative of a hardware problem instead of a software problem. Of course with winten (the winten of our discontent) being so new and…unfinished seeming?..who knows, but I would at least consider the idea. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-wont-wake-from-sleep/769488/6 "2016-10-23T17:57:24Z")
[Post #5 here](http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/forum/sleep-mode-computer-wont-wake-up_topic19288.html) is my bet. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-wont-wake-from-sleep/769488/7 "2016-10-23T18:03:06Z")
You might have the same effect by just changing the Power Savings profile/settings. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-wont-wake-from-sleep/769488/8 "2016-10-23T19:29:41Z")
If it’s still under warranty, take it back. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-wont-wake-from-sleep/769488/9 "2016-10-23T19:40:35Z")
It’s probably just set to those (meager) power saving default settings because of some law in California, no need to take it back if you can just change a setting. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-wont-wake-from-sleep/769488/10 "2016-10-25T14:29:19Z")
Just wanted to respond that I’ve been too busy to spend much time with this in the last couple of days. I did change the settings from **voltaire** ’s link, and…I think I met with mixed success. As in, moving the mouse/hitting the keyboard still did nothing to wake from sleep, and hitting the Power button just left me with a lit box and nothing else happening. But when I did a hard reboot, I _think_ the computer came back up to the exact place it was when I put it into sleep mode. If accurate, that would be at least a partial victory, though still very odd. I’m hoping to have a little more time and energy to spend with it tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-wont-wake-from-sleep/769488/11 "2016-10-25T16:28:12Z")
I have a 10 year old computer that runs Windows Vista, and this happens to me all the time.