Most people think that shutting your laptop down and putting it to sleep are the same processes, and to some extent, they are but when a computer is in sleep mode, all its running processes are stored in the RAM while when it is shut down, they are completely abandoned. Another difference is that Sleep on your PC is automated. This helps in the conservation of battery life while not stopping any tasks. You can also adjust the time intervals in which you want your PC to go to sleep, but some users have reported errors with their Sleep timer. They’ve experienced that, despite having set a timer, the PC isn’t going to sleep. Today, we will discuss how to remediate this issue if you’re facing it.
Sleep Timer not working in Windows 11/10
There are 4 ways in which you can implement this fix if the Sleep Timer not working:
- Check your Sleep timer settings
- Use the Power Troubleshooter
- Stop devices from waking up your computer
- Use the Command Prompt to check for power requests
1] Check your Sleep timer settings
If you’re experiencing the sleep timer not working as you’d configured it to, the first thing you should do is check on the timer settings in the Control Panel.
- Click on the search icon on your Taskbar and open the Control Panel
- Here, click on Hardware and Sound > Power Options
- From the options bar on the left, select ‘Choose when to turn off the display’
- You will see options to set up when to put your computer to sleep, both when it’s charging and on the battery’s standby
- Save the settings as you desire and exit the Control Panel
These settings might’ve been messed around with, in which case this will rectify your error.
Read: Different System Sleep States in Windows.
2] Use the Power Troubleshooter
A second solution to this issue is to take the help of a Windows Power Troubleshooter. Microsoft offers troubleshooting tools for some of its most frequently used utilities to provide quick fixes. Here’s how you can use the Power troubleshooter.
- Press the Windows + ’I’ keyboard shortcut to open Windows Settings
- Scroll down a bit and click on the Troubleshoot option
- Select Other troubleshooters
- Locate where the Power troubleshooter is and tap on the Run button next to it
If there is any system error related to your Power settings, you will be notified and given an option to fix it.
3] Stop devices from waking up your computer
Devices like your mouse or keyboard wake your PC when activated. So, you can also try disabling this setting from there. We’ll show you how to disable your mouse from waking your PC from sleep.
- Click on the Taskbar’s search icon and search for the ‘Device Manager
- From the list of devices currently active on your PC, click on Mice and other pointing devices
- Select the mouse you’re currently using and expand to its properties
- Click on the Power Management tab on top and uncheck the Allow this device to wake the computer box
4] Use the Command Prompt to check for power requests
Another very likely reason for your computer’s sleep breaking is power requests that services may be sending. You can use the command prompt to find out what services are keeping your PC awake and then disable the ones you think aren’t needed. Here’s how:
- Search for the command prompt on the taskbar’s search option and select to run it as administrator
- Once the prompt window opens up, paste the following line of code there and press enter:
powercfg /requests
- The results will be something as shown in the image:
As you can see, none of my processes are pulling any power requests at the moment. Spotify is playing in the background.
We hope this helps!
Is Sleep Mode bad for PC?
There’s often concern about whether sleep mode is better or worse than shutting down your PC. While it is easier to initiate sleep since all you have to do is shut the lid down, shut down helps your PC in performing self-tests, clearing out RAM, and alerting you of software updates.
Does Sleep drain the battery?
Yes, it does consume battery while in sleep mode, but it’s quite minimal. In sleep mode, your PC is in a low-power state where power is used only to keep the computer’s state in memory. The startup post-sleep is very quick but that snappy power back move takes in a considerable amount of power.
