Solved Can't login when waking from SLEEP mode (NEW)

orlando1974 · Jul 10, 2023

Hi, for years I've been putting my PC in sleep mode at night or whenever I leave home.
However, since last week, I can no longer log in upon "waking" my computer.
I see the monitors "activate" when I press a key or move the mouse.. BUT no Windows login screen shows - it's just black.
My only way out at that point is to force a shutdown but long-pressing the power button on the tower.

Thru testing, I have discovered that when the PC goes to sleep by itself (due to inactivity), then it works properly. In this case, it wakes up and takes me to the log in screen when I press a key or move the mouse. Is this sleep or standby mode I don't know - but in this fashion it works normally.

But I would like to solve this and restore my ability to deliberately put to sleep the PC, knowing I will be able to log in when I wake it up.
I'm on the latest Windows update (and almost wondering if this problem started after the update).

Can someone please assist?

Sir_George · Jul 10, 2023

orlando1974 said:
Hi, for years I've been putting my PC in sleep mode at night or whenever I leave home.
However, since last week, I can no longer log in upon "waking" my computer.
I see the monitors "activate" when I press a key or move the mouse.. BUT no Windows login screen shows - it's just black.
My only way out at that point is to force a shutdown but long-pressing the power button on the tower.

Thru testing, I have discovered that when the PC goes to sleep by itself (due to inactivity), then it works properly. In this case, it wakes up and takes me to the log in screen when I press a key or move the mouse. Is this sleep or standby mode I don't know - but in this fashion it works normally.

But I would like to solve this and restore my ability to deliberately put to sleep the PC, knowing I will be able to log in when I wake it up.
I'm on the latest Windows update (and almost wondering if this problem started after the update).

Can someone please assist?

As a first step, you could uninstall the most recent update to test your theory that it may be the cause.

orlando1974 · Jul 10, 2023

Thanks for your suggested 1st tip!
Unfortunately, rolling back the update didn't solve the issue. Looks like the timing was just coincidence.
What would be the next place to look?
As I mentioned, it wakes up properly from its self-induced sleep caused by inactivity, just not when I deliberately placed it into sleep mode.

glasskuter · Jul 10, 2023

Please open command prompt and type powercfg -a
Post a screenshot.

There are a number of ways to put the computer to sleep. Exactly how are you putting it into manual sleep? start menu, power button on computer, desktop shortcut, power user menu, dedicated key on keyboard, keyboard shortcut, etc

orlando1974 · Jul 10, 2023

Here is the requested screenshot.
I am putting it to sleep by clicking the Windows button at the left of the taskbar, then clicking the Power button that opens at the bottom-right of the box. I never had any issues waking it up until a week or two ago, but now, when using this method, my screens wake up but remain black. No login screen.

Dru2 · Jul 10, 2023

Must be something the hardware. I'm running build 22H2 (22621.1928) and have no such issues - whether I manually put the PC to sleep or it sleeps by itself.

Have you done any recent hardware changes? Software updates outside of Windows Updates?

And my sleep states are just as the OP shows...

orlando1974 · Jul 10, 2023

Only other thing I can think of was uninstalling Logitech Options Plus as I found the connection with my mouse and keyboards had suddenly become jagged. Keyboard typing was showing a delay, and mouse cursor was skipping. Now I only have the regular Logitech Options - however, I doubt this would be the issue since I am able to wake the system displays thru key press or mouse movement (or the full system if sleeping due to inactivity). I also deactivated something from the startup process by Adobe as I was trying to trim down what's running in the background. Again, not sure how this would influence the log screen not showing up after deliberately sending to sleep. Clicking the hardware POWER button on the tower also does not bring up the login screen - it just wakes the system.

orlando1974 · Jul 10, 2023

I'm not sure but I may have found a clue? Looks like when I am able to successfully wake to the login screen (which I was describing as the computer putting itself to sleep due to inactivity) may NOT actually be the sleep mode?

So this could mean that its not the variable of whether I put the PC to sleep deliberately vs due to inactivity, but rather that I am dealing with 2 different PC modes, one of which still works fine, and the other - being the true SLEEP mode- is the one that is not operating as it should right now.

Due to my audio work, I've always had my plan set as follows (see screenshot). It's never given me this problem before.

orlando1974 · Jul 10, 2023

I found a workaround.
I'm not sure why but disabling "Hybrid sleep mode" seems to have fixed the issue.
I have to admit, I'm not quite sure how using the hybrid sleep mode is beneficial - but I think it's because I wanted to make sure my work was saved in case of sudden power outage. Would someone be able to comment on my findings and inquiry?

Dru2 · Jul 10, 2023

orlando1974 said:
I found a workaround.
I'm not sure why but disabling "Hybrid sleep mode" seems to have fixed the issue.

I was actually going to suggest giving that try, but after thinking about it, didn't think it would work. I now see that works for you

As a side note, I don't have "Hybrid sleep" in my power plan due to the fact that I have Hypervisor enabled? See this post.

orlando1974 · Jul 10, 2023

I don't have hypervisor enabled - I don't have VM enabled at all. I'm not sure if I should turn that on or if I'm going down a rabbit hole.

One other wonky thing that was happening, but this has been happening long before the new issue, is that sometimes my computer screen would wake up at random times...I'd be in bed and all of a sudden the screen would turn on. I wonder if turning off Hybrid sleep mode will solve that too.

I just don't like the idea that if there's a power outage while the computer is asleep, that I could lose data - which hybrid seems to be designed to prevent.

Seems to me now this thread should be renamed to "Why can I wake up and login OK from sleep mode, but not from HYBRID sleep mode?".

Dru2 · Jul 10, 2023

orlando1974 said:
I don't have hypervisor enabled - I don't have VM enabled at all. I'm not sure if I should turn that on or if I'm going down a rabbit hole.

I don't use VMs either, so I also don't need it, but I believe it is enabled by default on Windows 11 Pro if VT is enabled in the BIOS as mine is. It can be disabled / enabled, but I've left it as is. When enabled you will see this in System Information....

orlando1974 said:
One other wonky thing that was happening, but this has been happening long before the new issue, is that sometimes my computer screen would wake up at random times...I'd be in bed and all of a sudden the screen would turn on. I wonder if turning off Hybrid sleep mode will solve that too.

Yeah, random sleep issues can pop up, and why keeping drivers updated helps, especially GPU drivers. Also sometimes beta drivers will cause sleep issues. As said, I don't have "Hybrid sleep", and even my PC will wake for no reason (well none known to me) at times.

Anyway, my mention of Hypervisor was just commentary guesswork and nothing more.

Peace

orlando1974 · Jul 10, 2023

And how does this relate to the hybrid sleep mode? I don't see how they are related?

Dru2 · Jul 10, 2023

orlando1974 said:
And how does this relate to the hybrid sleep mode? I don't see how they are related?

If you actually took the time to read, you might actually learn how it actually can apply. RIF

Dru2 said:
As a side note, I don't have "Hybrid sleep" in my power plan due to the fact that I have Hypervisor enabled? See this post.

Have a good day

hsehestedt · Jul 10, 2023

I ran into what sounds like almost the same problem. In my case, the issue turned out to be that Windows update was installing an "updated" display driver and that was causing the problem. In my case I had to run only the display driver provided by the manufacturer (ASUS) and NOT the updated drivers which were the generic Intel drivers.

orlando1974 · Jul 10, 2023

Thanks for chiming in. I'll definitely make a note of that. I did recently update my NVidia drivers ... but I think it was after I had started getting this issue, not before. But good to know as something I could experiment with if I want to try enabling Hybrid Sleep again - to see if there are generic display drivers that are being installed as well.