Solved Lenovo laptop won't sleep when plugged in

My Lenovo P16s workstation laptop (Win 11 22H2 22621.1194) will not sleep when plugged in to power. It will sleep when on battery. The computer is a month old, and sleep worked fine until about one week ago.

The only change I notice is that several Windows "optional" updates were installed without my OK. Maybe MS decided these were no longer optional. Most were "Lenovo System" with various version numbers. Lenovo seems to have no clue.

But if Win 11 updates are the problem, I would think there would be more reports here.

More detail: I've checked all the typical adjustments in Settings and in Control Panel. Everything looks good.

What happens when plugged in: The sleep button turns off the screen, but does not put the computer to sleep. The keyboard backlight stays on. Closing the lid turns off the screen AND the keyboard backlight, but does not put the computer to sleep. (Sleep indicator light not flashing, fan still going.)

After a restart, sleep works both manually and automatically. BUT -- once I open almost ANY program, sleep will always fail for the rest of that session. It fails even after I close whatever programs were opened.

Desperate, I went back to system images from when sleep was working. Same bad behavior! I am at a loss, and hoping someone here can give me a clue.

Hi,

stick a paperclip in the reset hole in the bottom plate for 30 secs.
This resolves many problems that have to do with power. Windows will stay as it was, it just cuts all the power and resets power issues.

Edit: There is a switch under it of course that you have to actuate.
Ciao, Han

han jansen said:

stick a paperclip in the reset hole in the bottom plate

Click to expand...

I have heard of this only in relation to a non-responsive device. This process turns the battery off, simulating the same thing as back when batteries were removable. It won't turn on again until you've connected the AC power cord. The OP said that it WILL sleep on battery. His problem is with AC.

Phil_C said:

several Windows "optional" updates were installed without my OK

Click to expand...

Regarding updates, you can find out what they were by going to windows update>update history>expand optional updates. I'm wondering if a bios update was one of them. You can find your current bios version using one of these methods. You can then compare it to the latest version listed on your manufacturer site.
How to check your BIOS version on Windows 8, 10, and 11 - Lenovo Support US.
Regarding the updating of your drivers it's a good practice to use your manufacturer's app to keep your drivers updated (in your case Lenovo Vantage)

The following are suggestions I found on the MS forum for this specific sleep issue on AC.
Please try these options one by one with the laptop plugged in and check after each option.

1. Troubleshoot Power
Type troubleshoot in Search > Click Troubleshoot in search results> Scroll down > Click Power > Run the troubleshooter > Follow on-screen direction.

2. Restore Default for Power Settings
Control panel>power options.> under your preferred plan click 'change plan settings' Click Change Plan Settings > Click Restore default settings for this plan

3. Disable Fast Startup
Go to Power options as in previous step > Click Choose what the power buttons do > Click Change settings that are currently unavailable > Scroll down to Shutdown settings and uncheck Turn on fast startup > Click Save changes

4. Uninstall / Install Battery Driver (Only for laptops)
Shut down your computer > Detach power chord > Remove battery (if fixed no need to remove) > Attach power chord > Reboot your computer
Windows Key+X > Device Manager > Expand Batteries > Right-click Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System > Uninstall > Shutdown the computer > Remove the power chord > Attach your battery > Attach your power chord > Reboot the computer to automatically install the driver

5. As a last resort, you should perform a Windows 10 repair upgrade

IMO, this issue can also be related to modern standby which is a different form of sleep than the old S3 sleep that we are accustomed to. In fact, modern standby is actually not sleep at all and I do not know why MS refers to it as such. If none of the above suggestions help, report back and we can make suggestions from a modern standby perspective.

Welcome to ElevenForum.

I have found a few possible solutions, so find them below.

I would type it out, but there are many solutions here.

Check out this thread on eight forums with someone bearing the exact same fixes.

You just have to use trial and error and go through every fix as well as the ones seen on this thread above my post ^

Here’s the link to the thread: Computer won't go to sleep plugged in

Good luck and let me know how you get on.

Sorry for not writing out the whole thing properly!

James

glasskuter said:

I have heard of this only in relation to a non-responsive device. This process turns the battery off, simulating the same thing as back when batteries were removable. It won't turn on again until you've connected the AC power cord. The OP said that it WILL sleep on battery. His problem is with AC.

Click to expand...

power problem?

Invest 30 secs. and a paperclip and see what gives.

Ciao, Han

Tried it on my Lenovo X380 Yoga ThinkPad (vintage 2018). Works like a charm!
HTH,
--Ed--

Ed Tittel said:

Tried it on my Lenovo X380 Yoga ThinkPad (vintage 2018). Works like a charm!
HTH,
--Ed--

Click to expand...

Works like a charm to solve what problem?

glasskuter said:

The following are suggestions I found on the MS forum for this specific sleep issue on AC.
Please try these options one by one with the laptop plugged in and check after each option.

1. Troubleshoot Power
Type troubleshoot in Search > Click Troubleshoot in search results> Scroll down > Click Power > Run the troubleshooter > Follow on-screen direction.

2. Restore Default for Power Settings
Control panel>power options.> under your preferred plan click 'change plan settings' Click Change Plan Settings > Click Restore default settings for this plan

3. Disable Fast Startup
Go to Power options as in previous step > Click Choose what the power buttons do > Click Change settings that are currently unavailable > Scroll down to Shutdown settings and uncheck Turn on fast startup > Click Save changes

4. Uninstall / Install Battery Driver (Only for laptops)
Shut down your computer > Detach power chord > Remove battery (if fixed no need to remove) > Attach power chord > Reboot your computer
Windows Key+X > Device Manager > Expand Batteries > Right-click Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System > Uninstall > Shutdown the computer > Remove the power chord > Attach your battery > Attach your power chord > Reboot the computer to automatically install the driver

5. As a last resort, you should perform a Windows 10 repair upgrade

IMO, this issue can also be related to modern standby which is a different form of sleep than the old S3 sleep that we are accustomed to. In fact, modern standby is actually not sleep at all and I do not know why MS refers to it as such. If none of the above suggestions help, report back and we can make suggestions from a modern standby perspective.

Click to expand...

Thanks to you and the other responses.

First, I should have made it clear that my P16s uses Modern Standby S0 "sleep" only. No S3.

There have been no BIOS updates for my machine since I received it.

I do use Lenovo Vantage for updates. I have always avoided Windows optional updates, even when they contain the manufacturer's name. There were seven such updates listed as "optional", so I left them that way. At some point, Windows 11 must have decided to install them anyway. I now see them in update history, but there is no way to uninstall them if I wanted to.

I had already tried numbers 1 and 2 in your troubleshooting list. I just did numbers 3 and 4 now (along with the other suggestion on using the reset hole, since that fit right into the process of number 4). No luck. Sleep may work for a while, but soon fails and will not work again until restart.

I hesitate to try number 5 because of possible unintended consequences. Everything else is functioning smoothly and perfectly. This is a new machine that has not yet accumulated a lot of garbage. Also, I previously went back to an OS image from last month -- the fifth day I had the computer -- when sleep was functioning as it should. But the sleep problem was present. This seems to make no sense. Unless this is some kind of hardware problem.

If you have any suggestions related to Modern Standby, I would be grateful.

James said:

Welcome to ElevenForum.

I have found a few possible solutions, so find them below.

I would type it out, but there are many solutions here.

Check out this thread on eight forums with someone bearing the exact same fixes.

You just have to use trial and error and go through every fix as well as the ones seen on this thread above my post ^

Here’s the link to the thread: Computer won't go to sleep plugged in

Good luck and let me know how you get on.

Sorry for not writing out the whole thing properly!

James

Click to expand...

I've looked at some of these that might apply, but no luck so far. Also, I've used powercfg in Terminal but found nothing useful. My network adapters in Device Manager have no power options.

Sleep actually worked several times today, but eventually always fails.

Phil_C said:

Sleep actually worked several times today

Click to expand...

Was that by manually putting it to sleep using the power button or letting it go to sleep on it's own? If the former, please attempt to put it to sleep using the power menu instead. Does that make any difference

glasskuter said:

Was that by manually putting it to sleep using the power button or letting it go to sleep on it's own? If the former, please attempt to put it to sleep using the power menu instead. Does that make any difference

Click to expand...

Both manual and timed sleep work for awhile, until either fails and then neither will work until restart.

If by the power menu you mean the Start Menu shut down options, that behavior is the same and also fails. Only the screen shuts off, but the keyboard remains lit and the machine remains on. Same result if I use Alt-F4 to get shut down options.

That almost sounds like it could be file corruption. To be on the safe side open a command prompt as admin and type sfc /scannow.
See if it finds and fixes any corrupted files.

sfc scan found no violations. Maybe when I have time I will try the Win 11 repair upgrade. If anything goes wrong, I have daily OS images from Macrium Reflect.

To be clear, by a repair upgrade, do you mean downloading a current Win 11 Pro ISO from MS and using that?

Phil_C said:

do you mean downloading a current Win 11 Pro ISO from MS and using that?

Click to expand...

Yes, you download the iso but you do not have to put it on a usb stick unless you just want to.
Repair Install Windows 11 with an In-place Upgrade Tutorial

I sure hope it works for you, because I don't know where to tell you to jump next. I'm doing a lot of reading on it. What I'm reading now says "Sleep is usually controlled by your display driver" This is something I did not know.
I checked the specs on your cpu (That's a mighty powerful laptop you have, by the way) Specs say you that cpu is also eligible to haveIntel® Iris® Xe Integrated Graphics.
Do you have dual graphics? or just Nvidia? Let me know before you do the repair install.

Yes, I have dual graphics. The machine normally runs on the Intel® Iris® Xe Integrated Graphics. In fact, I was disappointed to learn that on this model the Intel cannot be disabled in order to run 100% on the NVIDIA. So I seem to always be running on the Intel. It appears that only certain programs can be set to use the NVIDIA.

That's interesting about the display driver. I've read that the display shutting off begins the S0 process. But the screen can be set to turn off separately, followed by sleep later. Right now I have both set for the same time to simplify. The sleep problem occurs either way.

Phil_C said:

Intel cannot be disabled in order to run 100% on the NVIDIA

Click to expand...

You can't use the Nvidia Control Panel to choose which graphics you want to use? You should be able to choose either on a system wide or per application basis which GPU is used. See this. How to Switch Between Dedicated GPU and Integrated Graphics

Phil_C said:

Yes, I have dual graphics. The machine normally runs on the Intel® Iris® Xe Integrated Graphics. In fact, I was disappointed to learn that on this model the Intel cannot be disabled in order to run 100% on the NVIDIA. So I seem to always be running on the Intel. It appears that only certain programs can be set to use the NVIDIA.

That's interesting about the display driver. I've read that the display shutting off begins the S0 process. But the screen can be set to turn off separately, followed by sleep later. Right now I have both set for the same time to simplify. The sleep problem occurs either way.

Click to expand...

My processor (ryzen 3 3100) has no graphics integrated so I run purely on my NVIDIA. Is this your reference? How to Switch Between Integrated Intel® Graphics and NVIDIA*...

-> Get NVIDIA Control Panel from the Microsoft Store

Also in the image on the intel website, you can see there is a global settings tab, in which you can choose to have the nvidia graphics card for everything.

I previously set the global preferences in NVIDIA Control Panel, and also for some individual programs. No effect. Some individual programs appear to be blocked from using the discrete graphics. There is a separate NVIDIA utility that says "There are no displays connected to this GPU". Task Manager shows no activity for this GPU. Maybe it's meant only for external displays? (That would be nuts.)

There is no BIOS option to choose graphics like on my previous computers. Device manager shows the T550 Laptop GPU present and working properly.

I saw at least one other complaint about this in the Lenovo forum. Maybe I should start another thread on this topic.

I was going to investigate further when the sleep problem showed up.

This is directly from Lenovo. If it doesn't work I would be calling Lenovo support to find out why. Whether it is tied to your sleep problem, I do not know, but it could be.