New PC Build with ASRock Z87E-ITX and Windows 8.1 Will Not Stay Asleep

[IceBreakerG]

A few weeks ago I built a new system using the following parts:

• Motherboard: ASRock Z87E-ITX
• CPU: Intel Core i7-4770
• RAM: 16GB G.Skill Ares 2133MHz
• PSU: 750W Corsair HX750
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 120XL
• SSD: 250GB Samsung 840 Evo
• Case: Cooler Master Elite 130
• Blu-Ray: Asus 12X BD-ROM
• OS: Windows 8.1 Enterprise (from work, MSDN)
• My Youtube HTPC Build Series: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsjGPwfDxsB6KhjcGv7Bk8ztWgbgSvsQx

The system runs great and is extremely fast and quiet (other than the hum from the water pump).  The only issue I've really had was installing the network drivers from ASRock's website basically killed my networking all together, and the the system will not stay asleep.  I formatted and reinstalled Windows and re-installed all of the drivers (minus the network drivers), but the system still will not stay asleep.  What happens is it goes to sleep and stays asleep for about 20-30 seconds, then it wakes up again.  I've checked everything I can think of (disabled the Intel smart connect stuff, disabled wake-on-lan and went into the power settings to allow the system to sleep when sharing media).  Has anyone else had this problem (possibly with this board)?  Since the system reaches the log in screen from being powered off in about 10-11secs, it's not an issue that it takes a long time to boot, because it boots up insanely fast (I never even see the Windows loading screen), but not sleeping is bugging me.  Does anyone have any ideas?

[thejohnnyq]

Skip the drivers from ASRock.  Use the drivers from the NIC manufacturer - http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ethernet-controllers/gigabit-ethernet-phy-controllers.html .

 

Personally I never use drivers provided the motherboard manufacture.  They are normally old or limited.

 

Otherwise nice board, I am looking at building a server with one of those with 32gb ram and no water cooling.

[+Anarkii Subscriber²]

I dont have the same setup but I do have the same problem. Computer wont sleep. I have to shutdown the PC when im done with it for the night. 
A solution would be great for this :)

[MindTrickz]

It sounds like the issue might be with the network driver. Network cards are the most common source of wake-up problems. Go into power management and disable the network card being able to wake up the computer and see if that fixes it.

[IceBreakerG]

I tried checking some settings in the power manager but the only setting related to networking I have is for the wireless (I'm not using ethernet on this system right now).  I also checked the event log, and there's definitely something causing it to wake up that seems to be networking related, but I'm not sure what it is as it says the wake up source is unknown.  It's also possible that it could be related to the onboard bluetooth module too.  At this point I'm kind of lost on what to do next.  I'm nervous about screwing with the network drivers again because the last time I was unable to get it working and had to format and reinstall Windows again (this was on a new drive, so it wasn't that big of an issue, but now Windows is activated, and I'd rather not reinstall again).

[MindTrickz]

You can do it from bios/UEFi.

 

Or inside Windows:

 

 

Yours might look something more like this:

[Praetor]

when the PC is asleep do you move the mouse or it just wakes up all by it self after a couple of seconds? If it's the latter then could be some C state that's on; check the UEFI for power management or C states and disable them all, put 1 minute to sleep and see if it sleeps. Also in Windows check the power option "allow wake timers" and set to disable; it can be a schedulled task that wakes up your PC.

 

also try in cmd shell: powercfg lastwake

post the result here.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

i also have this same problem. The system will sleep for 30-60 seconds then automatically wake up.

 

Changing the NIC wake options didnt help either. i'm at a loss. glad to hear im not the only one though!

[Lord Method Man]

i also have this same problem. The system will sleep for 30-60 seconds then automatically wake up.

 

Changing the NIC wake options didnt help either. i'm at a loss. glad to hear im not the only one though!

 

What is causing it to wake? Did you run powercfg -lastwake ?

[IceBreakerG]

@MindTrickz: I just checked those settings and no dice.  I don't have anything plugged into the ethernet port as I'm just using wireless.  I checked the settings in power management that you have selected as well.  For the 2 Bluetooth Devices in device manager, they're using the standard Microsoft driver.  Also, the drivers from ASRock's website seem to be the manufacturer's drivers as well, they're just hosting them, and when I built the system a few weeks ago they were current (or appeared to be at least).  Here's a couple of screenshots from the event viewer, device manager and from running the powercfg command.

 

Edit: Also, in the UEFI menu, CPU C3, C6 and C7 State Support are all set to Auto.  Intel Rapid Start Technology is disabled, Intel Smart Connect Technology is enabled (it was previously disabled), Wake From Onboard LAN is disabled and Suspend to RAM is set to Auto.

 

 

[xendrome]

Could be an issue with USB3, can you disable any USB3 options in the bios. If that fixes it, it's a BIOS update that needs to resolve it.

[tsupersonic]

I had the same problem and it turned out to be Windows Media Center waking up the PC to to updates.  I know WMC is optional in Windows 8, but Something worth checking

[daorbed9]

Disable all startup and non-ms services and see if it still happens.  Also you are installing a bit of software from you ss.  If this doesnt fix it, try reinstall, and then sleep immediately inside windows, if it works add 1 driver at a time.  Keep internet unplugged or it will dl from windows update.

 

edit:  guys this is almost always software/driver related.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

What is causing it to wake? Did you run powercfg -lastwake ?

didnt know that existed. i'll try to remember.

[Lord Method Man]

Make sure to run it elevated.

[IceBreakerG]

I tried disabling USB 3.0 and that didn't work.  Now that everything is set up the way I want, I really don't want to format and re-install, especially since I've already activated Windows.  I think it does have something to do with either the network interface or the bluetooth module though.  My old desktop has the same copy of Windows 8.1 installed on it and it sleeps just fine.  I may just deal with it since networking works, and the last time I installed the drivers it stopped working :(  Luckily the system boots up very fast anyway, so it's not a huge deal, just very annoying.

[Praetor]

humm.. if it isn't a Windows bad config, then it's a BIOS/UEFI one: you can try to run a Linux live CD and check if it suspends. If it does then it's Windows related; if it doesn't then it's BIOS/UEFI.