Task Scheduler no longer waking from S3 sleep

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I have a somewhat ancient laptop (c. 2000 vintage) which has run Win7 successfully for several years. I recently updated it to Windows 10 Pro 32-bit which, despite the PC’s age, runs pretty well.

But I have one serious problem – with scheduled tasks which are supposed to wake it up from S3 sleep. These tasks worked fine in Windows 7, and they still run in Windows 10 if the laptop is awake – but they no longer wake it from sleep.

Power options have Wake Timers enabled.
powercfg /waketimers shows the correct wakeup time and task

Yet it when the laptop is in S3 sleep, it does not wake up.

Research suggests that this might be due to Windows 10 (and possibly Windows 8/8.1) needing a High Performance Elapsed Timer to wake the computer – and this laptop predates the HPET technology.

For testing I am also using PassMark Software’s Sleeper utility – and the laptop doesn’t wake as it should when I use that either.

I have tried using ‘bcdedit /set userplatformclock’, but this has not worked either – presumably because whilst this is supposed to enable the HPET it can only do so it the HPET actually exists in hardware.

Has anyone got any suggestions?

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Which version of Win10 are you running?

Have you tried any of the powercfg diagnostics?

--Joe

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P.S. Personally I think it is the RTC that wakes the PC up, though scheduler may then use HPET to run the task at exactly the right instant. I have sat there at the time it should wake up and it simply stays asleep.

So, my guess is that it is something to do with RTC and Windows 10 but no idea what – and AFAIK there are no settings to tweak either.

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Win 10 Pro 32-bit Anniversary Update

I have tried all sorts of things including “bcdedit /set useplatformclock on / off”, “powercfg /waketimers”, “powercfg /a”, checking power profile to ensure Sleep/Waketimers is enabled etc.

But I am stumped. The closest I have is a comment from someone saying that Win 10 (and possibly 8) uses HPET for scheduling.

But I haven’t found any solutions in my web research. So asking here is my last ditch attempt – and if anyone can find a solution it will be the folks here.

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You could try /LASTWAKE or /SLEEPSTUDY or /SYSTEMSLEEPDISAGNOSTICS. They may all produce some useful information.

--Joe

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/LASTWAKE – ACPI Power Button
/SYSTEMSLEEPDISAGNOSTICS – more about why it went to sleep than why it woke – nothing useful.

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/SLEEPSTUDY says PC doesn’t support S0 sleep state – so I guess this is about microsleep.

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If you have fast startup enabled try disabling it.

--Joe

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I will try that – though I am unclear why it would make a difference.

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I will try that – though I am unclear why it would make a difference.

Fast startup is hybrid sleep; a different animal.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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Yes – but as per the original post, the PC is not waking from standard sleep.

But you never know so I will try it and see.

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My tests today on Dell Optiplexes show that Wake-on-LAN* will work only when the Optiplex was shut down
shutdown.exe /s /t 0
or hibernated
shutdown.exe /h
but would not restart from fast shutdown
shutdown.exe /s /hybrid /t 0
nor from sleep (with hibernate off)
powercfg /h off
rundll32.exe PowrProf,SetSuspendState

Where I say “any parameter you like” I have tried: nothing, “dummy”, Sleep and 0,1,0

* using Nir Sofer’s WakeMeOnLAN program.

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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It is possible that Wake-on-LAN and WakeTimers (RTC) are linked an have the same symptoms, but not necessarily. Nevertheless the list above makes interesting reading.

Have you tried WoL with Hybrid sleep? Did you try sleep with orwithout Hybrid sleep enabled? Did you try selecting shutdown, hibernate and sleep from the start menu or from Right-Click on the start button?

There seems to be no fundamental reason (i.e. not technically possible) for these oddities – it sounds to me that the LAN card is not prepped for WoL in some circumstances and is prepped for WoL in others.

There is scope for some detailed analysis of what is happening and a formal research report. This would help highlight the issue and perhaps get a fix from Microsoft.

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There is a registry key for fast start that might be involved in some nefarious fashion.

“HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerPower” and the subkey “HiberbootEnabled” in the right pane. A value of 1 means “Enabled”, and a value of 0 means “Disabled”.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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Bob: yes, the inimitable Brink talks about turning Fast Start on or off here.

Protopia: my WoL needs are simple: to find an ‘off state” from which these Optiplexes can be started up using WoL.

The Optiplexes will be put into that state using SHUTDOWN (since PsShutdown hasn’t been updated since XP? Windows 7?) from a server. SHUTDOWN -m \pcname should give the same results as any of the other options Brink talks about in his tutorial onShutdown.

Hybrid sleep seems even less likely to be useful to me than is sleep – and I would have to look it up! Perhaps I have been testing it inadvertently anyway…

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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BATcher: You may find it better to start your own topic about WoL – as this topic is about Waketimers and S3 sleep which is somewhat different.

And turning off Hiberboot makes no difference.

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Oh! I was assuming that your first post “But I have one serious problem – with scheduled tasks which are supposed to wake it up from S3 sleep” related to Wake-on-LAN!

I have no more to say on the matter…

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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Bob: yes, the inimitable Brink talks about turning Fast Start on or off here.

Not a big deal, but I’m Bruce, not Bob.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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Sorry, Bruce – brain fade!

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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