Knowledgebase

Windows 7 (RC0)

• Enabling a Homegroup will prevent machines from idling to sleep.  Solution:  Remove the machine from the homegroup.  (this is a known Windows 7 issue)

Machine not entering sleep mode

There are cases where SetPower is working as designed, however the machine doesn't enter sleep mode at a specified time. Here is a list of frequent issues that may prevent sleep mode.

• Windows disables sleep mode during media playback. Close any media applications such as Windows Media Player or iTunes.
• Files open for write access on a network share can prevent sleep. Windows disables sleep mode in such as instance to stop potential data loss. Close the file and see if Windows can then idle to sleep.
• Unsupported Hardware - the machine may not be able to sleep because the hardware does not support ACPI or a native video driver is not installed. The easiest way to check this is to see if you can enter sleep mode (called Standby in XP) from the Start menu. If you can then your machine is compatible with SetPower. If you cannot then please check Control Panel->Device Manager to see what video driver is in user. If Display Adapters->Standard VGA Display Adapter is present then likely this is the source of the problem as this fallback video driver (provided with Windows) doesn't support sleep mode. Contact your computers manufacturer to get a current video driver.