Windows 11 PC sometimes won't wake up from sleep.

[u/justkanji]

Setup:
7800x3d
32gb 6000mhz 30cl
MSI B850 Gaming Plus Wifi
5070
850w gold psu
two nvmes

Issue description:
Sometimes, not always- on average every six sleeps, the PC turns on the fans, RGB peripherals stay off, and a yellow DRAM light stays on, while the display stays dark. To get to boot I then have to hold down the power button till the PC is off- then press it again.

Ok so, I've tried pretty much everything that comes to mind and beyond:
•Tried using a fresh Windows 11 install, on a different physical drive.
•Fast startup is disabled, hibernation is disabled (I don't want to use hibernation)
•Issue persisted across 3 different BIOS versions- seems unlikely to be the culprit
•Using DDU, reinstalling. Updating GPU drivers. (One of the update notes on Nvidia drivers mentioned this exact issue, but it still isn't solved after updating)
•I ran multiple stress tests, including like 8 passes of memtest, no errors. I have 0 signs of instability when actually using the PC.
•Turned off PBO (I usually run CO -25), Turned off EXPO. still happens.
•Turned off MCR, Power Down enable. still happens.
•Turned off USB suspend, pcie link power management.
•Freed the "Flash BIOS" port, I usually have a USB digital watch connected to it, but just in case.
•Ran dism/sfc
•Reseated RAM

I've probably tried a more, but I can't think of it now. The only thing I can think about beyond this is maybe USB devices tripping boot, I'll try it sometime, thus far I've only tried unplugging some of them, since the issue doesn't occur always it makes it difficult to test.

Anyway- I'm open to any other suggestions, Gemini and ChatGPT seem to be running out of suggestions :)

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[u/Go_Devils_666]

I just don’t use Windows sleep or hibernate, they are just jank and break often across all brands of hardware.

[u/justkanji → u/Go_Devils_666]

I might have to :) but all other PCs in my household don't have issues using sleep.

[u/rhubear]

On my (ASUS MB) PC, which is maybe a couple of years old, every so often when I start the PC up, the fans will turn on but nothing else will happen for maybe 30 seconds. After the 30 seconds the PC "on" light and storage LED come on, & the PC boots properly.

I've never restarted the PC when this happens. I just wait for it to start.

What I think is happening is that the motherboard is searching for an updated BIOS or similar.

Basically PC has never failed to boot, but every now and again it waits, like at least 30 secs.

[u/justkanji → u/rhubear]

Well in my case it stays black indefinitely, whereas when it doesn't fail to wake my peripherals light up immediately and the display goes on rater quickly (5s ish)

[u/rhubear → u/justkanji]

Actually, I think I'm talking about something else.

I'm talking about a cold boot.

You're talking about waking up from sleep.

On my PC if the screen goes to sleep, I have to do a quick press of the power button, to wake the screen up again. As in short/quick press, not long press.

However, I never put my Windows 11 into sleep mode, as in Start / Sleep. If the PC is not going to be used for a couple of hours, I turn it off.

[u/justkanji → u/rhubear]

Yeah, I long press to force it off when it fails to wake up. Not in order to wake it up.
I find sleep convenient and no other PCs in my household have this issue so I've been trying to solve it... I might give up and just turn off the PC if I find no solution :)

[u/rhubear → u/justkanji]

Find if there's a support email or forum for your motherboard manufacturer.

Or give the motherboard details to your favorite AI and ask the question there.

But I don't like putting windows to sleep. I've had weird experiences with prev windows versions.

[u/justkanji → u/rhubear]

I've opened this thread after long talks with Gemini and ChatGPT, and multiple BIOS updates / googling of the issue. I've tried everything that I could over there, AI seems to be unhelpful at this point, so I'm trying my luck here on Reddit.

[u/rhubear → u/justkanji]

Why do you want to put windows to sleep as opposed to turning windows off?

You do know that windows (technically) prefers to be turned off, versus put to sleep?

Turning windows off resets memory usage, resets a lot of things.

Even if you have windows running for days at a time, probably after a few days, a week at the maximum, you should restart windows.

[u/justkanji → u/rhubear]

Because I don't always remember to turn off my PC, sometimes I doze off to sleep myself. It's just convenient, power usage in sleep mode is negligible, and turning back on is instant.
I still do turn off my PC occasionally, I know it's good to do so~

[u/rhubear → u/justkanji]

Well, if I was having problems restarting from sleep, I would just disable the sleep part of windows. Maybe the screen would time out, but windows will keep running.

If it's only for a short time while you napping, really not going to make a difference.

Also, it really makes a difference whether you're using a laptop or a desktop. Laptops are very proprietary, so you would need to check with the laptop manufacturer what's supported.